1
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,039
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Favor production of I Heart Radio.

2
00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:13,200
Speaker 1: I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we're

3
00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:21,400
Speaker 1: talking about kool aid. Oh yeah, you have to do it.

4
00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:26,400
Speaker 1: Do it. It's a moral obligation. If you don't do it,

5
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,200
Speaker 1: then a lawyer version of the kool Aid picture man

6
00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,680
Speaker 1: crashes through you your door and serves you papers. So well,

7
00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,120
Speaker 1: thank you for helping us all avert that particular and

8
00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,360
Speaker 1: strange catastrophe today. Oh yeah, you're welcome. I got a

9
00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:45,720
Speaker 1: strange shape hole on my wall. I'm always having to

10
00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:48,320
Speaker 1: patch it up. I make this mistake all the time.

11
00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,440
Speaker 1: I can't explain why or how, but watch out, just

12
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:58,960
Speaker 1: just watch out. Good advice, Annie, Thank you, you're welcome. Well,

13
00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:04,959
Speaker 1: I never liked kool aid um and I often say

14
00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:07,800
Speaker 1: that I only have five food or drinks I don't like.

15
00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,440
Speaker 1: I've said it on this show before, and it's kind

16
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,920
Speaker 1: of cheating because one of them is the very wide

17
00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:19,400
Speaker 1: category of sugary artificial flavors, especially fruity ones, which is

18
00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:21,760
Speaker 1: why I have some friends who like to pick apart

19
00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,720
Speaker 1: what they see as my illogical arguments. And some people

20
00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:29,640
Speaker 1: are like, well, why is dr Pepper a separate thing

21
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:35,160
Speaker 1: because Dr Pepper is grosser and deserves its own. Yeah,

22
00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,360
Speaker 1: it's a level above. But also it's not fruity, and

23
00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:41,200
Speaker 1: this is kind of particularly fruity things. I mean, it's

24
00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:45,240
Speaker 1: a little bit fruity, but but the primary flavors I

25
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:50,680
Speaker 1: wouldn't say are necessarily fruit, right, but it's there and

26
00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,840
Speaker 1: I can pick up on it. Oh no, Now we're

27
00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,640
Speaker 1: gonna allough every time we do it. Oh no. Um So,

28
00:01:57,800 --> 00:01:59,640
Speaker 1: I have never liked kool Aid, and I'm gonna take

29
00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:03,680
Speaker 1: a strong stand and say I never will. Yeah. I

30
00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,200
Speaker 1: do like that. I like the busting in means so

31
00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:08,840
Speaker 1: of the kool Aid man. I like that. Oh well,

32
00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,720
Speaker 1: that's a completely separate issue, really it is. You know,

33
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,360
Speaker 1: I grew up, um So, I grew up spending summers

34
00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 1: with my mother's parents, and kool Aid was definitely a

35
00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:26,240
Speaker 1: staple beverage within that household. Um So, I do have

36
00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 1: some fond memories of kool Aid. I'm particular about artificial

37
00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,960
Speaker 1: fruit flavors because some of them, I'm like, why is this?

38
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:38,480
Speaker 1: I don't want it. Artificial grapes are like that for me,

39
00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,480
Speaker 1: Like I'm like what what? What? Why would you produce

40
00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,880
Speaker 1: this flavor. It's terrible. There's nothing about it that is

41
00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:49,000
Speaker 1: not terrible. Um, but I really like like a tropical

42
00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,320
Speaker 1: punch kind of vibe. That might be it. Maybe I'm

43
00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,880
Speaker 1: just into tropical punch. That could be true. This is

44
00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:00,200
Speaker 1: a okay, I'm going to have to investigate the US

45
00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,520
Speaker 1: on my own. I'm seeing some realization and come back

46
00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:07,480
Speaker 1: your face. Yes, yes, I did have a friend's house.

47
00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,519
Speaker 1: Every time I went over to her house in this summer,

48
00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:12,560
Speaker 1: she lived on a lake, and when we would come

49
00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,880
Speaker 1: back in and it's we were hot and tired and

50
00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,720
Speaker 1: thirsty and hungry, they would make Koolated and they always

51
00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:21,919
Speaker 1: made the blue kind. And I'm never going to complain

52
00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:24,200
Speaker 1: about it because it was never in my house. And

53
00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:28,440
Speaker 1: my favorite part of it was that it was bright blue, right, Yeah,

54
00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:31,800
Speaker 1: the flavor shaw, but it was cold. It was bright

55
00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,400
Speaker 1: blue and cold. So that's very cold, a little bit

56
00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:36,520
Speaker 1: of sidick, which is nice also when you know you

57
00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:39,280
Speaker 1: want that kind of like drying a stringency when it's

58
00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,600
Speaker 1: when it's hot, when you're thirsty. So apparently I didn't

59
00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:46,840
Speaker 1: know anything about the history of Koolate because when I

60
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,960
Speaker 1: found out it was the official soft drink of Nebraska.

61
00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:54,920
Speaker 1: I was, like, what Nebraska, Nebraska? Where they celebrate with

62
00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,520
Speaker 1: a three day festival each year. There's a frisbee golf tournament,

63
00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,600
Speaker 1: there's cardboard races I'm assuming made out of the cardboard,

64
00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:08,280
Speaker 1: kool Aid packaging cool, a chugging contest, and the crowning

65
00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,960
Speaker 1: of Miss kool Aid. So if anyone's ever been and

66
00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,119
Speaker 1: has pictures, oh my gosh, please send oh please do. Yeah.

67
00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:20,279
Speaker 1: There there's also somewhere in Nebraska um A, a cultural

68
00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:25,840
Speaker 1: and historical museum that has a display of kool Aid

69
00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,760
Speaker 1: historical memorabilia, including one of the first kool Aid Man suits.

70
00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,599
Speaker 1: So if anyone has any experience with that, also, please

71
00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,200
Speaker 1: do right in. Yes, I'm very intrigued by kool Aid suit.

72
00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:41,839
Speaker 1: But all right, before I get off the rails imagining

73
00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:47,719
Speaker 1: what that entails, let's get to our question. Kool Aid.

