Demographic Collapse and the Legend of the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet
The swedes invented the smorgasbord in the sixteenth century, and the all-you-can-eat marketing gimmick was pioneered in the early 1800s. But the American legend has it that, in 1946, Las Vegas promoter and publicist Herbert Cobb McDonald invented the all-you-can-eat buffet. The story goes that he struck on the idea accidentally late one night while working at the El Rancho casino. McDonald laid out all the fixings for a sandwich and when hungry gamblers asked if they could partake, he realized he’d just found a new way to keep customers in the casino. Not long after, the El Rancho launched the 24 hour “Buckaroo Buffet”, all you can eat for only a buck. They advertised “every possible variety of hot and cold entrées, to appease the howling coyote in your innards.”
The idea grew quickly through the 50s and 60s, becoming a staple of casinos across the country. The 80s and 90s saw the peak of buffet chain establishments like Sizzler, Hometown Buffet and Golden Corral, each boasting hundreds of locations at their heights. Wendy’s had a buffet for a while, and McDonald’s had a fondly remembered breakfast buffet. Some KFC locations reportedly still have buffets. Due in part to changes in food trends and in part to the crash of 2008, most of these establishments are either out of business or shadows of their former selves. A few filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, including Sizzler and Hometown. Oregon is fresh out of chain American buffet options.
On the far eastern edge of Vancouver, Washington, at the confluence of two majestic highways, sits the Golden Corral, a square tan building with few frills. I had my first Golden Corral experience, maybe it was a fever dream, on a Monday evening in late summer. Monday night seemed like the perfect night to go, no special occasions, these are locals, diehards of the buffet scene. The inside was as tan and as undecorated as the outside, threatening at any moment to become a DMV or Sun Glass Hut, the sort of unoffensive forgetful quality only market research can produce. I watched a few decades worth of Golden Corral commercials to prepare for this, but the chocolate fountain had been replaced by a gray box that farts out chocolate sauce when you press the lever lid and despite multiple pictures of juice flame grilled steaks, I didn’t see any in real life. This ship has lost all contact with the home planet, set adrift in deep space, the staff busily goes about their work as the portion sizes get smaller and the smell gets worse.
We overloaded our plates with mystery meat tacos, BBQ ribs candied under the tepid heat lamp, fried chicken, Thanksgiving sides, multiple shades (if not flavors) of gravy and wings. One of the reasons the all-you-can-eat model works outside the economics of casinos is that most people end up eating about as much food as they normally would and no matter how much I starve myself beforehand, I am never an exception to this general rule. I had a second plate of sides and a small dessert. Ten years ago, the Golden Corral advertised their dinner special for 11.99, we paid 26. So, the quality is, let’s say, just OK, the price is not good, and I’m not stuffing myself beyond my wildest dreams, why do I feel so satisfied? The buffet isn’t even American, and yet it’s so American we’ve created our own legend of origin for it. Every possible choice, more than you could ever need, and right damn now! An early Hometown buffet commercial pitches that “you’ll never be disappointed with your order because you don’t order, you just choose.” But even this isn’t strictly true because you can go back for more and with no extra charge! TOTAL FREEDOM!
But how did we go from foraging for seasonal foods and chasing down our meat to this impressively lazy embarrassment of riches?
In August 1492, motived by the booming spice trade, Christopher Columbus left Spain in search of a western passage to India. In October 1492, he landed on an island in what is now the Bahamas. His success was the first modern European contact with the Americas and kicked off a 500-year period of expansion of global trade and rise of global population. After independence, Americans had nearly 150 years of easy growth, abundant land, and what seemed like never ending resources unlike anything Europe had ever seen. No wonder we’re so comfortable in the buffet line.
At the end of World War Two, in 1944, the United States and 44 other countries entered into the Bretton Woods Agreement which created a global exchange rate based on the US dollar and, in turn, gold. This new system, backed by the military, might of the US navy, supercharged global economic and population growth. With an interconnected economy and abundant credit business, industrialization and tech spread quickly across the globe. As countries industrialize, their populations grow, but once industrialized and urbanized, birth rates start to fall.
This decade, major players in the global economic supply chain are expected to experience demographic collapse, the point when there aren’t enough people of working age to keep the economy growing. On top of that, America is checking out and pulling back. It is no longer worth the price of policing the seas and outsourcing labor around the world. The all-you-can-eat buffet is over. We have already seen this in the shipping delays of the Covid-19 pandemic, the disruptions of Houthi rebels, and raising prices for everything from housing to energy to food. Gone are the days of dirt-cheap electronics, fast fashion and year-round access to any fruits or vegetables you can name. For some people, this will mean famine and for some people it will mean mere inconvenience, but for all of us it is an opportunity.
If the buffet characterized the previous growth phase of history, the potlatch or gift economy should characterize the next. The potlatch and gift economy, both indigenous practices, are forms of exchange that don’t require abstract capital, debt, reciprocity, or enforcement. The potlatch is the meal expression of this principle, where wealth is managed by giving it away in a lavish feast. The first thing you realize when considering a shift from all-you-can-eat buffet to potlatch is that not only can’t you do it alone, to do it right, you need a group of friendly people. There is a certain amount of responsibility in the potlatch too, one must contribute, not just good food but good humor and good stories. Who might we be if we aim to be the perfect dinner companion? What will you bring to the table?
Ian Blumberg-Enge
Ian Blumberg-Enge is a model agnostic anarchist, writer, and utopian kook. His work is focused on the intersection of mysticism and anarchism. He is co-author, with Peter J. Carrol, of Interview with a Wizard, published by Mandrake of Oxford.