2007/01/15
With meals, I am constantly faced with the question of what to drink. Being pretty cheap, I usually always settle on water, or no drink at all. I'm a slightly health conscious eater, so it makes sense that I would be a slightly health conscious drinker as well. But really, what is there that is healthy to drink that isn't water?
Fruit juices have as much sugar in them as soda, and soda, well, I think we have all read some pretty messed up things about soda. Then theres milk, which doesn't go with most foods, and which I am not a fan of as a beverage to begin with. Sports drinks are equal offenders, with tons of sugar and sodium to replace all of those nutrients you lose when you're...eating and watching TV. As the people in the future world of the awesome but unnoticed Mike Judge film Idiocracy would say, "but...it's got electrolytes," "it's got what plants crave," or "its got what cows crave!"
As a card carrying member of the Gator Nation, I would like to note that the above problems with sports drinks only apply to Powerade. I should also note that I work right behind where Robert Cade works.
So then, if you want a healthy drink with your meal, and you don't want to drink something as boring as water, what is there to drink? Don't get me wrong, I love water, and in fact I always order it when I eat out. But if the filter isn't full then I have to drink tap, and tap's no good, because I am usually already eating something, and don't need an additional side item. This is a challenge to the world's beverage scientists - give us something healthy to drink.
My beverages of choice? Coffee, beer, and water. Bitter, bitter, and flavorless. Maybe what you drink speaks volumes about your quality of life.
Posted by Chris Santoro on 2007/01/15 @ 11:57 | Comments (3) | EatFoo 1.0 Posts
Comments
When I worked at Open City, I had to quickly get over the perils working 8 hour shifts at a place with a free (to employees) soda fountain. Ever since then I've become a fan of soda water with a lime wedge or three. Sometimes it costs less than soda or will even be free, and the lime and bubbles make it a lot more flavorful than regular ole water.
Another plus? Drinking it at work always made me look like the cool barista who always had a cocktail on the job. Or maybe the alcoholic barista, which is closer to the truth.
Posted by: Jacob at January 15, 2007 2:50 PM
Nice. I'll have to give soda water a try. I have also worked in several situations where I've had access to unlimited free soda.
I remember working at Pizza Hut, I probably drank close to a 2-liter's worth of Dr. Pepper every time I worked, and about 3 glasses worth of Dr. Pepper per shift at Moraghot Thai.
Posted by: Chris Santoro at January 15, 2007 6:21 PM
I'm giving my support to the seltzer drinkers. Seltzer goes with most foods, except maybe pastry, and it's got a complicated taste and texture that addresses food better than icewater.
Usually, if I can, I get a side of seltzer with my coffee, and I always ask for it in situations where soda is called for.
I have to note, though, that here in Beijing where I live, they have a number of really good hot and cold drinks to go with food.
#1- Weak beer. You can buy big (I don't know what the ounceage is) bottles of tasty, low alcohol beer everywhere. The beer isn't earth-shattering, just a light, slightly bitter brew. One big bottle ~ the same amount of alcohol as a regular 12 oz. bottle, except that you can actually refresh yourself without getting sloshed. Yanjing's my favorite local brand, but Tsingtao makes an almost identical one. Goes very well with heavy North Chinese food, spicy and oily Sichuan and Hunan dishes, and, ironically, Xinjiang Muslim cooking.
#2- Flower tea "hua cha". Made from hardy mums, sometimes a jujube or two, and occasionally real tea as well, it's served everywhere, and it's a nice change from the dishwatery (oolong?) tea you tend to get in Beijing restaurants. Hot 'n herby, like a mouthful of flowers should be. (Chinese people drink lots of herb teas, like rose and lemon... they're hardly purists)
#3- Soup. I think soup to drink is more of a southern thing, but I really like it when I get a cup of hot 'n sour or some clear broth to drink with my meal. Sometimes it's tasty stock, but sometimes it's just bland and hot, with almost no salt or flavor. I even like the "jiaozi tang", which is just the water left over from steaming dumplings, served in a bowl. You eat it with your plate of dumplings- it's what grandma and grandpa do.
Chinese people seem to really like soda, too, though, and Coke, Sprite and orange soda are everywhere, along with super-sweet ice tea, Mint Sprite, and yougurt juice.
Actually, another very good Chinese innovation (which apparently popularized Coke when it first appeared) is hot boiled Coke with ginger. I've had it thick and syrupy, and also thin and still fizzy. Both are good, and considered good for the stomach.
Oh, god, this is turning into it's own post.
Chinese medicine has very specific instructions about hot and cold food, and I'm under the impression that cold drinks are considered bad for you, so especially old people won't drink them, or find mixing hot food with cold drinks to be rather gross.
In the winter, I often sit down at a restaurant and the waitress will put down a cup of hot water, rather than cold, actually.
Posted by: willfro at February 6, 2007 10:40 PM