baby corn

Isn't "baby corn" on salad bars really just a kind of squash??

I would wager a guess that it is the real McCoy. Witness the brilliant and guffaw-producing moment in the watershed film, "BIG" wherein Tom Hanks ( in his Pre-Gump best ) nibbles kernels from an ear of baby corn, that he took from the buffet table.
Now, one could argue that this particular scene is really analagous of the immaturity that Hanks's character is battling. Me, I just love a good salad bar.

Typer, who loves a good salad bar, and wants to know more about penguins.

Baby corn is extremely immature corn. I have seen instructions for growing it; just plant sweet corn much closer together than usual, and harvest very soon after silk appears. I don't know if the close planting is necessary to dwarf the ears, or if it's just so you don't get a truly pitiful harvest for the amount of ground used.

Thank you, Leslie... which is, of course, what Straight Dope Staff member Melis said in the Mailbag article.