According to several mainstream ‘today’s holiday’ sources, May 8th is “Have A Coke Day”. With Mexican Coke decidedly on foodies favorite menus all across America (instead of the ‘original’ domestic US option) I decided it’s time to update the name of today’s faux food & drink “holiday” to acknowledge all the discerning Americans who’ve chosen (on many an occasion — for well over a decade now) to pay double the price of a locally bottled coke to consume Coke “hecho en Mexico” 🇲🇽 and not in America 🇺🇸 . I was in that cola camp once too, until … [read on to find out]
Why is there a 2002 copyright date on the bottle of “Mexican Coke”I bought in Brooklyn in 2024 ? 🤔… I don’t know the answer — so if you have any clue as to why holla back!…
Regardless of brand, The bigger point to make here about American colas is that the DNA of all of all of them is actually West African. Each of the (original) primary Ingredients either came from there and/or arrived here via the transatlantic slave trade: Kola nuts, sugar… even the spice and citrus elements in their “secret recipes” can be attributed to beverage blending traditions of the African heritage people brought here who are the foundation of countless iconic American foodstuffs and beverages. Yet African-Americans have been under-acknowledged and egregiously excluded from the centuries of profit made from said products. Instead all the credit for “creating it” goes to a Confederate Army veteran / druggist. And all the profit to a corporation known to have intentionally excluded Blacks in every conceivable way at its conception (including from consuming it! More on that further below)... There’s indication that things are different today with some Black businesses & individuals incuded in the coke corporate web, hopefully that’s a good thing for all involved.
Anyway, It’s affirming to find online that Dr. Frederick Opie, professor of history and foodways at Babson College agrees with my empirical position on this:
“You can thank enslaved Africans for one of America's most iconic drinks: Coca-Cola: the base ingredient in Coca-Cola is the kola nut that’s indigenous to Africa," he says …
Falling further down the cola & race rabbit hole, I found a “fascinating” historic fact that Coke marketed “only to whites” (allegedly for “racist reasons”) straight out the gate back in the day; whereas when Pepsi came on the scene , they hired a "negro markets" department (See pics herein). Ok so i definitely gotta dig (or dive!) into this a little deeper... Patreon peeps: hit me up there in the days ahead if you wanna stay tuned on this part of the “Cola Wars & Color Lines” story…
I thought this post MIGHT be a fun, semi-frivolous “Have a (Mexican!) Coke” day. It ain’t always easy being me/TFG — once i start looking into iconic American food or drink topics it’s not long before some untold race-related drama unfolds…
Well that’s all for today/for now ….
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Why Mexican Coke, you ask?….
According to the ingredients listing on the bottles of Coca-Cola imported from Mexico, they use natural cane sugar instead of the (less natural, less ‘expensive’) high fructose corn syrup used to sweeten the beverage made here in US Coke plants and facilities. Picky people (like me) claim we can taste the difference in addition to preferring a less chemical-ized form of “sugar” that several studies show is even worse for our health than excessive amounts of real sugar. And if you’re old-school (like me) you’ll also appreciate sipping or serving it from the classic curvy glass bottles vs. enduring any metallic tastes that can come from aluminum cans. What about you? Do (or would) you pay extra for imported vs. domestic coca-cola? (e.g. $4 or $5 vs. $2 or $3)… Let me know in the comments below thanks!…
How do we even know for sure these imported cokes from elsewhere in the Americas are the real deal (or “The Real Thing” as goes that catchy old Coke slogan & song from decades past ) ? I have to ask b/c when i went to photograph a bottle of Mexican Coke I recently bought, I noticed it had a 2002 copyright. Then I saw a 2021 date on a another recently purchased bottle. Maybe that’s ‘normal’ or nothing to worry about but now that I’ve noticed, it’s enough of a red flag for me to seriously consider ending my embrace of this beverage boo (on the infrequent occasions I’m craving cola). Next time(s) I guess it’ll have ta be some kinda small-batch ‘craft cola’ for me. Makes sense considering my usual anti big brand stance…
Nonetheless, now I gotta wonder about Canadian Coke … or Coke from various & sundry Caribbean countries ? Do these geographically close non-US territories use high fructose corn syrup or cane sugar a la the Mexican Coke manufacturers (if indeed that’s the source— and not a basement in Queens) . Then there’s Coke’s all time arch rival: the makers of Mexican Pepsi also list cane sugar instead of HFCS on their labels (which I noticed had PRESENT DAY copyright dates at least). Oh and apparently we can all get Pepsi “made with real sugar” right here in America. No imports necessary. So if Pepsi still tastes better than Coke (according to the “The Pepsi Challenge” from back in the day— and still referenced in current day) then why all the import fuss?….[A virtually unanswerable q considering that there’s not a lot of logic when it comes to The Cola Wars, which I learned from first-hand experience once upon a time ⬇️]
I don’t drink Coke or Pepsi much anymore, but full disclosure I did work for Pepsi many moons ago (first as a marketing intern for a year at the Torrance California plant and later as an Account Executive on the Pepsi advertising account at La Agencia de Orci y Asociados (a Mexican-American owned ad agency) for two years (back when Pepsi ads were at their peak!) SIDE NOTE: yes, Spanish is a second language for me. One that I learned via studying it in American schools and abroad back in the day. I welcome whatever opps there might be to elab on that in the futre.
Anyway: I confess that I (and my family) have a default preference for Pepsi — hence its inclusion and shout-out on this otherwise “Coke” holiday. I’ve decided as I’m writing this that if/whenever i have “no choice” but to go big brand on the cola front, I’ll re-fan my ‘ol Pepsi flame — where possible that is, considering that rarely (actually never) are both Pepsi and Coke sold at the same dining establishment. You’ll find both sold at a grocery or chain store but it’s ‘either or’ when it comes to small businesses and restaurants.
…I think the above pic is one I took of old-school looking American Pepsi made with real sugar! And the similar looking Mexican Pepsi bottles I examined seemed to have more legit-looking labeling than the Coke ones (and with current dates!)…Just sayin.
I almost forgot / revisited while writing this post that I apparently was part of a long legacy of Black Pepsi-Cola marketing & sales peeps that preceded me by decades:
…And why am i NOT all that surprised to find Coca-Cola appears to have (or “allegedly has”) a more deeply rooted racist past than I’d originally suspected? ….