74
00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,839
Speaker 1: What is it? Well? Uh, kool Aid is a brand

75
00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:59,880
Speaker 1: of inexpensive, shelf stable drinks and drink mixes that the

76
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:01,920
Speaker 1: latter are the main part of the business, and they're

77
00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,599
Speaker 1: they're meant to be stirred into water in order to

78
00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:09,560
Speaker 1: quickly and easily create a flavored and colored beverage. They're

79
00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,279
Speaker 1: heavily marketed toward children and young adults, using in part

80
00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:19,680
Speaker 1: the um memorable character of the kool Aid Man, who

81
00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,560
Speaker 1: is an anthropomorphic clear glass or plastic picture with arms

82
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:30,040
Speaker 1: and legs his I'm just trying to imagine if you've

83
00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,359
Speaker 1: never seen this, how odd to hear it just described. Yeah.

84
00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:36,440
Speaker 1: As I was writing this one out, I was like,

85
00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:41,560
Speaker 1: there are some sentences that I'm going to be saying. Uh,

86
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:48,640
Speaker 1: that is true. It's happening now, it is currently occurring. Yes, yeah,

87
00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,840
Speaker 1: So the kool Aid Man, his face is drawn um

88
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,080
Speaker 1: large on the picture, um, sometimes in the very perspiration

89
00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:00,560
Speaker 1: gathered on the pictures sides. And his picture is full,

90
00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,640
Speaker 1: um it is full of what we presume is red

91
00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,560
Speaker 1: kool aid plus ice. Oh. I've never really wondered about that.

92
00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,920
Speaker 1: I had not until I wrote that down, and now

93
00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:16,680
Speaker 1: I can't get it out of my head. He's a

94
00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:25,640
Speaker 1: picture totally fool, totally fool, totally full kind of mascot um.

95
00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:31,800
Speaker 1: And sometimes he wears clothes but sometimes not. Oh you're right. Oh,

96
00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:33,960
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about that more a little bit later.

97
00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:39,080
Speaker 1: Oh yes, oh yes, but okay, al right, back to

98
00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:44,480
Speaker 1: the food product. So, so these um, the mixes come

99
00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,840
Speaker 1: in sweetened and unsweetened varieties. You're meant to add your

100
00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,880
Speaker 1: own sugar or you know, other sweetener to the unsweetened ones,

101
00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:55,600
Speaker 1: and their line currently offers powdered mixes and liquid concentrates.

102
00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 1: The already sugared up powders come in canisters. The unsweet

103
00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,440
Speaker 1: eatened ones come in these small packets, like the size

104
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,039
Speaker 1: of like a pack of trading cards. UM, and all

105
00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,400
Speaker 1: of these are meant to make batches or pictures a beverage.

106
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:12,280
Speaker 1: The liquid concentrates in a particular line of powdered mixes

107
00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,160
Speaker 1: contain artificial sweeteners and are meant to be added to

108
00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:17,120
Speaker 1: like a single glass of water kind of on the

109
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:22,600
Speaker 1: go mhm. The brand also sells pre made beverages in

110
00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:28,160
Speaker 1: the form of a multi serving plastic bottles. UM also jammers,

111
00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:32,000
Speaker 1: which are single serving pouches that you stick a straw into,

112
00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:36,080
Speaker 1: you know, like a like Capri sun. Yeah, um bursts,

113
00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:41,480
Speaker 1: which are single serving, easy open, soft plastic bottles. UM.

114
00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:43,960
Speaker 1: They've got that little kind of like like twisty twisty

115
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,440
Speaker 1: breaky off top. Oh yeah, I always reminds me of

116
00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,440
Speaker 1: shudder from the Teenagehot Ninja Turtles I don't know why,

117
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,080
Speaker 1: like like kind of his hat sort of. Yeah, all right, yeah,

118
00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,520
Speaker 1: I see you. Uh. And and then sparklers, which are

119
00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:02,200
Speaker 1: a pretty new product. They're they're canned carbonated beverage that

120
00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:04,480
Speaker 1: seems to be marketed to like a slightly older set

121
00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,040
Speaker 1: and based on the popularity of like Lacroix and stuff

122
00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:18,720
Speaker 1: like that. Okay, all right, that's funny to me, but yeah,

123
00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:24,760
Speaker 1: why not? Um And and yes, the flavors involved here

124
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:31,800
Speaker 1: are fruity um. You've got straightforward flavors like a cherry grape, orange, watermelon,

125
00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,960
Speaker 1: green apple, black cherry, pink lemonade, strawberry, kind of one too,

126
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:41,120
Speaker 1: combo flavors like um strawberry Kiwi strawberry lemonade, peach, mango,

127
00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:45,720
Speaker 1: cherry lime, maide lemon lime Kiwi lime um. And then

128
00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:51,120
Speaker 1: slightly more shall we say, esoteric flavors like the aforementioned

129
00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:57,080
Speaker 1: tropical punch berry blue blue raspberry, blue raspberry lemonade, ice

130
00:08:57,160 --> 00:09:04,520
Speaker 1: blue raspberry lemonade, fool aid, scary berry um, and of

131
00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:13,920
Speaker 1: course charcoleberry finn. You can't forget sparkleberry finn. Uh. There

132
00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,400
Speaker 1: are also a few um abus frescos with dual English

133
00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:23,079
Speaker 1: Spanish language packaging. Um, those common flavors of tangerine, mango, pineapple,

134
00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,280
Speaker 1: and hibiscus. H yeah, yeah, Like I'm like like Jamaica

135
00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,560
Speaker 1: the high biscus ta oh nice yeah, or that probably

136
00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:33,800
Speaker 1: isn't pronounced that way, but I've always pronounced it that way.

137
00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:40,480
Speaker 1: It's probably make a yeah. There you go Spanish anyway. UM,

138
00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,840
Speaker 1: So most of the kool Aid products do rely on

139
00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:49,760
Speaker 1: artificial flavors and colors to produce their effects, except the sparklers,

140
00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:54,280
Speaker 1: which use natural flavors and non artificially produced color agents

141
00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,959
Speaker 1: like vegetable juice and beta carotene. Well, all right, that's

142
00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:06,320
Speaker 1: a good segue into question what about the nutrition? Alright,

143
00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,040
Speaker 1: so kool Aid is colored flavored water with anywhere from

144
00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:15,480
Speaker 1: zero to like a whole bunch of sugar added in. UM.

