Picture a holiday charity meal for the less fortunate. The most common image is a turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, etc. being served by friendly volunteers, with the occasional politician or celebrity mixed in for a photo op dishing out stuffing.
But why is it set up in such a way that there are volunteers and photo ops dishing out the food? That puts the clients in a position of forcing them to express gratitude to a different person for every single food item. That could feel awkward or humiliating for people who aren't entirely comfortable with receiving charity, and they might not feel free to ask for more stuffing please or no brussel sprouts thank you for fear of being judged.
It seems to me that serving the meal buffet-style, where people just help themselves to however much of whatever they want, would better protect the clients' dignity, with the added bonus of freeing up volunteers to do other work.
Am I missing anything? Is there any advantage to cafeteria-style that I'm not seeing?
7 comments:
I would guess it's for portion control so that everybody can get at least one serving but I agree that they could make it friendlier. I worked in group homes with people who weren't able to dish their own food and we still sat around the table together family-style.
We used to volunteer in a food kitchen on Thanksgiving (in NYC) and we served everyone at tables, restaurant-style. It's not like anyone thought they were really in a restaurant, but we thought it made the meal a bit nicer for the recipients to be served for a change, especially families with children.
The buffet-style would work, too, although you'd need volunteers standing behind the buffet anyway.
I have volunteered before and asked a similar question and the answer I got came down to being able to control hygiene and portions. Was it a good enough reason? Meh.
Family-style would be cool, and I like the restaurant-style as well. Maybe they could even combine the two, so the volunteers are acting as waiters bringing refilling drinks and communal serving dishes.
I don't particularly like the idea of portion control. I can see it being a factor if resources are tight, but it seems distastefully stingy. They should give clients doggie bags instead!
The buffet-style would work, too, although you'd need volunteers standing behind the buffet anyway.
Why do you need volunteers standing behind the buffet? What would they be doing?
Refilling it.
"Why do you need volunteers standing behind the buffet? What would they be doing?"
Refilling it, keeping it neat and presentable. Also welcoming people, asking if they would like to try something. Server-type stuff.
When our group holds a fundraising dinner, very informal, that's how we serve. Buffet style, but volunteers behind the table asking, "Would you like chicken?"
This is interesting, because I've never been to an actual restaurant buffet where they had staff at the buffet table.
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