All donations DOUBLED
grist-georgia-psc-header-ai

soda

  •

    Give 7-Up to your baby!

    1956 ad shows mom pouring 7-Up for her baby: "7-up is so pure, so wholesome"

    Hey, whatever else is wrong with our current cultural relationship with sugar water, at least nobody's pushing it as a baby formula alternative anymore, right? This 1956 ad says that 7-Up is "so wholesome" that "lots of mothers" give it to their babies. The company's evidence for this wholesomeness? They list the ingredients, even though they don't have to!

    Jess Zimmerman Food

  • Buy a half-gallon of sugar water at KFC, give a dollar to diabetes research

    I honestly didn't believe this one was for real at first. No way even KFC, purveyors of a sandwich that uses fried meat as a delivery mechanism for fried meat, would seriously market a soda size called the "mega jug." And even if they did, they'd never have the chutzpah to donate "mega jug" dollars […]

    Jess Zimmerman Food

  • Not just the facts, ma’am: Why science alone can’t defeat Big Food’s policy stranglehold

    Put ’em up, Pepsi.Food-reform advocates like to stick to the facts, believing that if they can just construct a rational, air-tight argument, they’ll convince the public and transform policy around food. But that’s a bit like bringing a butter knife to a sword fight. As Robert K. Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, […]

    Nancy Huehnergarth Agriculture

  • Coke, BPA, and the limits of ‘green capitalism’

    Don’t drink the Coca-Cola Kool-AidPhoto: Oleg Sklyanchuk“Coca-Cola goes green,” announced a 2010 Forbes article. Indeed, the beverages giant maintains partnerships with Big Green groups like Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund. It recently even completed its takeover of Honest Tea, an organic bottled-tea company. It would clearly like to be seen as a paragon of […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • The American diet in one chart, with lots of fats and sugars

    This is a non-interactive version of the chart. Also check out the interactive version, by Civil Eats and the UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism News21 course.Over on Civil Eats, Andrea Jezovit has put together a terrific interactive chart on the U.S. diet. Using USDA data for “average daily calories available per capita, adjusted for spoilage […]

    Tom Philpott Agriculture

  • Mimicking Big Tobacco, Big Soda blows smoke in Philadelphia

    Big Soda can blow smoke with the best of ’em.Coke image: Andrew AtkinsonFor years now, numerous commentators (myself included) have made comparisons of the food industry with Big Tobacco. The most recent example should become the poster child for how the most egregious tactics of tobacco companies are alive and well. Last month came the […]

    Michele Simon Food

  • Why it’s a good idea to put sugar water in your gas tank

    Photo: Alexander KaiserWouldn’t it be awesome if we could solve our waste problem and our fuel problem simultaneously, by turning one into the other? Okay, we’re nowhere near the stage where you can just scrape your plate into your car, but there are an increasing number of procedures for turning useless crap into fuel. Most […]

    Jess Zimmerman Energy

  • Aspartame is not the only thing in diet cola that can kill you

    What evil lurks in that can of refreshment?Photo: Jeff GoldenTurns out, it’s not just the fake sweetener in Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke that might cause cancer; it’s also the coloring agent. The cans these beverages come in aren’t so healthy, either. Modern-day commercial colas (both diet and regular) get their characteristic dark hue from […]

    Tom Philpott Food

  • Just how bad is aspartame?

    Aspartame in artificially blackened water — tasty.Photo: William HartzWhen I wrote about diet soda and and its health effects last week, I didn’t expect much of a reaction. I guess in the back of my mind, I was thinking, people still drink that stuff? Well, they do — by the bucketful. Overall, U.S. soda consumption […]

    Tom Philpott Food