It's not free if you end up paying for it

[trinityvixen]

So, I got out of class this morning and went to stand by the bus stop to wait for the uptown shuttle. There was a trio handing out free sodas. By "free," they meant both that it cost nothing and was "free" of chemicals and bad stuff. Stuff that, you know, I kind of depend on in my soda. Caffeine is pretty much the whole reason I drink soda. (That, and I've since become addicted to it. So, a little from column A and a little from column B.)

The brand is Snow. The website will give you the gist of their marketing strategy--all natural ingredients! No fake sugar! No preservatives! Vitamins! Green tea extract*! Part of our sales income goes to stopping global warming!

I managed to get two of their three flavors--Pure Cola and Lemon Lime. I figured "generic cola" and "Sprite-like" were probably safer bets than a start-up company's attempt to make something called "Cranberry Pomraz." The fact that they're messing with three fruits there (as opposed to Lemon Lime's two) completely ruled it out as a choice.

I should have left all of them alone. Pure Cola tastes like nothing until you swallow it. It has this abusive aftertaste of shitty beer and sheet metal, as if you licked PBR off a rusty spoon. Lemon Lime is only marginally less awful. It's like they found a way to put the horrible false-citrus taste of a powdered vitamin C supplement into liquid form. It reminds me of the taste of Airborne.

So, yeah, I can totally not recommend free street soda. Unless you already know the brand--any free Coke/Pepsi product I've gotten that I've already tried has never hurt me--stay the F away from it. I can't believe I didn't learn my lesson after the debacle of the Diet Dark Cherry-Vanilla Dr. Pepper. Blech.

Comments

[neo-leviathan.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately far too many people get taken in by the "Artifical=Bad" BS.
Seriously, the molecule for Flavour 237-b is exactly the same if it's found in nature or if it's made in a lab.
ZOMG! Someone must have spliced chemicals for the artificial version into Genetically Modified versions of the original food!!

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I mean, there's a point to the "it's not natural" crowd's objections--a lot of what we eat is so heavily processed now that you can tell that it didn't come from a natural source. (Like how in America we're biologically like 90% corn these days because everything we eat--including meat--has corn in it.) There are worthwhile objections to processing food, mostly on the basis that reducing food to nutrients isn't necessarily better than eating the food in the first place and getting nutrients as a benefit. Stuff like that I can get behind.

But then there are the people who want to make "healthful" junk food. That seems rather to miss the point, doesn't it?

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's my argument against veggie-burgers.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I can get behind that sentiment, too. Though I will say that if I ever developed the conscience to stop eating meat, I'd be happy for a veggie burger that could approximate what I'd otherwise be missing.

[lithoglyphic.livejournal.com]

Actually, I have a really good recipe, if you're interested. Primary ingredients are lentils & walnuts, and I as a carnivore have eaten and actually enjoyed. I just refuse to call them burgers.