HOME |
ABOUT |
SOURCES |
CONTACT
Wretched Excess: Who the hell needs this in today's economy? The markets are taking a dump. Food costs are making double digit increases monthly. China exports to the USA are spreading havoc on grocery shelves. And Pepsi has repackaged jolts of caffeine and sugar to further obesity and sugar shock. Evian, that French water of questionable sources, has been packaged in what the French call a "palace bottle." It is on a silver tray. Now that should get some bar conversation going. A bottle of Coors Light has a label that changes color when chilled to the right temp. It would make more sense if Coors ran their product through the horse one more time and Pepsi played the econo game by going back to the slogan (and bottle) of "Twelve Full Ounces, That's a Lot." Evian? What ever happened to pure tap water? Overpopulation? India's acute water shortages... This story lead in The Wall Street Journal: After draining a town's pool of drinking water recently, cleaners found drowned rats and bloated lizards... A California firm is trying to sell purified water for less than a penny for a five-gallon jug full. It is proving to be a hard sell. Research says 450,000 Indians die each year from diarrhea. In all of Asia, about 635 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. Shall we talk about it? TALK Topic: What Ever Happpened to Water? Question: How many listeners remember when we could drink out of the water hose in our yard? 12FEB05 Just how did we get along with plain H2O ? Only since the bottled water craze swamped our municipal dumps have we been aware of the nutritional facts of life. Bottled water, as required by law, lists what ain't. GG 101 always checks for sodium in everything. Water bottle labels always reassure me that I am ingesting zero (O) calories; O sodium; O fat; O carbs: O proteins. Bottled waters with labels of origin in this hemisphere give some degree of safety assurance. GG 101 TALK has never recovered from the days when fancy green glass bottles with foreign addresses were found to be tainted with benzene. All this purity concern surfaced when Coke put out a release announcing a new bottle design for POWERade, a sports drink. Coke is flooding the market with 20-ounce bottles that are "easy to grip, easy to open, and easy to use on the go." All well and good, but just what are jock types swigging these days? GG 101 asked for an ingredients list. Gulp this: Sugar, sodium, potassium, chloride, niacin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. While the Coke flack was quick to respond, no mention of water was included. We must assume POWERade has nature's premier liquidity. As West Virginians always say at the water well when a bucket is swinging under the pulley, "Reach me the tin, cousin." TALK Topic: Is this what has happened to our water? Question: How many listeners remember when we could drink out of the water hose in our yard? 14July2007 N.Y. Bar Serves Bottled Water For $55 That was the headline for a CBS story out of Chappaqua, N. Y. As a social rule the first thing one thinks about going into a saloon is something stronger, possibly alcohol based. The idea is to get sloshed to some degree and water is not the weapon of choice. The CBS story said water is the latest trend when it comes to taste and a bit of marketing. The CBS zinger continues. Red highlights for emphasis are to encourage callers with opinions. Glass, plastic, carbonated, non carbonated, high mineral content ... no, it's not a fancy drink or a fine wine. Diane Felicissimo is talking about the latest craze -- water. It's a business making a splash. Americans spent more last year on bottled water than on iPods and movie tickets -- a whopping $15 billion. Via Genova, a water bar in Chappaqua is cashing in on the craze, stocking water bottles that look more like collectors items. "I have probably close to 80 different types of waters," owner Felicissimo said. This luxury water comes from all over the world and contains magnesium, calcium and even potassium. One brand, "10 thousand B.C." is a top seller at $30 per bottle. "They get it from British Columbia, Canada," Felicissimo said. "It's a three-day journey by yacht to get to their water source." If you want some "Bling H2O," plan on paying an amazing $55 for less than a liter. And Felicissimo treats her water more like wine. "I pair the waters with my food," Felicissimo said. If you want to be a true water connoisseur, here are a few things to keep in mind: You should keep your water out of the sunlight, serve it at 55 degrees, and, it should go without saying, ice is a big no-no. "There are so many people that are uneducated about water," Felicissimo said. + + + + + GG 101 NOTE: That last paragraph says it all. So, follow our water issues closely on the chance this CBS alert is a serious warning of conditions to come. Fact: Less than one percent of the world's water today is potable. TALK Topic: Phony bottled water labels 27JULY2007 Aquafina Labels: It's Tap Water That was the Associated Press headline when it was discovered a Pepso product, Aquafina bottled water, was really treated tap water. The story said the labels will soon indicate the source as tap water, the stuff that pours from the fixture over your kitchen sink. Credit a group called Corporate Accountability International for blowing the whistle. CAI has been pushing bottled water peddlers to correct both labels and their marketing pitches. For GG 101 TALK, dig the rest of the AP story: Aquafina is the single biggest bottled water brand, and its bottles are now labeled "P.W.S." The new labels will spell out "public water source." "If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do," PepsiCo spokeswoman Michelle Naughton said Friday. Huh? The corporate accountability group is also pressing for similar concessions from The Coca-Cola Co., which owns the Dasani water brand. Dasani's Web site says that Dasani comes from local water supplies and is then filtered. "We don't believe that consumers are confused about the source of Dasani water," Coca-Cola spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante said. "The label clearly states that it is purified water." Sales of bottled water has been a growing source of revenue for companies such as PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, N.Y., and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola as they lessen their dependence on sales of traditional carbonated sodas, as consumer concern over health issues has weakened demand. Credit the Associated Press with blowing Whistle No. 2. INTENT: As critical food issues mount, call with suggestions to provoke Washington. 614-538-1822 E-mail: doralchenoweth@usadiningnetwork.com |
