Don't Spill Your Corn - Ooops, I already did!

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

March 30, 2012: Longhua, Shenzhen, PRC

It's not often that you hear "drink your corn".  Well, maybe if you are in China you will hear it a little more often.

At our final team dinner before I left SZ, I just told the team to order whatever they wanted.

The Team: Loacky, Jade, Duma, Yuma, Donna, Me, and Jay (tallest dude in SZ)

Along with all the entree's, they ordered corn milk.  I'm probably sure they asked me if I wanted it and I probably responded with one of those "I have no clue" head nods that without fail get you into some kind of confusing situation.

You can see the corn juice in the pitcher in the image below.  However, I did have to be told what it was.  "Corn juice" is not something that immediately comes to a westerner's mind.  Touching the glass pitcher, tells you it is served warm (not hot).

Dinner at SZ with FIH Crew

 Anyway, the milk was served early in dinner.  It was thick and while I like corn, especially cream corn and corn chowder, the thickness of corn juice makes it hard to enjoy, rather than just tolerate as a good guest. The following review of corn juice is informative:

Corn juice, however, has not spread so fast as other customs. For those unaware that such a beverage even exists, here is a close-up, courtesy of a long ago post. Old-time moonshiners and lushes might protest the hijacking of their tongue-in-cheek term for Bourbon, but they would have little claim. Known to a third of the world’s consumers as yumijiang, it is a gritty yellow semi-liquid most likely inspired by the popularity of its cousin soy milk. I anxiously await the day this product appears in the drink machines of American gas stations; that will be the true sign of China’s influence in this world.

Corn juice even takes on a strange slang urban definition:

DEFINITION: A very bad smell that comes from a person who has not bathed.

EXAMPLE: Sam has not taken a bath in two weeks, she stinks like corn juice!

 Yet, Corn Juice - best easy way to lost weight

***

After drinking enough to please my guests/hosts, I took it upon myself to knock over the rest of my glass of corn juice onto my jeans and shirt tails.  Did I say it was only served warm.  Lucky me.

The juice pretty much just wicked into my clothes and didn't leave a huge embarrassing stain that I would have had to deal with for the entire night.

***

What is culturally interesting about the picture of the dinner table above?

There are no setting napkins at the table, as would be under western silverware. If you want napkins in a Chinese restaurant, you must ask for them. A package of tissue or a roll of toilet paper will be brought to your table. You will pay extra for this.  Therefore, most Chinese bring their own napkins out to dinner.

***