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Miscellaneous See other Miscellaneous Articles Title: From Cocaine Through High Fructose Corn Syrup, the Story of Coke Epoch Times: An interview with Mark Pendergrast, author of For God, Country & Coca-Cola (Basic Books) MR: Your newly expanded book, For God, Country & Coca-Cola, certainly tells the complete history of Coca-Cola for Coke buffs and enthusiasts, collectors and food historians. But it also offers a view of social, political and marketing history in the US which is fascinating. MP: By restricting the history to Coca-Colalooking at history through a green Coke bottle, so to speakI could look at a wide array of subjects. The book has appealed to people who are interested in popular culture, marketing history, imperialism, equity, the impact of war, public health, globalization, corporate social responsibility, and more. MR: No one alive today remembers the era of patent medicines or even the elaborate soda fountains where people 100 years ago gathered to socialize. Yet Cokes identity and success are rooted in both. MP: In the beginning, Coca-Cola, invented in 1886, was a patent medicine that treated headaches, hangovers, a mythical disease called neurasthenia,and other ailments. It had a small quantity of cocaine and quite a bit of caffeine in it. At first it was sold primarily with medicinal claims, but by 1895 many consumers, especially women, were writing to the company to complain that they liked the drink but didnt want to have to be sick to take it. Frank Robinson, whom I call the unsung hero of Coca-Cola, heeded them and began to focus company advertising on the delicious and refreshing aspects of the drink. Then, when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898, the U. S. government taxed medicines but not soft drinks. They taxed Coca-Cola as a patent medicine, but the company sued, claiming it was just a soft drink, and won. That was another reason they dropped medicinal advertising. MR: I was surprised to learn in your book that patent medicines were the reason the magazine industry developed. MP: Most advertising in those days was straightforwardthis is our sewing machine and here is how much it costs. Patent medicines, on the other hand, because they claimed to treat diseases that ailed people, required marketing and over-the-top claims. Their makers, of course, were mostly frauds and they realized they would have to pay for this kind of marketing. They could also afford to, because their patent medicines cost little to produce and were sold for a large profit. Ironically, it was the magazines that later investigated and exposed patent medicines. MR: Being ruled a soft drink instead of a medicine was not the only time Coke dodged a bullet. It is currently navigating the obesity epidemicbeing accused of adding weight to peopleby introducing more artificially sweetened drinks. MP: Coke was actually slow to jump on the diet drink bandwagon and introduced Tab after Diet Rite Cola was already on the market. The banning of cyclamate [a popular artificial sweetener used in early diet soft drinks] over 40 years ago was a setback. I think it was an over-reaction because the government did not really look at a large cohort or the epidemiology before concluding that it caused cancer. Instead, they fed it in huge quantities to rats. MR: You write in the book that the cyclamate rat studies were funded in part by the sugar industry. MP: Yes. Since then, there has been a search by Coke and other soft drink makers for acceptable, natural low-calorie sweeteners. People dont like chemicals, and I dont blame them, though there is no firm scientific evidence that aspartame and other sweeteners are harmful. Stevia, a natural low-cal sweetener, unfortunately has a bad aftertaste. MR: Speaking of bad tastes, Coke is now made with high fructose corn syrup which has gotten a lot of bad press over possible health side effects. People also charge that it doesnt taste as good as sugar. MP: High fructose corn syrup replaced sugar because of protective tariffs on American sugar, making HFCS cheaper in the USA. In my opinion, it does not taste as good as sugar, though I dont think there is much evidence it does the harm it is sometimes linked to. MR: After removing the cocaine and reducing medicinal claims, navigating the obesity epidemic and the New Coke disaster of 1985, which you say was Cokes biggest mistake, where does the company go now? MP: Diversification. Since debuting Coke Zero and purchasing Vitaminwater, Coke is continuing to expand its line. Globally, it offers 3,500 types of drinks with 500 brands.. END Mark Pendergrast, is the author of several other books addressing food, the environment, diseases, and social issues including Japans Tipping Point: Crucial Choices In The Post-Fukushima World, about renewable energy efforts in Japan;Inside The Outbreaks, a history of the Center for Disease Control and Preventions Epidemic Intelligence Service;Uncommon Grounds, the history of coffee; Victims Of Memory, a book about so-called recovered memories; and more.Prevention recently sat down with Pendergrast to talk about For God, Country & Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It, which charts the marketing and popularity of the real thing over more than 125 years. Martha Rosenberg is author of the award winning expose, Born with a Junk Food Deficiency, available in book stores, libraries and online. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 8.
#2. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Everyone seems to remember that Coca-Cola once had cocaine (actually, not refined cocaine but just a bit of coca leaf juice, probably not equal in strength to a pencil dot of modern powder cocaine). Nobody seems to remember that, until the 1920s, Coke was made with beef tallow as an oil. However, in the 1920s the Coke people wanted to expand into the Jewish demographic and approached some rabbinical authorities to have Coke certified as kosher. The rabbis were shown the recipe and the processing plant and the rabbis insisted that the beef tallow was a problem. First, the beef itself had not been kosher processed. Second, and most significant, the presence of any meat in Coke meant it could not be served with anything dairy, such as ice cream. So, to get the kosher certification, the beef tallow was taken out of the recipe and replaced with veg oil. Because Ashkenazic Jews do not permit corn to be eaten during Passover (don't ask me why - the Sfardic will allow corn), to make Coke kosher for Passover the bottling plants have to retool every year and put cane sugar into the Coke instead of the corn syrup. As this fact has become known to Coke afficianados of all ethnicities, even if they are otherwise dismissive of kosher rules, those who prefer the cane sugar to the corn syrup wait impatiently every year until the kosher for Passover bottles of Coke hit the market and then they try to buy up a year's supply for the whole Klavern.
No reason for that. Cokes made in Brazil and Mexico (and probably other places that I don't know about) use cane sugar instead of that damnable HFCS.
they sell it here too, its becoming more widely available as an option. coke with sugar in glass bottles. they also sell the 'throwback' mountain dew made with real sugar instead of HFCS. I stopped drinking soda last year,, but when I still drank it, tried the original mountain dew with sugar and it tasted very weak. I guess that HFCS adds a lot of zing, comparing the 2 versions.
they also sell the 'throwback' mountain dew made with real sugar instead of HFCS. I stopped drinking soda last year,, but when I still drank it, tried the original mountain dew with sugar and it tasted very weak. I guess that HFCS adds a lot of zing, comparing the 2 versions. Never cared for Mountain Dew that much so I haven't tried their "throwback." But the Cokes I had in Brazil were good, at least I thought so.
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