Love Italy-Did you know that before Passover Coca Cola makes a sugar-sweetened Coke (rather than corn syrup sweetened)that is Kosher?

Interesting about the Coke. Where do you buy it?

I have to admit that on my first trip to Italy, my dad talked me into eating lunch in the square right by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The lunch was a set price (in lire, then). There were no menus, it was just posted at the door. When we got the bill, my Sprite was the same price as the meal. I believe it came to about $6 for each. Dad's drink (wine, I think) was slightly less. We learned never to eat on the main drag next to a major tourist destination. For about $12 we learned a valuable lesson.

Hello massagediva, yes I do know that CocaCola produces CocaCola with sugar versus corn before Passover. I spent so much time trying to see if I could find this CocaCola in my area (the Sacramento Valley) to no avail. Our Nuggets store (which has a lot of unusual products) tried to get this Coke for me but they called me and said it was not possible to.

I would so love to know where I could buy the "made for Passover" CocaCola, I would buy so much of it and store it. Although I am not one to drink soda's every day having one a couple of times a week would be so wonderful. Do you have any idea where I could order the sugar "Passover CocaCola". Thank you.

5Alive, I do not know if your questions was directed to massagediva or me. When I am in Italy my friends buy the bottles of CocaCola and they all have them in their homes as they know what a treat they are for me.

When I am at cafes/restaurants etc. I have espresso, Campari, wine, limoncello, grappa etc

Could someone supply some of us Philistines with a little religious information about the reason for this product?

During Passover, Jews are not allowed to eat or benefit from wheat, oats, rye, spelt and barley. However, many Jews (especially those with eastern European background) extend this prohibitions to other grains/legumes such as corn, rice, beans etc. Hence the reason we have special Kosher for Passover Coke.

It also depends on whether one is Northern European (Ashkenazic) or Southern (Sepharidic).

In general, the Ashkenazi are not allowed corn, but the Sephardim are. It depends on what was available at the time the rules were developed.

Then, of course, there are rules for Jewish people from Asia....

Re the cost of things,

Some while back, my Lady Wife and I met for a short weekend at a hotel in Philadelphia, where I was giving a paper.

They had a pleasant lounge with a piano player.

We had 3 small sandwiches, 1 glass of beer, 1 glass of wine.

The tab was about $80 at today's prices.

Some FANTA urban myths destroyed:

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/fanta.asp

Loveitaly-hmmm,sounds like a mission.I know the grocery stores here in the Jewish communities of Baltimore stock it.Maybe you could call your regional bottler?Buona fortuna!

>Some FANTA urban myths destroyed
Well explained. The guy was on TV a few years ago and told his story. Was quite impressive!

Well, as it says in that article the idea of running out of Coke syrup and having to improvise is sort of close. But the idea that the name Fanta had to do with "fantasizing it was made with real oranges" doesn't hold water since orange wasn't even an original flavor! And it wasn't really an existing company that Coke bought. It had been a coke company before and basically was handed back to them after the war.

>"fantasizing it was made with real oranges" doesn't hold water
It actually does, because I heared the guy who invented it, saying these words! No doubt about it, prime source ;-)

OK, but if I invented a drink that tasted like mild ginger ale and someone said "Let's call it Fanta because you have to fantasize about it tasting like oranges", I'd have that person locked up. Why on earth would anyone say that? Fanta orange was developed long after the name Fanta was started for the coke replacement!

It was war, there were no oranges, and people wanted them... This is german sarcasm/"humor"...

I don't know if logos is saying she is trying to be funny by making that story up or the inventor was just trying to be funny or sarcastic by making the story up about oranges, if that is really what he said.

There is a logical story about the name on the CocaCola website or somewhere like that, and it just says it was short for the word fantasy or fantasie because the owner told his employees to let their fantasy run wild in thinking up a name. It doesn't say anything about oranges and I don't believe that story because it doesn't make sense. The official German Coca Cola company's website discusses Fanta and Max Keith and doesn't say that either, although I don't read German as well. But it doesn't say that about oranges.

It would make more sense if the idea was to fantasize that you were really drinking Coke, not Fanta, as that is what it was supposed to be a substitute for.

on Coca Cola GmbH: <<Durch Rohstoff-Verknappung ist die kontinuierliche Produktion von Coca-Cola in Deutschland nicht mehr langfristig gewährleistet. Als "Ersatzprodukt" entwickelt man ein neues Getränk auf Molkebasis. Als Namen wählt Max Keith, Geschäftsführer der Coca-Cola GmbH in Essen, einen "fantastischen" aus: FANTA. >>

> it doesn't make sense.
You can deny the facts, or make up any stories. What I wrote is a fact. Period. thanks for listening ;-)

From Wikipedia:
The name 'Fanta' came during an employee contest to christen the new beverage. Keith told them to let their Fantasie [Geman for fantasy] run wild. On hearing that, salesman Joe Knipp came up with "Fanta."

After World War II, Fanta was introduced to the United States by Coca-Cola, and in 1960 they bought the trademark. Fanta Orange is the most popular Fanta flavor, available in 180 countries. In terms of volume, Brazil is the largest consumer of Fanta in the world. Fanta remains more popular in Europe than in the United States.

Meanwhile: how many of you know that Orangina is of Algerian origin?

I LOVE Orangina! One local store used to stock it, but I guess I didn't buy enough, because they don't carry it any more. You'd think that World Market would sell it!

Just that at the time the only! correct german spelling for fantasy was "Phantasie".

This thread reminds me of the old game, Telephone, where everyone sits in a circle and the first person whispers a word to the second. It proceeds around the room until the last person says the word outloud. Of course, it is an entirely different word from the one they started with!!