What do the Chinese drink?

Dixie’s off to the lake with the kids today, so I decided to wander down to the mall and eat something at the food court.  I opted for the Famous Wok (have you heard of it?).

I sat down at the table with my meal and suddenly I saw before me an incongruency I had not noticed before.  My meal:

  1. Chow mein noodles
  2. Kung pow chicken
  3. Chicken balls
  4. Coke

One of these things is not like the others . . .

Now, I have been informed by those in the know that the Chinese food we find in North American chain restaurants is not really Chinese food at all—such that it is actually, I suppose, “Chinese” food.  And I know that they’ve got Coke over there, too, but it seems like such a classic North American drink.

Any time I eat Chinese food, I wash it down with a tasty beverage such Coke, coffee, tea (I guess that’s Chinese), beer or water.  Have you ever had Chinese food with a cup of . . . I don’t know . . . Hung Chu?  OK, I made that one up, but here’s a real one: Wuliangye, which is a Chinese liquor of one kind or another.

My point: when was the time you saw a “Chinese” food chain offer a non-American drink (aside from tea)?  I won’t find hamburgers or steak at Famous Wok; why do I find Coke and Motts Clamato?

3 thoughts on “What do the Chinese drink?”

  1. Collette

    when I was in Poland I went to a Chinese restaurant. they served what you see in Canada, plus coleslaw on the side. I thought oh, how Polish! then I went to a pizza place, and they served coleslaw on the side. aw! and then I want to a Polish restaurant and got pierogies – and there was no coleslaw on the side. ha.

    (seriously, true story.)

  2. Simon

    Marc, when I was in China (in 1989), most every meal we had was accompanied by orange soda, or Coke, and sometimes pots of tea. I still have (like, on my desk above me right now as I type this) the green-tinged glass Coke bottle that I brought home from Beijing that has the Chinese characters on one side and Coca-Cola on the other.

    I think this comment was more about me than you, but I’m a blogger too (sometimes) so I make no apologies.

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