A Volonté

2021 - ongoing

Who hasn't bitten into a shrimp chip before filling their plate abundantly at the huge buffet. Nems, sushi, spring rolls, pink shrimp, fried squid, caramel chicken, Thai beef, Cantonese rice, fries, tarts, and other ice creams jostle elbows next to the wok stand, now an essential part of "Asian" or "Chinese" all-you-can-eat buffets. As popular as they are criticized, they are the choice of many French people, whether it's for a work lunch break or with family during shopping weekend.

Sometimes going up to disproportionate sizes of 400 seats or more, and mainly located on the outskirts of cities, along highways, in commercial and industrial areas, these restaurants are part of these landscapes of "shoe boxes", dubbed "ugly France".

Alongside other major brands such as McDonald's, Courtepaille, Buffalo Grill, Léon de Bruxelles, La Criée, whose visual identity is immediately - and from a distance - recognizable, they stand out with an "orientalist" decorative touch, bordering on kitsch, the use of neon lights of all colors, and names that evoke travel, dreams, and exoticism.

Calling themselves "Asian" or "Chinese", they mainly offer a mixture of Asian cuisines (China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam...), often fused with Western products, in order to best meet the expectations of French customers. In this way, these all-you-can-eat buffets themselves contribute to maintaining stereotypes and ignorance of French people towards the cuisine of the continent. Can you imagine saying one day that you would go to eat in a "European" restaurant?!

Thus, almost imperceptibly, they perpetuate certain clichés, which are opposed by restaurants in large urban centers, each of which offers a facet of the culinary diversity of the continent. The reviews left on these restaurants also convey prejudices and stereotypes, which go beyond the simple sphere of food.

Travelling through the Paris region, dotted with countless all-you-can-eat buffets, this photographic work takes a neutral look at these restaurants, revealing a certain uniqueness of form and symbolism that almost gives them a place of their own alongside the famous brands.