It’s February 1944, and Berlin is attempting to recover from American aerial bombing. But life and industry continues on the city’s outskirts. In farmhouses, bottles clang and a mix of ex-convicts, Chinese laborers, and other workers fill glass bottles of what was likely a cloudy, brownish liquid. This is one of Coca-Cola’s makeshift bottling operations, and they are making Nazi Germany’s signature beverage. Even during war, Germans want their Fanta.
The soft drink Fanta was invented by Coca-Cola, an American company, inside of Nazi Germany during World War II. Developed at the height of the Third Reich, the new soda ensured the brand’s continued popularity. Fanta became a point of nationalistic pride and was consumed by the German public, from the Fraus cooking at home to the highest officials of the Nazi party.
from the article: The drink was technically fruit-flavored, but limited wartime resources made that descriptor not wholly accurate. Its ingredients were less than appetizing: leftover apple fibers, mash from cider presses, and whey, a cheese by-product. “[Fanta] was made from the leftovers of the leftovers,” says Mark Pendergrast, who, as the author of For God, Country, and Coca-Cola, revealed this hidden past. “I don’t imagine it tasted very good.”
For the 75th anniversary, Coca Cola Germany sold a retro-batch of Fanta with a recipe "close" to the original (including usage of whey and apple), using the old bottle design. The sad thing is, that it tasted WAY better than the new supersweet orangey stuff. To get an idea how fanta used to taste, one has to drink the Swiss copy of it: Rivella. Lots of whey in it, and - for a soda - rather healthy. Cheers!
Posts: 202 | Location: Germany | Registered: 14 May 2013