145
00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:17,560
Speaker 1: I will say that kool Aid does for for most

146
00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:20,520
Speaker 1: of their products, try to keep the amount of sugar

147
00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,520
Speaker 1: or like the recommended sugar to be added down a

148
00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:25,560
Speaker 1: little bit. Like. One of their big selling points right

149
00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,240
Speaker 1: now seems to be that the stuff has less sugar

150
00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:32,880
Speaker 1: than leading sodas um but a various product product generally

151
00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:36,000
Speaker 1: there's like under twenty grams of sugar per serving, whereas

152
00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:42,800
Speaker 1: most sodas have over twenty Huh that surprises me. Yeah uh,

153
00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:46,680
Speaker 1: and I guess uh. You know. A note here on

154
00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:51,680
Speaker 1: artificial flavors and colors and non sugar sweeteners. All of

155
00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,200
Speaker 1: these have seen, of course, their their share of pushback

156
00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:58,320
Speaker 1: and controversy over the years, and honestly, all three of

157
00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:01,320
Speaker 1: those are other episode and we have done ones on

158
00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:08,040
Speaker 1: artificial flavors and also artificial sweeteners. Basically to sum up um,

159
00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,080
Speaker 1: more research needs to be done on artificial sweeteners because

160
00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,400
Speaker 1: what research we do have is pretty new and has

161
00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:20,559
Speaker 1: traditionally been pretty tainted by the influence of the sugar industry. UM.

162
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,800
Speaker 1: And as far as artificial flavors go, they aren't necessarily

163
00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:30,800
Speaker 1: any um more hazardous than or even any molecularly different

164
00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:35,960
Speaker 1: from natural flavors because the term natural in this instance

165
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,960
Speaker 1: means that a flavor was produced from a planter animal

166
00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,959
Speaker 1: that can include bacteria or yeast in a laboratory. Um.

167
00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,000
Speaker 1: Artificial just means that it was something created in a

168
00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:51,520
Speaker 1: laboratory bia chemical and orm mechanical processes. So these flavors

169
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:57,280
Speaker 1: can be like chemically identical. Um, it's not necessarily better.

170
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:01,640
Speaker 1: Some artificial flavors are like kind of a product of

171
00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,400
Speaker 1: a petroleum situation. It's it's complicated. You really have to

172
00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,320
Speaker 1: go into what specific ones are being used, right, and

173
00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:11,640
Speaker 1: if you go to that episode, you will learn what

174
00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,840
Speaker 1: I thought was very fascinating about the how the artificial

175
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:16,720
Speaker 1: banana flavor A lot of people think it doesn't taste

176
00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:23,080
Speaker 1: like and also blue raspberry. Mm hmmm, what is that?

177
00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:26,920
Speaker 1: It is a specific thing. It is there you go.

178
00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:32,800
Speaker 1: That's the answer. That's my answer to to every what

179
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,480
Speaker 1: is it question from now on. It's a specific thing.

180
00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:46,680
Speaker 1: Layout of the show says, I don't know what do

181
00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:51,040
Speaker 1: I look like an expert? It's not what I've ever

182
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,040
Speaker 1: said that I was, y'all um, but we have not

183
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:56,840
Speaker 1: done an episode yet on artificial colors, and we need to.

184
00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:58,840
Speaker 1: That's a that's a thing that we should do that

185
00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:01,040
Speaker 1: I'm going to get a huge headache from. I can

186
00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:04,480
Speaker 1: already tell um, but I guess, Okay, if we're gonna

187
00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:07,320
Speaker 1: sum up the idea of the nutrition of kool aid,

188
00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:11,160
Speaker 1: which I laugh as I say, because it's laughable, Um, okay,

189
00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:15,440
Speaker 1: like it's good to hydrate um, and so if flavor

190
00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:19,680
Speaker 1: and color helps someone do that, that's fine. Um, we

191
00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:23,120
Speaker 1: should all be limiting our sugar intake. UM. But treats

192
00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:27,400
Speaker 1: are nice to have, so you know, I don't know,

193
00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:29,680
Speaker 1: do what you like? UM, I will say that the

194
00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:33,319
Speaker 1: products all do contain a pretty good dose of vitamin C.

195
00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:40,160
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Also surprised, but there you go, partially because

196
00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:44,000
Speaker 1: it's a flavoring as well as a vitamin kind of

197
00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,840
Speaker 1: thing that writes with that acidic pop. Well numbers wise

198
00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,160
Speaker 1: these days, Yeah, you can find kool aid in over

199
00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:57,080
Speaker 1: twenty flavors I counted currently on their website, but I

200
00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:02,320
Speaker 1: don't think the entire line was necessary really represented. Yeah,

201
00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,640
Speaker 1: because they have so much. It's all over the place,

202
00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,720
Speaker 1: and you've got the standards and and yes, sharcoberry finn,

203
00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:11,800
Speaker 1: who can forget which, if you're curious, is an orange

204
00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,959
Speaker 1: strawberry banani mixture, because of course it's obvious sharcoleberry finn

205
00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:20,000
Speaker 1: is that UM And so many flavors lost time, like

206
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 1: purple source recks, pink swimming Go, Great Blue Denie, scary

207
00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:32,600
Speaker 1: black cherry, and rocodile red. Great blue Dni was fascinating

208
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,600
Speaker 1: because the powder was green but it would turn blue

209
00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,000
Speaker 1: when you added the water. I that's like my Remember

210
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,040
Speaker 1: when I did those fancy drinks that one time. It

211
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:47,080
Speaker 1: was like gin and I had those blue petals in there,

212
00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,360
Speaker 1: butterfly pe bossoms and you put the acid in and

213
00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:58,520
Speaker 1: it changes colors. It's wild. It's wild. Yeah. Um, right

214
00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:02,120
Speaker 1: now they're There is a Twitter account that belongs to

215
00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:07,480
Speaker 1: the brand, and it currently features an image that says

216
00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:12,080
Speaker 1: on it mystery jammers cotton candy. And I feel like

217
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:16,800
Speaker 1: that's some kind of threat. Yeah yeah, I sat up

218
00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:22,680
Speaker 1: a little straighter when you said that, mystery jammer. Oh no,

219
00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:28,080
Speaker 1: cotton can I also cotton candy. See the artificial flavors

220
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:29,880
Speaker 1: that I dislike tend to be the like the like

221
00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,160
Speaker 1: baky ones, like anything that has kind of like a

222
00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:39,200
Speaker 1: fake baked good taste. I'm like, yeah, right up there, grape.

