That works, too

Note: In order to forestall any claims of Pepsi Blue-ness in this post, I will not link to anything.

I’m a sucker for marketing. I understand what advertising and commercials are for, and I actually try to limit my exposure to them, because they’re often so insidious, and I prefer to be completely aware of what I’m absorbing. Still, when I saw the ads for Pepsi Throwback, I was intrigued. Not because the low-budget kitschiness of the commercials, but because I’ve always wanted to drink soda that was sweetened with real sugar, instead of corn syrup. I have friends who can’t wait until Passover, because then they stock up on the Kosher for Passover Coke products that are sweetened with real sugar, and their descriptions of their joyful sodagasms have always made me a little jealous.

That being said, I just don’t get it. This Pepsi tastes to me almost exactly like regular corn-syrup Pepsi. If I hadn’t bought it myself, I wouldn’t even be convinced that this is a different product. It’s not bad, but it’s not amazing. I was kind of giving up soda before this, and this hasn’t really made me rethink my plan. What is good about this stuff, though, is that it is seemingly impossible to spill. I have a bad habit of upsetting my soda cans, and I’ve already knocked over two cans of this stuff, and even though both cans were at least a third full, only drops of soda spilled. Drops!!!! If for no reason other than this, this stuff should stick around forever, so that klutzes like me can enjoy soda like the normal people do.

Taking an interesting idea far past its logical conclusion

My coworker brought in zucchini bread for us to munch on this morning. I was a little scared of it just because of the name, and also because it was kind of green, but sacked up anyway and tried a bit. It wasn’t anything like what I was expecting. It didn’t taste much like zucchini, but was moist and sweet and really delicious. I had seconds and was happy that I tried this particular vegetable/other combination.

Then, this afternoon when I was getting a drink to go with my lunch, I ran across Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda. I saw a lime green can and thought that it might be a soda in the spirit of Sprite or 7Up. Then I read the writing on the can, and found out that it’s actually celery-flavored soda. My relationship with vegetables is shaky at best, but I think that even normal vegetable eaters would be like, “Okay, now you’re just being crazy.” Why would you make a soda that tastes like celery? Celery doesn’t even have much of a taste. You have to stick it in peanut butter and decorate it with raisins and pretend that it’s animals marching in nature in order to get people to eat it. Its only good property is that it’s so high in water content that you (probably) burn more energy digesting plain celery than you took in while consuming it.