I have the joy of working in a cube next to Mike. Mike is a great guy, and he is one of those people who is filled with all sorts of facts and stories. The other day while discussing High Fructose Corn Syrup, he was telling me about how Coca Cola pulled a fast-one on the American public. As the story goes, Coca Cola removed its traditional product (made with cane sugar) from the shelves and replaced it with the now infamous New Coke. New Coke was disaster and was later replaced by what were told was the original recipe, Coca Cola Classic. The thing is that Coca Cola Classic was no longer made with cane sugar but instead with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Mike went on to say that this was due to tariffs imposed on cane sugar imports, and that there are places in the world, like Latin America, that still use cane sugar.
Friday, August 8, 2008
It's the Real Thing- in Mexico?
I bought into this story because over the past 15 years, I have been to Haiti (4x), Mexico (1x), and Nicaragua (1x). And I distinctly remember liking the Coke there. I attributed it to the hot weather, lack of water, and glass bottles. Mike told me to check out the local Latin Markets and try buying Coke from a bottle there. So last night, I went to the Bodega Latina. Found a glass bottle of Coke, read the label and sure enough there was sugar and no High Fructose Corn Syrup, and it was bottled in Mexico. So Mrs. Marinara and I split the Coke and it was great. It didn't seem as sweet, but the sweetness it did have seemed more pure. There was no filminess in the mouth that seems to exist after drinking Coke Classic. It was perfect.
I am tempted to give up soda except for the chance I have the opportunity to pick up a few bottles of the REAL THING!
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3 comments:
The sugar thing is complicated but you can pretty much blame it all on Archer Daniels Midlands. ADM claimed that South American countries were dumping sugar on the US market (they weren't) and got the government to impose the tariffs. They followed that with convincing people to give them HUGE subsidies for the production of their product, high fructose corn syrup. It's odd that we, the taxpayer, are picking up the bill to pay for a more expensive ingredient to be put into our drinks that doesn't work as well. Some even say that the HFCS may be more fattening than sugar and might be partially responsible for the weight gains that have happened over the last couple of decades in this country.
Sadly, ADM is doing the same thing to us with corn based ethanol - an ingredient that is a) subsidized b) doesn't provide a real energy boost compared to the amount of energy consumed to produce. Ethanol could be produced cheaper and with more of an energy punch with all the cellulose we have (wood and hay). But, I guess, when you've got deep pockets like ADM you can convince the politicians to do anything but the right thing...
Oh, I recently had a soda that was sugar based and your right - it tastes a whole lot better.
I get a bit overwhelmed when I think about really how strong lobbying is what is important in America.
The one thing for sure is that I can control what I do with my money. In the end, hopefully more people will follow the cause and the market will force the action.
try boylan's cane cola ... it's pretty good!
maybe the new coke thing was a conspiracy!!
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