The Right Way To Eat Corn On The Cob

Perhaps you've eaten corn on the cob hundreds (or thousands) of times in your life and you're wondering how someone could possibly eat corn on the cob wrong. Well, let's consider that perhaps you've been eating corn on the cob in an ill-advised manner for your entire life. While eating corn on the cob incorrectly is somewhat subjective, there may be a more efficient and effective way to go about enjoying this veggie. 

There are a few different ways to eat corn on the cob, and depending on your personality, you may favor one over the other. So let's break down the right way to enjoy this treat. 

As for the wrong way to eat corn on the cob, definitely don't hold it vertically and work your way from top to bottom, because that would be pretty weird. 

As it turns out, most people opt for either eating it across the cob, or around it. Choosing the "across" method is essentially eating your corn like a typewriter, row by row, and seems to be the most popular way (via Food 52). Etiquette teacher Myka Meir actually recommends this method as well because "less mess is better" (via YouTube).  

Choosing to pick a spot and eat in a circular rotation, as Christian Science Monitor writer Eric Nager explains, has its own advantages. "Freshly cooked corn is not uniformly hot. It cools more quickly on the edges. By eating around on the edges first, you create natural hand holds and then can proceed to eat around to the center, which cools last." Fair enough, but if you use those plastic corn holders then you don't really need "natural hand holds." The temperature argument, though, does have some merit.

Now, of course, there are other ways to eat corn on the cob. You can slice it off with a knife, but then it's not really corn on the cob, is it? You can also take random bites here and there if you're a free spirit, but that doesn't seem to offer any sort of advantage. Finally, there's a solid life hack method if you can't stand to let a single kernel go to waste.

One Twitter user in Japan suggests using your thumb to pry out each row of corn kernels (via Country Living). It may not be the best method to try with an ear of messy corn on the cob that's dripping with butter and seasoning, like you just pulled off your grill, but its effectiveness at pulling out every last corn kernel can't be discounted. Even if it's messy, it does get the job done. 

So what's the overall best, better than the rest, only smart way to eat corn on the cob? Well, if you can't stand to let a single kernel go to waste, maybe try the method above. Otherwise, just go with the method that comes naturally to you.