Notes on drinking water at Chinese banquet

(1) Drink before meals. Generally speaking, we Chinese like to drink tea or soft drinks before meals. Most of us drink tea instead of wine before meals. Soft drinks are usually carbonated drinks, but there may be some juice or mineral water for guests. Most guests choose a drink and do not change it during the meal. It should be noted that it's better not to order juice for pre meal drinks, because the rich juice will dilute the taste of the meal.

(2) Table wine. At the banquet, familiar guests may order their own favorite wine, but when there are multiple tables, the wine selected for each table should be relatively uniform, and it is absolutely not allowed to treat them differently. Only in this way can we be more fair and harmonious in toasting and persuading.

(3) After dinner drinks. Tea is generally used as an after meal drink in Chinese food. In the folk, people think that tea has the functions of quenching thirst, relieving alcohol and helping digestion. According to the food culture and tradition of many places in our country, most of the wine poured at the banquet must be cleared before the last dish. At the same time, it also declares that the drinking activity is over. After that, people generally don't drink alcoholic drinks, so they seldom drink wine after dinner. Of course, if we are having a good talk and the wine is not enough, it is another matter.