Having originally come from a small town, I didn't personally know any practicing Jews. Pretty much everything I know about Judaism came from Chaim Potok's The Chosen, which I read in the eighth grade. (It's a great book, by the way, even for a Dutch girl from the Northwest.) One of the most interesting things about moving to New York City has been the incredibly Jewish presence here. Working for a private school for my first two years here certainly helped to increase my knowledge too (although I suspect the students may have taken some advantage of my ignorance... "But Magistra, we can't have a quiz on Thursday because it's Purim!" "Wasn't Purim last week?" "Purim lasts for two weeks, Magistra! Don't you know that?" "Oh well of course..."
Note: I just checked Wikipedia, and Purim does indeed last for only one day. Sneaky.
My point - I have learned an incredible amount about the relative importance of Jewish holidays, how they are celebrated, how long they last, and which ones are the fun ones (answer: not Yom Kippur).
So for Passover (which actually does last longer than one day), Ashkenazi Jews are not allowed to eat any sort of grain product, nor any sort of corn or rice product for the entire seven days. As a result, soda made with corn syrup is not kosher for Passover. The nice bottlers of the Northeast know this, so in order to keep their Jewish customers buying soda for a week, they make a special Kosher for passover variety of their products made with real sugar instead of the usual corn syrup. I was intrigued by this idea of soda made with sucrose rather than fructose so last night I insisted that B acquire this delightful treat for us, preferably in the form of Sprite.
The best part about it - Hebrew on the cap!
B and I agree that the soda tastes quite different. He wasn't a fan, noting that it was "very bland" and I can see why he would say that. The sugary taste is certainly less severe, and I actually like that. I'm not a big soda fan in general. I abhor that nasty feeling/taste that you get in your mouth after drinking just a few sips. This Passover soda doesn't do that, and I am appreciative.
It's good stuff, although I just don't know if I'll be able to get through this giant bottle of it before it goes flat. Perhaps it will last me until the next Passover?
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That's how all the sodas in Latin America and most of Europe are made. I prefer them.
ReplyDelete1) I don't know who this "B" is, but I think his comment of "very bland" may have been antisemitic.
ReplyDelete2) Why are you drinking up all of the passover soda and leaving us jews to go thirsty? You don't see me eating up all the painted eggs on easter.