223
00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:43,640
Speaker 1: What is it anyway? Um, it's that Twitter account by

224
00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,120
Speaker 1: the way, at kool aid um k O O l

225
00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:51,320
Speaker 1: A I D is purportedly run by the kool aid Man.

226
00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:58,400
Speaker 1: Huh uh huh. It has seventy six point nine thousand

227
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:05,880
Speaker 1: followers and it is trippy. It's it's mostly like the

228
00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:15,200
Speaker 1: word oh yeah in various ways. Oh wow, I'm gonna

229
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,000
Speaker 1: have to check this out. I really don't know how

230
00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:20,680
Speaker 1: I feel about it. I am going to have to

231
00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,400
Speaker 1: check this out because I was just thinking, how funny

232
00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,680
Speaker 1: would it be if there was like a really serious

233
00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:32,920
Speaker 1: docu drama on the kool Aid Man and his life,

234
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,320
Speaker 1: Like I think of the struggles he'd have getting through

235
00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:39,120
Speaker 1: doorways and just moving about in the world if anyone

236
00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:43,480
Speaker 1: jostled him and that precious red berry kool Aid, red

237
00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,560
Speaker 1: freeze or whatever it goes spilling out right, Like what

238
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:51,200
Speaker 1: like what happens when he spills exactly? And then what

239
00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:57,000
Speaker 1: kind of anthropomorphic picture has this many followers? And his

240
00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:02,000
Speaker 1: tweeting just chippy vers of oh yeah that I need

241
00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:07,240
Speaker 1: to know the psychiology of this? Yeah, I mean does

242
00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:13,480
Speaker 1: he does he say things other than oh yeah? Oh?

243
00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:20,080
Speaker 1: These are the questions we need to know heavy sci indeed.

244
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,840
Speaker 1: Um well, well, if anyone has any information on that,

245
00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,840
Speaker 1: please send it our way. People have actually used kool

246
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,280
Speaker 1: aid for all kinds of things, from dying hair. Kurt

247
00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:36,520
Speaker 1: Kubain did it my biggest thing. I had a friend

248
00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:37,960
Speaker 1: who used to do it, and I was like, what

249
00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:43,159
Speaker 1: the bugs though? What about what about bugs? What about bugs?

250
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,440
Speaker 1: And like staining things? I don't know about this um

251
00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:48,960
Speaker 1: people are speaking of staining. People do use it for

252
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:53,640
Speaker 1: staining all kinds of things like Easter eggs. I read

253
00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,080
Speaker 1: it cleans toilets, people have used it for that. I

254
00:17:56,200 --> 00:17:59,119
Speaker 1: find it. I mean as I'm sure as possible, But

255
00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:05,680
Speaker 1: I don't know about that. Uh me neither. I will

256
00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,520
Speaker 1: say that there are a whole lot of like crafts

257
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,760
Speaker 1: and and kind of science e proud like learning projects

258
00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,160
Speaker 1: online using unsweetened cool aid packets. Yeah, I mean when

259
00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:17,120
Speaker 1: you get down to it, their their food safe diyes,

260
00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:21,000
Speaker 1: So it makes sense. Yeah, I guess maybe that would

261
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:27,680
Speaker 1: help with the bugs. Apparently cool aid mustaches are a thing.

262
00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:32,960
Speaker 1: Uh and developers invented a line of invisible flavors for

263
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,879
Speaker 1: people wanting to avoid it. And this lad to you

264
00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:40,960
Speaker 1: a similar debate around like three toes in the powder,

265
00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:44,440
Speaker 1: you know, m or Some people came out really strongly

266
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,520
Speaker 1: that they know that's a part of the experience. You

267
00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:51,240
Speaker 1: want everyone to know. Yeah, you want to die your

268
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:57,800
Speaker 1: lips and gums and tongue whatever color. Its important, Yes,

269
00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:03,000
Speaker 1: But I would say a lot more people in this instance,

270
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,760
Speaker 1: as compared to the dreatoms, were like, no, I actually

271
00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:11,680
Speaker 1: really don't want that something else I didn't know. You

272
00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:15,880
Speaker 1: can deep fry it. You can deep fry kool aid.

273
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,720
Speaker 1: You can deep fry anything if you're trying hard enough.

274
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,320
Speaker 1: From there, there are there are lots of food uses

275
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,240
Speaker 1: for for kool Aid, if you are so inclined. You

276
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,000
Speaker 1: can use to add flavor in color to frozen desserts,

277
00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:34,080
Speaker 1: baked goods, pancakes, popcorn, candy, pickles, even as a marinade

278
00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:37,439
Speaker 1: for meats and seafood. Don't we have a jar of

279
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:42,199
Speaker 1: kool Aid pickles that are long forgotten? Office? Um? I

280
00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:47,280
Speaker 1: think Ramsey had him. We either have them or they

281
00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:54,560
Speaker 1: were eaten by Jonathan Strickland, and I'm not sure which

282
00:19:54,600 --> 00:20:00,359
Speaker 1: it is. In either case, I don't have any secular

283
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:04,440
Speaker 1: interests in seeking him out at this current juncture. It's

284
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,080
Speaker 1: it's a whole thing. Kool Aid pickles are a whole

285
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:11,760
Speaker 1: cultural phenomenon in certain parts of the South. Um uh

286
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:14,880
Speaker 1: there you really don't get a whole lot of flavor

287
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: from them, like it's mostly still pickle flavor. But I

288
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:25,119
Speaker 1: don't know, Okay, all right? There is a black market

289
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,000
Speaker 1: of vintagekool Aid packet collectors. Now, this was one of

290
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,119
Speaker 1: the most fascinating I went on a dep dive of this.

291
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:33,600
Speaker 1: There's a lot written about it. These packets can run

292
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:38,440
Speaker 1: you hundreds of dollars. Yeah, it's serious. There is a

293
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:45,200
Speaker 1: market that people watch of vintage kool Aid packets, and uh,

294
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,959
Speaker 1: the kool Aid Man himself, as we've kind of been

295
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,720
Speaker 1: hinting at, is something of a cultural phenomenon. At one

296
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,240
Speaker 1: point during the late eighties or early nineties, apparently over

297
00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:01,040
Speaker 1: of American kids could identify kool aid Man on site.

