Trendy Monday: Maine, Ancient Rome, and the Fate of the American Buffet

Today's "trendy" post revolves around a link to the most unlikely review of a Ramada's buffet restaurant imaginable. The hotel and restaurant in question are located in Lewiston, Maine, and the review of the actual food itself is pretty unremarkable, except in that the reviewer seemed to actually like the food. That, obviously, is not why I'm linking.

Here's what's so interesting: the review gives as many column inches to the food as it does to the ancient Roman condiment garum, described by the reviewer as a ubiquitous Italian soy-saucy sort of thing that smelled really, really bad during production. It's an interesting intro, and what's even more interesting is that it's purpose is to gently suggest that the buffet is a fallen American form of food delivery.

True enough, and I absolutely applaud the reviewer, Maggie Gill-Austern, for her reliance on history and cultural trending to pad out her review of what sounds like a pretty standard, cheap hotel buffet.