Taiwan Quick Take: Man gorges self to death

The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) yesterday criticized all-you-can-eat restaurants after a customer choked to death on seafood at a restaurant with an unlimited buffet. The newspaper said that a 54-year-old man surnamed Yu and his family visited a seafood restaurant on Monday evening in Taipei. He spent about 30 minutes wolfing down several plates of seafood before choking, it said. Yu then died while being rushed to hospital. The paper said the restaurant -- which it did not name -- indirectly caused the customer's death because all-you-can-eat restaurants encourage customers to gorge themselves without warning them of the dangers of doing so. The buffet restaurant where Yu died denied responsibility for his death, however: "As a restaurant, we only provide food and service. As to how the customers eat the food, it is none of our business," a manager from the restaurant said.