Why the Buffet Format Suits Mediterranean Food
Buffets have a reputation problem, and often they deserve it. A cuisine built around dishes plated to order rarely survives sitting in a tray.
Mediterranean food is a different case, and the reason is historical rather than commercial.
A buffet line is not a compromise of the Levantine table. It is the same idea with a longer table.
The food was already served this way
A Levantine table has never been a sequence of individual plates. It is a spread put down in the middle for everyone to reach across. Mezze, salads, bread, grilled meat and rice all arrive together and people build their own plates.
A buffet line is not a compromise of that format. It is the same idea with a longer table.
Most of it holds well
Dips are meant to be served at room temperature. Salads dressed with lemon and olive oil hold longer than creamy ones. Rice, stewed vegetables, okra, green beans and eggplant dishes are all traditionally cooked slowly and eaten unhurried — they are better twenty minutes after cooking than straight off the heat.
The things that do not hold — falafel, fried items, anything from the grill — are exactly the things a good buffet cooks in batches through the day rather than in one go at opening.
It solves the variety problem
The single greatest pleasure of this food is combination. A little smoky eggplant, a little sharp salad, a piece of grilled meat, bread, a spoonful of rice, all in the same few mouthfuls.
Order from a menu and you commit to one dish. On a line you build the plate the way the food is meant to be eaten. It also means a table of six with completely different tastes — one vegan, one who only wants grilled chicken, one who wants to try everything — all eat well without negotiation.
What to look for in a good one
Small trays refilled often, rather than large trays sitting half empty. Fried food that is hot. Salads that look freshly dressed rather than wilted. Bread that arrives warm.
Those four things tell you almost everything about how a kitchen is being run behind the line.
