The Delicious Science of Chinese Buffets, Where It's Always Thanksgiving
This Thursday, Americans from all walks of life will gather around tables beset with gobs of turkey, mounds of mashed potatoes, loaves of buttered bread, boats of gravy, and heaps of vegetables, oiled and salted, of course. And after a brief pause to give thanks, they will feast.
Such is Thanksgiving.
But there are 40,000 bastions around the country where it's Thanksgiving almost every day. Where you can eat throngs of delicious, calorie-laden dishes and gorge yourself into a gluttonous stupor. The sheer ubiquity of these places makes them distinctly American. In fact, they claim more locations than Wendy's, McDonalds's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Burger King combined. I'm talking, of course, about Chinese restaurants.
"If our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie, you should ask yourself, how often do you eat apple pie, versus how often do you eat Chinese food," leading food journalist Jennifer 8. Lee told the audience of Taste3 in 2008.
Apple pie will undoubtedly be just one of the desserts on the menu for millions of Americans on Thursday. The final sweet binge is the last hurrah of a holiday meal that, when all is served and devoured, tallies in at between 2,500 and 4,500 calories for each reveler. That's some quality eating.
But if putting on the pounds is an American activity, and statistics seem to show that it is, then the Chinese buffet is actually more patriotic. The addicting blend of salt and fat make the foods they serve overwhelmingly appetizing. And the pool of vegetable oil poured into woks endows most Chinese dishes with more calories per square inch than even the most buttered mashed potatoes. According to a 2007 analysis by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a plate of stir-fried greens contains 900 calories, eggplant in garlic sauce has 1,000, six pork dumplings pack 500, and lo mein has 1,100. Time for seconds!
Speaking of seconds, Cornell consumer behaviorist Brian Wansink has found that people who seat themselves facing the buffet are more likely to get up for that second or third plate. Selecting a larger plate size may also subtly encourage overeating. Wansink has also found that the foods seen first, regardless of what they are, are the ones most selected by patrons. Moreover, if you're trying not to overindulge, learn how to use chopsticks. It's much harder to shovel in food with slim wooden sticks, compared to a fork or a spoon. You can practice on turkey and stuffing this Thanksgiving!
Of course, if you're looking to overindulge, that's fine, too. But it's best to balance the rare binge with habitual exercise and a common sense diet.
(Image: Shutterstock)
