Flash in the Pan

I was reading a Financial Times column (sorry, but you have to be a subscriber for the link to work), and read how the newest battle ground for Coke and Pepsi is coffee. The soda market is under pressure, and, presumably, so is the bottled water market, with other companies providing significant competition. So the two soda giants have moved to cold ready-to-drink (RTD) combinations of coffee and milk. Presumably, hot coffee is almost ready to drink and will be when it cools down sufficiently. Pepsi has already partnered with Starbucks, and now Coke is about to with Illy:

The Italian company’s chairman, Andrea Illy, says he is proud to be associated with Coca-Cola to offer the “Illy taste” to a new range of consumers, as well as for existing ones to experience “new consumption moments”, whatever that may mean.

Black coffee purists should be bracing themselves for dark days ahead.

Indeed.

Labels: coffee, Coke, Illy, Pepsi, RTD, Starbucks

A weekly round-up of odd kitchen events:

• Toddler Tippling A San Francisco area Applebee's served a margarita in a sippy cup to a two-year-old - accidentally. The apple juice and margarita mix were stored in identical bottles and the manager grabbed the wrong one. Obviously he was looking for the whiskey sours. (AP)


• Pass the Pud A Delhi celebrity chef is filming a 40-part series on British cooking to air in India. It was thumbs up for bangers and mash, down for Welsh rarebit. Who says the glory of the British Empire is over? (Independent Online)


• Weiner-Weight Bout A 107-pound woman managed to eat 26 franks and buns in 12 minutes during the annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Growing up in China, food was always scarce, so she learned to eat a lot when it was available. Just don't come between her and the plate. (AP)


• Getting the Last Honk For years the French have been force feeding geese to fatten their livers for foie gras. It now appears that those livers can transmit amyloidosis, a rare disease that affects various organs. Symptoms range from fatigue and weight loss to swelling and kidney damage. And certain death, at least for the goose. (Reuters)


• I'll Drink to That A Japanese person was just named the world's oldest living man at 111 years. He attributed his longevity to abstention from alcohol. Let's party ... kinda. (Reuters)


• Toss Up The Mexican city of Tijuana, having seen dozens of drug war killings in the last few years, has decided to pick its collective chin up with Caesar salad, invented there in 1932. A local restaurant industry association hopes to give the city "a better image." Nothing like mass salmonella outbreaks to make you forget murder. (Reuters)


• Forget the Market, Let's Get the Royalties The man believed to be the model for the face adorning Cream of Wheat boxes finally got a grave marker with his name after almost 70 years. (AP)


• With a Shot of Ranch, Please Pepsi is selling a cucumber-based soda in Japan. (AP)

Labels: Applebee's, Britain, British, Caesar, contest, Cream of Wheat, cucumber, foie gras, hot dogs, India, margarita, Nathan's, Pepsi, salad, soda, Tijuana