ビュッフェ

If ビュッフェ looks like English buffet with Japanese vowels, surprise: the passport is French. English borrowed buffet too, so the family resemblance is real. But Japanese ビュッフェ keeps the elegant French shape, while also developing its own place beside another famous food word: バイキング. French buffet originally referred to furniture such as a sideboard or cupboard, then to a table or counter where food and drink were set out. From that object meaning, it could naturally move toward the meal style. A table of food becomes a way of eating. Japanese borrowed the word into hotel, restaurant, and catering language. In modern Japanese, ビュッフェ often means a self-service meal where dishes are arranged for guests to choose. It can sound hotel-like, polished, or slightly formal: 朝食ビュッフェ, ランチビュッフェ, デザートビュッフェ. The spelling ブッフェ also appears, but ビュッフェ is very familiar on menus. The learner trap is バイキング. In Japan, バイキング often means all-you-can-eat, a locally developed usage with its own restaurant history. ビュッフェ and バイキング overlap, but they are not perfect twins. ビュッフェ focuses more on the serving style and arrangement. バイキング strongly suggests 食べ放題 to many people. So ビュッフェ is not just a fancy label for eating too much. It is a French furniture-and-food word that Japanese uses for a modern dining format. Once you notice the difference, a hotel breakfast menu starts teaching both vocabulary and restaurant culture.