食べ放題

• 読み: たべほうだい
• ローマ字: tabehōdai
• 漢字の分解: 食べ (eating) + 放題 (as much as one wants/unlimited) → eat as much as you want
• 発音: /ta.be.hoː.da.i/

意味

All-you-can-eat buffet or unlimited eating deal at a restaurant, typically with a set price and time limit.

A hugely popular dining format in Japan where you pay a fixed price and eat as much as you want within a time limit (usually 60-120 minutes). Common for yakiniku, sushi, shabu-shabu, and sweets. The phrase 元を取る (get your money's worth) is inseparable from 食べ放題 culture, as diners challenge themselves to eat enough to justify the cost.

例文

1. 焼肉食べ放題で元取るぞ！
2. 食べ放題だとつい食べすぎて後悔するんだよね。
3. この食べ放題、時間制限90分だって。

使い方ガイド

場面: restaurants, friends, event planning

トーン: excited, practical

正しい言い方

• 焼肉食べ放題行こうよ！ (Let's go to an all-you-can-eat yakiniku place!)
• 食べ放題は戦略が大事だよ。 (Strategy is important at all-you-can-eat.)

避ける言い方

• 高級レストランで「食べ放題ないんですか」は場違い (Asking 'don't you have all-you-can-eat?' at a high-end restaurant is out of place)

よくある間違い

• Not realizing that most 食べ放題 in Japan have strict time limits — you can't stay and eat indefinitely

起源と歴史

Compound of 食べ (eating) + 放題 (as much as you want, unlimited). Has been standard restaurant terminology since the buffet format became popular in Japan in the 1970s-80s.

文化的背景

時代: 1970s-80s onward, now a dining staple

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal

地域メモ: Used across all of Japan. All-you-can-eat is a major dining format with dedicated restaurant categories.