298
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:07,680
Speaker 1: Who wow. This was helped along by perhaps the video games,

299
00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:09,720
Speaker 1: because they were not one of them. There were two

300
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,199
Speaker 1: of them to Kool aid Man video games and a

301
00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,280
Speaker 1: short lived comic series. He's appeared on The Simpsons, on

302
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:20,200
Speaker 1: a Macy's Day parade float, and in the music video

303
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,440
Speaker 1: for All I Really Want for Christmas by Little John

304
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:27,159
Speaker 1: and that music video has millions of views. And also

305
00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,800
Speaker 1: I think this is the third time we've had like

306
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,280
Speaker 1: shift Boyardy there was an interesting mash up for a

307
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:38,440
Speaker 1: music video. Yeah, yeah, this was a genre of music.

308
00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:42,920
Speaker 1: I didn't know I was out there. Neither did I

309
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,080
Speaker 1: I am I I guess this is one of the

310
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,679
Speaker 1: many ways in which I'm not truly tuned into pop culture.

311
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,359
Speaker 1: M Yeah, we're really missing out. I'll have to fix that. Well.

312
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:58,040
Speaker 1: That I think is a project for another day. Um,

313
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,600
Speaker 1: But we do have some kool Aid history re for you.

314
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,359
Speaker 1: We do, but first we have a quick break for

315
00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 1: a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes,

316
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:20,200
Speaker 1: thank you. So. Kool Aid was the invention of Edwin

317
00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:24,800
Speaker 1: Perkins in Hastings, Nebraska in the nineteen twenties. Perkins was

318
00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,640
Speaker 1: born in eighteen eighty nine and Louis, Iowa, but spent

319
00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 1: most of his childhood and Hindley, Nebraska, and he grew

320
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 1: up working in his father's general store. As a child,

321
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,880
Speaker 1: he was really interested in this hot new powdered products

322
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,240
Speaker 1: you may have heard of jello. He convinced his father

323
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:47,080
Speaker 1: to stock it at the store. Um, and it was

324
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,439
Speaker 1: just that he found it so at least from what

325
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,000
Speaker 1: I read, and this is me sort of projecting, but

326
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,000
Speaker 1: it sounded like it was something he was just so

327
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:58,439
Speaker 1: inspired by. Look at this thing. When he was older,

328
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,160
Speaker 1: he started making some of his own products to sell

329
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: directly to customers, things like perfume and blueing. Blueing in

330
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,120
Speaker 1: the sense, by the way, because I had to look

331
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,479
Speaker 1: it up, is a chemical that's used to help whiten

332
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,720
Speaker 1: white fabrics. Yes, it's not confusing in the name at all.

333
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,200
Speaker 1: But you know, you know, no one asked me they

334
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:23,879
Speaker 1: should have, Lauren, they should have Perkins designed the labels

335
00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,720
Speaker 1: and advertising for these products themselfs and printed them on

336
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 1: his own printing press, and he saw enough success to

337
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:35,479
Speaker 1: open his own mail order company called the Perkins Product Company.

338
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:41,280
Speaker 1: Now that is clear, yes, yes, so you better meet

339
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:45,720
Speaker 1: his distribution needs. Perkins relocated to Hastings, Nebraska in nineteen twenty,

340
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,639
Speaker 1: and his inventory grew to include things like creams, medicines,

341
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 1: smoking cessation products, and food flavorings, including something called fruit Smack.

342
00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 1: Fruit Smack Fruit Smack, a liquid saw drink concentrate that

343
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:05,239
Speaker 1: came in six flavors. And he had these representatives that

344
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:10,040
Speaker 1: went from door to door selling these products. Now, guess

345
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 1: what is most popular product was? Yep, it was the

346
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:16,920
Speaker 1: fruit Smack. Even though I've read a lot of accounts

347
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,040
Speaker 1: about how the name is kind of intimidating, it is

348
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,359
Speaker 1: I I again feel like this is sort of a threat. Yes,

349
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,680
Speaker 1: this sounds like you get a knock on the door,

350
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:29,880
Speaker 1: you opened the door, and it's a fruit and they

351
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: just smack you on the cheek and then walk away

352
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:39,040
Speaker 1: and yeah, that's your day. However, the production of fruit

353
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 1: Smack calls a lot of headaches of the product. The

354
00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:46,600
Speaker 1: four round corked bottles were heavy, They broken transport, they leaked,

355
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 1: they were expensive. So, once again inspired by Jello, he

356
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,200
Speaker 1: and his team got to work on removing the liquid

357
00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 1: so that a powder remained. By experimenting with the ratios

358
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 1: of flavoring food, coloring, citric into hark assets and dextros,

359
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 1: he designed an envelope to put the powder in and

360
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 1: changed the name to kool Aid, then spelled a D

361
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,680
Speaker 1: instead of a I d um ten cents an envelope

362
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:18,480
Speaker 1: available in six flavors cherry, raspberry, orange, strawberry, lemon, lime,

363
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:23,280
Speaker 1: and grape. And these perhaps obviously we're much much easier

364
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,880
Speaker 1: to ship out m H. And it's hard for any

365
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,840
Speaker 1: time I see the year nineteen twenty in the United States,

366
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,919
Speaker 1: it's hard not to feel like prohibition did you have

367
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:36,959
Speaker 1: something to do with the popularity of this product? Um?

368
00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,720
Speaker 1: For similar reasons. This was also when Coca Cola was

369
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:41,479
Speaker 1: taking off, and we talked about that a little bit

370
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 1: in our Soda episode. HM. So Perkins changed the spelling

371
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 1: a few years later, and it's sort of the stuff

372
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 1: of legend as to why. But the most accepted story

373
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,679
Speaker 1: suggests he did it because the government prevented him from

374
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:59,480
Speaker 1: selling a drink named aid a d like lemonade or

375
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:04,400
Speaker 1: limemate when there wasn't any fruit juice in it. Okay, right,

376
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:08,119
Speaker 1: The hyphen aided name was an homage to Jello, and

377
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 1: he yeah, he used that kind of naming hyphen naming

378
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:17,560
Speaker 1: way on several of his product names, So makes sense,

379
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 1: But mysteries history, I suppose mhm. Kool Aid first was

380
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 1: only available in candy and grocery stores, but in nine

381
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:30,520
Speaker 1: it became available to food brokers and distributed to stores nationwide.

