I've paid for it so I'm going to eat it....all from the same plate: Memories from the summer holidays

Looking at title you are probably thinking 'what has this got to do with Triathlon' - that's a fair question, to which a fair answer is, probably not a lot.  Well, I did make a tenuous link, see if you can spot it later on.

So, although this isn't a dedicated triathlon post, I wanted to write it as it is something I feel passionate about and most of all - it makes me laugh.

As the shorter nights creep up on us and the last parts of summer start to disappear and I start running in the dark, or cycling in the rain, I often think back to summer holidays and how pleasant it felt to run in just shorts, no top, the sun warming you as you made progress.  This year I was lucky enough to be in Mexico and that was warm running like I've not experienced before...but that isn't what the article is about....so what is it about then you ask?  As I said, it's something I'm passionate about and is often seen on the yearly holiday travels.

Two words really - Buffet etiquette.  You might have guessed that from the title perhaps.

My holiday in Mexico was a particularly good example and it made me reach for my notebook and pen to note down some observations  (Yep, I take a notepad everywhere).

I don't know about you, but I like order - especially when it comes to food.  When I get up in the morning, I have breakfast. At lunchtime, I have lunch...and so on.  There are variants, granted.  People who don't do triathlon and so aren't up a 5am to swim in a lake, or go on a long bike ride, might stay in bed for longer and get up somewhere after breakfast, but before lunch and eat something called a 'brunch', it is apparently, not a breakfast, nor a lunch, hence a 'brunch' (clever).  They may not have come across the concept of the first breakfast and then the second breakfast either...

Anyway, it got me thinking. When we race a triathlon, typically, things are done one at a time, you don't take everything on at the same time.  I'm not sure about you, but it is the same when I eat.  If I have a three course meal (a bit like a triathlon really, swim to start, bike for main, run for desert) I don't have it all on the same plate, at the same time.  From what I have observed, nor do many people for that matter.

Except that is, when we go on holiday.....and we've gone all inclusive....and meals are served in a buffet format.  There is something about this combination that makes people go a bit nuts, trying to pile everything on one plate.  Why is that?

I got to thinking about this as I dipped some apple pie into my soup at breakfast.....I think there are perhaps a number of reasons, none more so than the  "I've paid for it so I'm eating it" approach.  But I think there might be other subtler etiquette issues at play.

One is my 'recce' theory.  Now, if we were being 'good' triathletes, we would recce all our race locations in advance of race day, get to know the course, where the entry and exits are for transition etc.  Even ride the bike course, swim the swim course.  I'm not sure I've ever done this, I have a quick scout around on race day and that's it....maybe that explains my patchy race results.    Anyway, my theory is, no one does a buffet recce and that is where in my view the problem begins.  You grab a plate and just start wandering....mmmm, that looks nice I'll have that, oh and that....and that....and that.  Before you know it and I saw this exact plate at Breakfast in Mexico......you have a full English, three slices of pineapple and 2 donuts - on the same plate !!  Clearly this is wrong and is not the way to construct a plate of food.

If, like me, you do a buffet recce, then you have a clear idea of what is available at any given time and can make a sensible plan as to what you are going to eat.  So start with a plate (there is no rule that says you cannot make the plate station your first stop) and then take a stroll to each station, size up what is there, do you like the look of it?, do you fancy eating it?....you do this until you have recce'd the whole buffet.  Only at this point, do you then hone in on what you have decided to eat.  This approach always ensured that at no point, did I end up with a full English, fruit and donuts on the same plate....

If, for some bizarre reason (too much sun the day before) I entertained the idea of a full English, pineapple and donuts, then it would have to be three separate trips to the buffet, three different plates.  There is simply no rational reason for all that lot to be on the same plate at the same time.

I found myself every day eyeing up peoples plates as I meandered back to my seat, laughing to myself at some of the combinations I saw.

It got me thinking about my second theory and that is, outside of the all inclusive buffet environment, do people eat like this on a regular basis ?  Can you imagine, you go to a restaurant and order a starter and main and it gets delivered to you all on the same plate....you'd be confused, annoyed...I'm sure of it.  In fact, I think you'd most likely call over the waiter and ask what is going on ?!!  Yet at the buffet, perhaps even only a few weeks earlier, you'd have been quite happy to eat your starter, main and desert off the same plate.

If I cooked for my kids and served them beans on toast, fruit and donuts all on the same plate, I'd fully expect them to look at me with disdain and wonder what I was up to....but yet some of us would have no qualms eating this way at the buffet.  Strange isn't it.  It kept me amused for my whole holiday.

What is it about the all inclusive buffet format that seems to override all we have learnt about how to construct a plate of food and leaves us with a 'freestyle' approach to eating, what has happened to buffet etiquette - did it ever exist?  Maybe its just a figment of my craving for order.

Next time you are on holiday and there is a buffet option, take a look around, see what freestyle food combo's you can spot.  Maybe you already saw some great combo's this year on your travels.  Maybe you yourself are a buffet freestyler....