My Absolute Least Favorite Meme…
The concept of “Buffet” originated during mid 17th in France, as a solution for house wives/ladies to serve big groups of people at unexpected hours. Thanks to the new concept, the ladies no longer needed to call in extra serving staff, and long hours of food preparation process was replaced by the a few minutes of reheating the leftover food. This particular concept saved both time and money, as the meme was very beneficial, it was a winner in the mimetic competition.
Somewhere along the way, people’s perception of it has changed. Maybe the meme has fused with other memes, and evolved from a way of surviving chaotic moments to a major business strategy. Nowadays, it is mostly being referred as “All You Can Eat”.
This meme has spread itself internationally from its origin. Every culture has its own version and reference of “all you can eat. A traditional buffet in Sweden is called “Smörgåsbord”, which means “a table of sandwiches”, but those buffets are now far away from the origin of the name. The Chinese phrase for it can literally be translated into “eat until you pop”, I mean, why and why…
The benefits?
Susan Blackmore mentions of the memetic competition, and why certain meme survive while others don’t.
Memes can succeed in many ways, Some make their living by being true, good, useful, or beautiful. They persuade us to take them on by providing us with some tangible benefit… (section 4)
“All you can eat” benefits the owner for charging a certain amount of money that appeal to the customers, and in return, serving the minimum quality of food for that money. As for the customers, they benefit from the thought of variety of ready made dishes when hunger strikes. While being inside, people’s eyes open up, and suddenly there are many more cravings that “no one realized until seeing and smelling it”. At some point, the varieties of dishes makes people greedy, and stop thinking what, and how much we put on our plates.
To wrap it up, I would like to show a few interesting comics from www.cartoonstock.com:
