It’s Europe, drink wine. What’s wrong with you?

I hate this too. I like low sugar drinks (like a bottled ice tea or kombucha) and even in the States I find sometimes they have started adding sucralose (without labeling them as diet or anything).

Why would you ever ask for a Pepsi anywhere?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes! Thank you for saying it! I also find this infuriating. The problem extends to mass market packaged baked goods and sweets. This law has turned all these items into fake sugar crap, destroying the taste. You basically have to go to artisanal bakeries, which are exempt from the low sugar laws, to get anything that tastes halfway decent.

Do you live there? I can't imagine visiting Europe and buying mass produced baked goods. Eating at bakeries and cafes (lol "artisanal bakeries") is one of my favorite things about traveling in Europe -- so much more plentiful than in the US with so many items common there that can be hard to find here. And every country has their own speciality baked goods, it's fun to try the different kinds (I'm actually a bit more fond of Danish and Austrian bakeries than French, though I wouldn't turn down a pain au chocolate from a Paris bakery right this second.

The fake sugar stuff hangs out at the grocery store. like instead of the yummy cake at the grocery store bakery, it's sucralose "cake". barf. christmas candies--all sucralose. yogurts--all sweetened with sucralose. these are advertised as "premium" items and yet it's all fake sugar.

the little bakeries are of course better, i will go to them first, but sometimes it's hard to pay 4 euros for a special baguette vs 20 cents at "Le Safeway."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you ordering soda in Europe? There are so many other delicious things you could be drinking. What a weirdo.

There's no shortage of soda anywhere in Europe. So obviously plenty of Europeans do drink them. They must be weirdos.

Not everyone has the inclination for beer or wine or apertifs and sometimes you want something that isn't water, even sparkling water.

There are sodas everywhere because there are American tourists everywhere. Not because Euros drink soda.

Man, I hope they haven’t mucked with my Club Orange in Ireland. I love that stuff, and I hate sucrolose.

Anonymous wrote:Why are you ordering soda in Europe? There are so many other delicious things you could be drinking. What a weirdo.

There's no shortage of soda anywhere in Europe. So obviously plenty of Europeans do drink them. They must be weirdos.

Not everyone has the inclination for beer or wine or apertifs and sometimes you want something that isn't water, even sparkling water.

Oh dear. I'll find out in June what my beloved diet coke tastes like. If it's awful, well, there goes the trip.

Why are you ordering soda in Europe? There are so many other delicious things you could be drinking. What a weirdo.

Anonymous wrote:Yes! Thank you for saying it! I also find this infuriating. The problem extends to mass market packaged baked goods and sweets. This law has turned all these items into fake sugar crap, destroying the taste. You basically have to go to artisanal bakeries, which are exempt from the low sugar laws, to get anything that tastes halfway decent.

Do you live there? I can't imagine visiting Europe and buying mass produced baked goods. Eating at bakeries and cafes (lol "artisanal bakeries") is one of my favorite things about traveling in Europe -- so much more plentiful than in the US with so many items common there that can be hard to find here. And every country has their own speciality baked goods, it's fun to try the different kinds (I'm actually a bit more fond of Danish and Austrian bakeries than French, though I wouldn't turn down a pain au chocolate from a Paris bakery right this second.

Hmm, will be curious to try Coke there this summer to see what I think. I don't drink coffee or much alcohol, so Coke is my go-to for when I want something other than water at a meal, which means I drink it on vacation a lot more. But I only like regular Coke -- not Diet Coke, not Coke Zero, no alternatives. Can't drink Pepsi. I actually generally like how Coke is served in Europe, usually without ice and in a much smaller glass than you'd get in the US. I find it can also settle my stomach.

So I'll be interested to try their version and see what I think. I actually will be surprised if it tastes really different. Sort of the whole deal with Coca-Cola is that it has a very specific flavor that people are pretty loyal to all over the world.

I won't be devastated or anything -- I do drink some alcohol and I'll have water or lemonade too. But I do actually look forward to drinking Coke during meals out.

Yes! Thank you for saying it! I also find this infuriating. The problem extends to mass market packaged baked goods and sweets. This law has turned all these items into fake sugar crap, destroying the taste. You basically have to go to artisanal bakeries, which are exempt from the low sugar laws, to get anything that tastes halfway decent.

French person here. I never drink soda in France. I drink Perrier-menthe, or similar, if I'm not drinking water or coffee, although I do have lovely memories of Orangina, mainly due to the old ditty associated with it, and the fun round glass bottle.

Here in the US when I drink soda it's Coke, regular. Pepsi is gross everywhere, and diet anything is never good.

Europeans aren't as obsessed with soda as we are in the US. Perhaps that is why they look better and live longer.

We don't drink soda often, but were in Europe recently and got a pepsi. It tasted gross -- like diet pepsi, so I checked the ingredient list. It had sugar, but also sucralose. After googling a bit, I learned that the soda companies were under EU pressure to reduce the sugar in their sodas, so replaced about 20% of the sugar with sucralose. It's so disgusting! I'd rather drink 20% less soda, than have 20% of the sugar replaced with a gross chemical. Or maybe they could just make it with less sugar, and it would probably still be sweet enough? I was also excited to drink Lemon Fanta again -- it's really impossible to find in the US. But sadly, I could only find sugar-free Lemon Fanta anywhere that I looked. (It was gross, but actually not as gross as the Pepsi, because it turns out that lemon covers the sucralose taste better.)

Normally I think the EU food regulations are so much better than America, but they really dropped the ball on this one. Just say no to sucralose, Europe!!!