{"id":18960,"date":"2026-06-30T19:02:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18960"},"modified":"2026-06-30T19:02:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:02:31","slug":"after-helping-the-us-win-the-cold-war-the-all-you-can-eat-buffet-is-fading-thanks-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18960","title":{"rendered":"After helping the US win the Cold War, the all-you-can-eat buffet is fading. Thanks, COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By JESSICA HILL and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 On a cool fall evening after the end of World War II, Las Vegas watched \u201cofficialdom and \u2018cafe society\u2019 turn out for the opening of America\u2019s first all-you-can-eat buffet,\u201d a local paper wrote.<\/p>\n

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It was a big night in a small town that dreamed of hungry visitors. The glazed ham and prime rib in the El Rancho Vegas were signs that American food was changing.<\/p>\n

The space race and arms race made Cold War headlines. The farms race was as important. Genetics, chemicals, and motorized equipment nearly tripled U.S. farm production between 1948 and 2017.<\/p>\n

What to do with all that food?<\/p>\n

The beginning<\/h4>\n

At least three Vegas legends claimed inventing the all-you-can-eat buffet. The best-known tale says promoter Herb McDonald put cheese and cold cuts on a bar one night. \u201cGamblers walking by said they were hungry, and the buffet was born,\u201d read McDonald\u2019s 2002 obituary.<\/p>\n

Other casinos opened buffets for eating in between gambling, says Michael Green, a history professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

For one lump sum, people carried a plate past salads, meats, pastas and seafood, trying a bit of everything before going back for more. (That last part\u2019s important.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

As the all-you-can-eat buffet became a hit, its origin story was disputed. Stories attributing the buffet to the El Rancho are dismissed by Vegas historian Jeffrey Carlson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt couldn\u2019t have been that simple,\u201d he says, citing another version that attributes it to the mob that helped found Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

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In \u201cNeon Metropolis: How Las Vegas Started the Twenty-First Century,\u201d Hal K. Rothman pins the buffet on mobster Davie Berman, who moved from Iowa in 1944 as Jewish gangsters snatched up local hotels and casinos.<\/p>\n

Berman hired a chef to feed gamblers who laid lox, whitefish, herring and other Jewish brunch delicacies on a long table. \u201cA Las Vegas tradition, the buffet, was born,\u201d Rothman wrote.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The end?<\/h4>\n

However it all started, all-you-can-eat buffets spread across the republic to restaurants like Golden Corral and Ponderosa. Then they started losing out to casual dining outlets like Olive Garden or Chili\u2019s, food industry expert Darren Tristano says.<\/p>\n

Then, in 2020, COVID-19 dealt a blow that persists to this day. Suddenly, piles of food sitting out for everyone to grab weren\u2019t quite as appealing.<\/p>\n

Longtime Las Vegas food journalist Al Mancini, though, says buffets will always have a place there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a visceral reaction to just loading up that tray,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople still love that, and I think they always will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weissenstein contributed from New York. This story is part of a recurring series, \u201c American Objects,\u201d marking the 250th anniversary of the United States. For more stories on the anniversary, click here.<\/em><\/p>\n

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All-you-can-eat buffets were signs that the way America ate was changing. Now, though, hobbled by COVID, the all-you-can-eat buffet is facing a reckoning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"yoast_head":"\nAfter helping the US win the Cold War, the all-you-can-eat buffet is fading. 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