382
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 1: Only five years later, in nineteen thirty four, cool Aid

383
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:38,440
Speaker 1: made the jump to the overseas market. Perkins tried other products,

384
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 1: like pie filling and kool Aid bubble gum, but none

385
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,160
Speaker 1: of them were as great as success as kool Aid,

386
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 1: which became the company's sole focus, and nineteen thirty one,

387
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,760
Speaker 1: the Perkins Product Company relocated to Chicago. That same year,

388
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: the price of kool Aid got halved to five cents

389
00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,919
Speaker 1: during the Great Depression, and it was seen as somewhat

390
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:04,960
Speaker 1: as an affordable luxury. Just for a reference, This powder

391
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,120
Speaker 1: that would produce an entire picture most of the time,

392
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,280
Speaker 1: depending on what you're getting, was the same price as

393
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,359
Speaker 1: a single bottle of coke. I did the southern thing.

394
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:22,919
Speaker 1: I called it coke Coca cola. And this strategy paid

395
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:27,320
Speaker 1: off and sales skyrocketed, going from almost four hundred thousand

396
00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 1: dollars in ninety one to one million, five hundred sixty

397
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 1: four thousand, two d two in well. Dang we dang indeed,

398
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 1: dang Indeed. Sales did take a hit with the sugar

399
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 1: rationing of World War Two, but they took off once

400
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,920
Speaker 1: again after those rations were lifted. Three hundred and twenty

401
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 1: three million packets were being sold a year by nineteen

402
00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 1: fifty who In nine the company was bought by General Foods,

403
00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: which is the same parent company as Jello, and there

404
00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,360
Speaker 1: was no time in introducing a new mascot for the product,

405
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,280
Speaker 1: The Smiling Face picture or picture Man also sounds writing

406
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: in nineteen four Uh and picture Man was the creation

407
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 1: of an advertising exact by the name of Marvin Potts. Uh.

408
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 1: The company lore says that Perkins himself came up with

409
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 1: the idea after watching his children draw faces in the

410
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: condensation on a window. Uh uh. And at first picture

411
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 1: man was just a picture with a with a moving face. No,

412
00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,960
Speaker 1: no arms and legs. Oh gosh, I don't know. Like

413
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: that feels creepier to me, but I don't know if

414
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:46,080
Speaker 1: it actually is because I have gotten used to the

415
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: arms and legs. I feel like the arms and legs

416
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 1: are creepier. But but I guess if the picture was

417
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:54,840
Speaker 1: trying to move around in the world, Like, is it

418
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 1: just like a floating picture, because that's weird. Does it

419
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: just doesn't just move towards see you, like it's using

420
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 1: the force to kind of slide. That's not good. No, no,

421
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 1: it feels very scary. In fact, well, it was clearly

422
00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 1: a less mobile mascot, yes, um and he I don't know.

423
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 1: Maybe for that reason was not an immediate hit. UM.

424
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: Through the nineteen sixties, kool Aid preferred using a celebrities

425
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 1: like Bugs, Bunny and the Monkeys as spokespeople instead. Perkins

426
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 1: and his wife set up foundations and donated to hospitals, universities,

427
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,480
Speaker 1: and other institutions before he died in nineteen sixty one,

428
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,800
Speaker 1: leaving a forty five million dollar a state. A presweetened

429
00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 1: diversion of kool Aid was developed in nineteen sixty four

430
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 1: and was refined in nineteen seventy in V one UM

431
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,240
Speaker 1: Small Note Here Session Jazz and R and B. Drummer

432
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 1: Paul Humphrey UM recorded this record under the band name

433
00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: Paul Humphrey and the kool Aid Chemists spelled c O

434
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:08,280
Speaker 1: L Yeah UM, and their track kool Aid Spelled the

435
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: Same Way reached number twenty nine on the US charts.

436
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 1: Ooh two songs shoutouts already telling you this is a

437
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,800
Speaker 1: maybe that's a whole episode. We we have been talking

438
00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 1: about doing strange like celebrity products or or maybe strange

439
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 1: at the right word, but unexpected. Yeah, and and entertainment

440
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 1: tie in, So perhaps we should have one that's just songs. Oh,

441
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 1: sure that that would be fun. Yeah, I think that. Uh,

442
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,680
Speaker 1: I think that. Our our executive producer, Christopher Hasiotis has

443
00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: been like low key pitching that for a long time.

444
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 1: I think you are correct. So we'll get him on it.

445
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 1: We'll get him on the key man Hard Pitt though

446
00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 1: in nine Jim Jones will let the mass suicide of

447
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:03,040
Speaker 1: nine people man, women and children in the Jamestown massacre,

448
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:06,680
Speaker 1: and he did this by convincing them they'd get to

449
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,440
Speaker 1: paradise if they drink a grape flavored drink laced with

450
00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: cyanide made with Flavorid, a product similar to kool Aid

451
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: and probably also kool Aid. There's a lot of debate

452
00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:21,760
Speaker 1: about it, yeah or possibly a third brand um or

453
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 1: generic brand. No one known is right. Historians argue about

454
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: this they do in either case. This led to the

455
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 1: expression drink the kool Aid and also later don't drink

456
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 1: the kool aid um, meaning to recklessly buy in and

457
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: be devoted to something or to not do that. In

458
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 1: the case of adding the negative, both products Flavorid and

459
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 1: kool Aid were photographed at the scene, and the original

460
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:51,400
Speaker 1: Corners report listed kool Aid with the c um. So

461
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 1: why do we say kool Aid and not Flavorid in

462
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:58,680
Speaker 1: this expression? It seems to be largely brand recognition. Yeah,

463
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:02,880
Speaker 1: and kool Aid was and is more recognizable, but also

464
00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 1: rewind to a decade earlier. Tom Wolfs The Electric Acid

465
00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: kool Aid Test was published in nineteen and this was

466
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,840
Speaker 1: a non fiction account of two people traveling around the

467
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,280
Speaker 1: US and a party bus. I haven't read it, so

468
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would use that term, but

469
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: a lot of people, in describing it called it a

470
00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 1: party bus convincing people who hadn't tried drugs to try

471
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 1: electric acid, which was kool aid with L S D.

