Soda in NY/ Bad Food ONT!

[Starmongoose]

I just drink low-sugar squash, soda gives me hiccups. :(

[insertnamehere]

I like being able to have caffeine easily without drinking something like coffee (tastes awful to me)
Besides that, pop is nice but makes me feel like I have a stomach full of literally just air.

[Dice]

I like being able to have caffeine easily without drinking something like coffee (tastes awful to me)
Besides that, pop is nice but makes me feel like I have a stomach full of literally just air.

If I'm poor, I usually rely on pop to do just that at work... please, no one step in why that's a terrible idea, I know it is.

[Eusis]

I like being able to have caffeine easily without drinking something like coffee (tastes awful to me)
Besides that, pop is nice but makes me feel like I have a stomach full of literally just air.

I think it's worth trying to get used to the taste, plus there are teas too. Although honestly I do find that low sugar/sugar free energy drinks can be pretty good, unlike the soda equivalents which are always abhorrent to me.

[sandiny0ursh0es]

I've restricted soda from my diet a month ago and I'm very happy I did. It's to the point where if I do drink soda, it tastes too sweet and carbonated for my liking now. Water with a splash of lemonade is my drink of choice lately, and I'll occasionally have juices here and there but mostly water.

[Yoda]

i've been treating sodey pop like it should be
a damn treat not to be had more than once a day
savvy

[Vanguard]

You can buy a gallon of water for less than a dollar. That's what I do. It's more cost effective than a two liter of pop for a buck fifty.

What city do you live in?

I have mixed feeling s about this.

I think the government should incentivize healthy food more than it does. As it stands, the reason we have so much "corn" in our food is because the government subsidizes it. This is taking the opposite approach, trying to punish those who want to engage in unhealthy behavior. It's not that different from the tax on cigarettes.

At the same time, it doesn't apply to bodegas, which, if you live in NYC, are probably where you get a lot of this shit anyway. Especially in areas we would classify as a food desert, I can't see this being a huge loss since there are no real restaurants, no access to healthy food to begin with.

[Dice]

i've been treating sodey pop like it should be
a damn treat not to be had more than once a day
savvy

That's pretty much what I do, I never have it at home, just make it a "special thing" when I go to restaurants... or eat pizza (no drink goes better with pizza than soda, and the peeps who enjoy milk with pizza are just plain weird!!!).

After a while, like sandinsh0es said, you get used to it.

Vanguard makes a good point about promoting healthier options.  That big kick of it really hit Canada nicely.

[dyeager]

I am late to this party but I think the justification here has to do with the costs of drinking enormous and clearly bad for you sodas on people who do NOT drink enormous and clearly bad for you sodas.

Much like helmet laws for motorcyclists and seat belt laws for drivers, the issue is personal freedom vs. the fairness of others having to pay a price for that freedom. In other words, accidents involving somebody not wearing a seatbelt end up costing real money to people who do wear their seatbelts in the form of higher insurance premiums.

Just like helmet laws and seat belt laws are state issues (for example if you have a pickup truck in Georgia you don't have to wear a seat belt), New York is certainly within their rights to do this. It's already been pointed out that consumers aren't really practically affected by this - you can still buy as much soda as you want.

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with this or seat belt laws or any of it (frankly I'm simply not sure on any of it no matter how often I've mulled it over), but I think it makes sense. I also think the framing of the actual discussion has been really misleading in media, even by folks I usually enjoy like Stewart.

[Yoda]

I think if you're of a certain fatness you should be put on a state sponsored diet, unable to buy anything but what they put on your plan.

Fat and obese people are draining the healthcare industry almost as much as uninsured people going to the emergency department because their tummy hurts and they won't go to a general practice.

Fat and stupid is no way to go through life.

[Kevadu]

no drink goes better with pizza than soda

No.  Just no.  Of course pizza and beer is a classic, but personally I think the best thing to have with pizza is red wine.  Not something super-tannic or aged, of course, but rather a young and fruity red wine.  Preferably with good acidity.  I lived in Italy for a little while and even just the cheap house wines restaurants sold by the carafe made awesome pizza pairings.  (I miss good house wine...expensive wines all get exported, but they keep the everyday drinking stuff for themselves)  Mind you, I don't think things like merlot or cabernet make good pizza pairings, you need to go for some of the lesser-known grapes like malbec, barbera, or sangiovese.

Even certain white wines go pretty well with pizza, like a New Zealand style sauvignon blanc (avoid the grassy French stuff) or a dry riesling.

Why am I talking about this?

[Yoda]

To each his own but wine and the broad range of n. american style of pizzas do not seem to mix. Of course I'll eat and drink anything at least once.


I'm with dice. Pizza and beer is a classic combo but nothing evokes nostalgia like a cold pop of choice and a hot gooey pizza

[Vanguard]

Bloomberg did say something pretty interesting in one of the press conferences he gave about this, something to the effect of, "For the first time in history, more people will die from having too much to eat instead of not enough."

That's a pretty crazy thought. Yoda is right, too. The largest drain on our healthcare system is lifestyle choices, and the number one culprit is poor diet (and lack of exercise!).

And to anyone complaining about this being an issue of personal freedom, you're still free to drink as much soda as you want, you just have to buy multiple cups. Likewise, you're free to smoke, but it's going to cost you $12/pack here in the city and you can't do it in public parks.

Edit: Regarding pizza and beverage combos, it really depends on the pie. My local Brooklyn shop makes what they call a Grandma, which is this Sicilian style pizza with the sauce on top that just melts in your mouth. The sauce complements a good Pinot Noir really well.

Their buffalo chicken slice with blue cheese and buffalo sauce swirled together? Not so much.

[Kevadu]

Edit: Regarding pizza and beverage combos, it really depends on the pie. My local Brooklyn shop makes what they call a Grandma, which is this Sicilian style pizza with the sauce on top that just melts in your mouth. The sauce complements a good Pinot Noir really well.

Their buffalo chicken slice with blue cheese and buffalo sauce swirled together? Not so much.

So?  Sounds like it would go great with a New Zealand sauvignon blanc.  Or even an Alsatian gewurztraminer.  Give me a pizza and I'll match a wine to it.  Don't underestimate the breadth of wines out there ;)

BTW, I love pinot noir with many things.  It's a great wine.  But it's not my first choice for pizza by a long shot.

[dyeager]

What Kevadu is trying to say here is he knows more than us about wines. ;-)

I love wine with pizza. I also love beer with pizza. This does not need to be a binary choice.