Soda

Here is another deep insight from Chris on a topic very dear to his heart.

CHRIS: I miss Diet Colas pretty badly. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club helped me get a lot of Colas very cheap and with good taste for many years. I miss not only the amount that I could get - but especially the quality of the taste. I know what you're thinking... "But, surely they have Diet Sodas in Europe!" Well, they do; kind of. See over here they do not use the 'Diet' moniker (because it's not as big a craze as it is in the States) - Instead they're called "Light". So instead of Diet Coca-Cola you see Coca-Cola Light. Now, I only drank generic Diet Sodas for years - but my first sip of Coca-Cola Light on the plane ride to Europe I INSTANTLY understood why a friend of mine (who'd recently returned to the States from Europe) avoided Diet Colas like the Plague.

I would say the beverage tasted like ass - but that's not really fair to ass. It wasn't so foul that it bubbled over with mist and tasted like Limburger cheese, but the taste was... WRONG on so many levels. It would be like trying to take a taste of your favorite soda and instead finding out that it wasn't coke you were drinking but a diet, caffeine-free, cherry-hybrid, red code concoction that the only thing that resembled the taste you enjoyed was that it was wet. At first I thought that the one I had on the plane might have been a bad batch or something. But I quickly saw the error of that thought upon our stay here.

I was even brave enough to try different brands of diet colas here - including about eight lesser (and some generic) brands. After all, I've long held to the old Japanese saying that trying something new extends your life by a year. However, the sheer scope in the difference between the taste of these potions is indescribable. About the best I managed to find after about a month was something that when Mirjana asked me how it was I could reply with 'almost bearable - but the aftertaste of mint and some freaky berry is wierding me out.’ For some reason Mirjana refused to even try the drinks after having the first sip of one on the plane. **shrug**

As a result, I am drinking more water than ever before in my life - it's the main thing I drink. I can also drink teas of so many varieties that went I first stepped into a grocery store here and saw an entire AISLE dedicated to teas that I knew I was in Europe... or some friendly part of France (if such can be said to still exist). But for colas? If I splurge and buy one when I'm out on the town to my language class or something I ONLY buy regular - at least THAT formula here seems to be the same as in the states and not some punitive brew like its "Light" cousin.

MIRJANA: I agree with the above assesment with one exception. Even the regular soda formula is different from the one in the States. Definitely less sugar and tastes weird -- all of it, Coke and Pepsi. I think that they try to cater to whatever they think the local population will like. Another interesting fact is the price. 2 liter bottle of soda costs in the neighborhood of $2.50. Ouch! Believe it or not, it's cheaper to buy beer. Too bad we don't really drink beer.