472
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 1: And it contains the first negative instance of the phrase

473
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:37,120
Speaker 1: drink the kool aid. Um he was describing. The author

474
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,880
Speaker 1: was describing an instance where someone it was really had

475
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: a bad effect, and a lot of Americans associated pressuring

476
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: someone to do something or to drink kool aid as

477
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,520
Speaker 1: an urging to drink something with drugs in it. So

478
00:32:53,320 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 1: I could also be part of the reason. Yeah, yeah,

479
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 1: that was a you never know where the research will go. Uh. Yes,

480
00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 1: and probably at both of those are our conversations for

481
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 1: different shows other than this one. Yes. Um, so let's

482
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 1: get back to the kool Aid Man and his destructive entrances. So,

483
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:27,360
Speaker 1: so the mascot was revived in and at that point

484
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,320
Speaker 1: given arms and legs and maybe a voice for the

485
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 1: first time that that voice was supposedly one Richard Berg,

486
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 1: who was working as a composer for Gray Advertising and Advertising,

487
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 1: who was working on the campaign at the time, and

488
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 1: apparently the destructive entrances almost didn't happen. Um. Someone suggested

489
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 1: the kool aid Man needed a big insurance in the

490
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,760
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, and someone else suggested, well, what if he

491
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 1: run through a wall? I mean, there you go, answers

492
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 1: a parent and the rest this history. It was a

493
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:08,120
Speaker 1: resounding success. Yeah, those video games that you mentioned earlier,

494
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:12,880
Speaker 1: for the Atari undred and the in television systems UM,

495
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,920
Speaker 1: plus those comics which launched first under Marvel and continued

496
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,759
Speaker 1: in Archie Comics. They all started coming out in three

497
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 1: and I cannot personally confirm, but I've read it written

498
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,280
Speaker 1: that the storylines all involved the kool aid Man fighting

499
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:39,239
Speaker 1: against the evil thirsties UM being these kind of like

500
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 1: kind of like gremlin like creatures UM. And and they

501
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:53,160
Speaker 1: were thirsty. Oh dear, I, oh dear. I think the

502
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 1: video games also involved like you had to like collect

503
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:59,880
Speaker 1: the ingredients to make kool aid and then you have

504
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:03,200
Speaker 1: to make kool aid out of them in some way. Yeah,

505
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:05,839
Speaker 1: I think so. I hope. I can only hope they

506
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: were like a point there was a point system for

507
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 1: how destructive your entrance actually was. Oh see, that would

508
00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 1: be a much better video game, right, I think so.

509
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: And also I feel like there was a real missed

510
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,440
Speaker 1: opportunity here. I didn't know it was Marvel Um. He

511
00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,640
Speaker 1: could have been in the Avengers, and he would have

512
00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 1: been a great like they're having a serious talk, cap

513
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:33,560
Speaker 1: is giving is a passionate speech and then oh yeah,

514
00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 1: and he ruins everything. Basically, he's that that character. I

515
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 1: you know, but I think that him and and the

516
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,879
Speaker 1: Hulk would have really gotten along. That's true. The Hulk

517
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 1: could have had a friend, like a Hulk buddy friend.

518
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,200
Speaker 1: I guess he did get that eventually, but they could

519
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: have bonded in a way that perhaps the Hulk was missing.

520
00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:57,720
Speaker 1: But what if, like what if like the Hulk gets

521
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:01,480
Speaker 1: like confused and just drinks the kool aid man, Well,

522
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:03,279
Speaker 1: that would be a tragic storyline, and you know, you

523
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:07,400
Speaker 1: do need the tragic element and these things, and the

524
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 1: whole would have to deal with the guilt of what

525
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 1: he does because or Bruce, yeah, he really beat himself

526
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:15,520
Speaker 1: up for that one. He would and he would remember

527
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 1: how great it tasted, how that so conflicted over that

528
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:25,480
Speaker 1: because he's so refreshed, but so sad, So refreshed but

529
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:30,040
Speaker 1: so sad. The Bruce Banner story that would be that

530
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,240
Speaker 1: I honestly don't know why we're not why why Marvel

531
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 1: is not breaking down our door every day, every day,

532
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 1: trying to cut us on the team. I don't either, honestly.

533
00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 1: I think we've we've had some gold ideas. UM. Anyway, Yes,

534
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 1: this the early eighties was also I believe around the

535
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,480
Speaker 1: time that kool Aid points were introduced, and this was

536
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,680
Speaker 1: this was a marketing campaign where um, we're on kool

537
00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:09,080
Speaker 1: Aid packaging. Each each package would have a little a

538
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:12,239
Speaker 1: little logo with like the kool Aid Man picture and

539
00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:15,240
Speaker 1: a number printed on it, and you could collect those

540
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 1: and mail them in UM and the number UM corresponded

541
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:21,439
Speaker 1: to points that you could redeem for branded kool Aid

542
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:25,239
Speaker 1: products UM and like, for example, you could get one

543
00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:27,480
Speaker 1: of those video games for a hundred and twenty five

544
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 1: packets worth of kool Aid points, which is enough to

545
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:33,399
Speaker 1: make sixty two and a half gallons of kool Aid.

546
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:36,719
Speaker 1: So I'm not sure how long you would have to

547
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:41,839
Speaker 1: be collecting these in order to actually get anything for them.

548
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:47,320
Speaker 1: It depends on your the rate of consumption, I imagine. Yeah, yeah,

549
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,680
Speaker 1: well I went through that fees with UM in Star

550
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:53,600
Speaker 1: Wars episode one came out. I was right at the

551
00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:57,719
Speaker 1: like it was eight or nine, and the Dorrito's has

552
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 1: something similar let me tell you, I bought a bunch

553
00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:05,160
Speaker 1: of Doritos that were never eaten, and I eventually I

554
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:09,839
Speaker 1: have a whole collection of items I got from that campaign. Yeah,

555
00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 1: I actually want to go and rescue it from my

556
00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 1: house because one of them was actually a really sweet backpack.

557
00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:18,920
Speaker 1: I love backpack, so I need to go get that.

