Wedding Noodles

I call them "train noodles". Because, I usually only eat them on trains - as does everyone else. Instant noodles. Every train has the hot water needed to make the things vaguely edible.

They come in a little pot, along with various additives, depending on brand. But you can bet there is a load of MSG. They've kept me alive at times, but I wouldn't go looking for them if there was any other choice.

So, I was amused to read this in the morning paper today.

When Chinese couples marry, they eventually get around to holding a "wedding banquet", kind of the same as the western "wedding reception", the main difference being that the banquet is not held immediately after the legal ceremony but can be months or even years later. Another difference is that this is the time to give wedding gifts - in cash. Wedding banquets can be very lucrative. And so the guests expect something good for dinner - after all it has cost them dearly.

A local hotel which is in demand as a "wedding banquet" venue had a slight problem in that its kitchen was closed down by health officials after several guests were struck by food poisoning. (There is a wonderfully descriptive Chinese expression :

which translates literally as "up vomit, down diarrhoea")

Anyway, the hotel forgot to inform the 5 couples and their 1,000 guests who were booked in the next day for their banquets. So when they arrived they were served "train noodles" instead of the variety of dishes they were expecting. Many guests just left - few ate the noodles; brides were weeping; managers were hiding. Chaos. But they had the noodles and the hot water.

The hotel manager has said that the hotel will offer "appropriate compensation". I'd love to know how they calculate that.

Source (Chinese) 

tags: china  liuzhou  noodles  wedding  marriage  banquet  health  food  posoning  food poisoning  

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