558
00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:25,840
Speaker 1: But that was all my Derritos I just bought. Uh. Yeah,

559
00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,800
Speaker 1: I remember collecting kool Aid points at least one summer,

560
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,719
Speaker 1: and I definitely never redeemed them for anything, because I

561
00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:38,840
Speaker 1: think I had like six something like that, you know, like, yeah,

562
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 1: that's when you just get a letter back like thanks

563
00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:43,799
Speaker 1: for enjoying our products, and not even a coupon is

564
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: in there. That's all right, Lauren, can't win all of

565
00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:55,560
Speaker 1: the branded campaigns. It's okay. But as you said at

566
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:59,240
Speaker 1: the top, the kool Aid Man at one point certainly,

567
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 1: um well, now he is one of the most recognizable

568
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:07,759
Speaker 1: food mascots up there, and possibly even surpassing Ronald McDonald

569
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:12,400
Speaker 1: at one time. I know he's pretty much stayed generally

570
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 1: the same over the years too. He did okay, this

571
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 1: I find fascinating. His age shifted from seven to fourteen

572
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:22,680
Speaker 1: at one point, so he could like wear sunglasses and

573
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:25,080
Speaker 1: play guitar. But I totally thought the kool Aid band

574
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,160
Speaker 1: man being in the name was forty three or something

575
00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:34,520
Speaker 1: like is it kool Aid picture years like dog years?

576
00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:39,040
Speaker 1: Is there something going on like that. I definitely assumed

577
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:43,399
Speaker 1: that that was an adult anthropomorphic picture of kool aid

578
00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:47,040
Speaker 1: um because because of the deep voice. You know, he's

579
00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,399
Speaker 1: got this like kind of like Barry White sort of voice.

580
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,279
Speaker 1: Supposedly the voice was influenced by Barry White, like that's

581
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:57,279
Speaker 1: not a child's voice. We are unearthing more questions than

582
00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 1: we're answering about the kool Aid Man. Mm hmmm. I

583
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:08,360
Speaker 1: think this is gonna haunt me at night. Um. I'm

584
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:11,120
Speaker 1: so sorry, but man, I really hope that you have

585
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:13,640
Speaker 1: a nightmare about kool Aid Man and that you report back.

586
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:17,960
Speaker 1: I will, sorry, I absolutely will, and I foresee it

587
00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 1: my future. I definitely m hm. Well, I'm not the

588
00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 1: only one that has probably had or will have nightmares

589
00:40:29,520 --> 00:40:32,600
Speaker 1: about kol Aid Man, because Time magazine named him one

590
00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:40,239
Speaker 1: of the creepiest mascots of all time. So this is

591
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:44,960
Speaker 1: the stuff of nightmares. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna see his

592
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:51,960
Speaker 1: hulking shape merge h alright, well, alright, moving on, moving on,

593
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:58,480
Speaker 1: general foods merged with craft in and uh dare I

594
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:02,160
Speaker 1: say this is perhaps when some of the really surreal

595
00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:06,879
Speaker 1: aspects of kool aid Man kind of ramped up the

596
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:09,520
Speaker 1: the ad dude who wound up with the brand at

597
00:41:09,560 --> 00:41:13,160
Speaker 1: that time, UM one Robert Scholar UM says that he

598
00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,520
Speaker 1: was inspired by stuff like Peewee's Playhouse and UM Peter

599
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:19,919
Speaker 1: Gabriel's music video for Sledgehammer if you remember that one.

600
00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:26,160
Speaker 1: UM Scholars says that he did once try on the

601
00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:29,440
Speaker 1: kool Aidman costume himself was made of fiberglass, and he

602
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,520
Speaker 1: said that it was like being inside of a Christmas ornament.

603
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,960
Speaker 1: He also says that he once got Richard Berg, the

604
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,560
Speaker 1: original voice of the kool aid Man, to show up

605
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 1: at his scholars child's sixth birthday party in the costume, UM,

606
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:47,719
Speaker 1: so that he could do the voice in the costume

607
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:51,279
Speaker 1: to you know, UM, and he and he reported about this,

608
00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:57,399
Speaker 1: I quote, and half the kids were frightened to death. Yep,

609
00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:03,359
Speaker 1: the appropriate response. But a birthday to remember, sure, uh

610
00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 1: and uh shout out to our friends over at at

611
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:10,840
Speaker 1: Mental Flaws for scoring that interview. UM the full article

612
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 1: if you would like to read. It is called jug

613
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:21,040
Speaker 1: life History of the kool Aid Man. That's that's pretty excellent. Yeah. Uh.

614
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 1: Also around this time, due largely to the to that

615
00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:28,680
Speaker 1: General Foods Craft merger, I think there was some really

616
00:42:28,719 --> 00:42:34,360
Speaker 1: spectacularly strange flavors and brand tie ins. Um my favorite

617
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:41,200
Speaker 1: of which is um Yaba Dabadwberry, which was a flavor

618
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:44,640
Speaker 1: of kool Aid that was only available inside of specially

619
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:50,479
Speaker 1: marked boxes of pretty Pebble cereal. Sir. Wow m hmm.

620
00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:55,719
Speaker 1: And for some reason I didn't realize that this was

621
00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:59,719
Speaker 1: in my brain somewhere, but like the the combination of

622
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:04,560
Speaker 1: that is Yaba dabaduberry like really awakened something inside of me,

623
00:43:04,719 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 1: like like Culhu rising from the depths. I was just like,

624
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:13,640
Speaker 1: why is this in my mind? What? Okay? M m yeah,

625
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:17,080
Speaker 1: that's this episode, y'all. Yeah, Because now I'm envisioning the

626
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:19,279
Speaker 1: kool Aid van cou Lhu And there's even like a

627
00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:26,600
Speaker 1: kul you could do it. It's there. Cool see he

628
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:31,520
Speaker 1: rises up out of water his picture. Oh yeah, yeah,

629
00:43:31,840 --> 00:43:35,560
Speaker 1: oh gosh, oh man, Yeah, this is awakening something in

630
00:43:35,680 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 1: me too. So kool Aid was named the official soft

631
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:46,360
Speaker 1: drink of Nebraska, which my southern sensibilities find very funny.

632
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,440
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. To me, soft drink means something different. It

633
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:53,680
Speaker 1: means it means with bubbles. But but now that I

634
00:43:53,719 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 1: think about it, soft drink just means without alcohol, so shure, yeah, sure,

635
00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:01,040
Speaker 1: and then let's up the terror factory even more. Uh,

636
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 1: and the cool aid Man went three D. That's right,

637
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:10,040
Speaker 1: three D. The Milwaukee magazine wrote that the impetus for

638
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:13,040
Speaker 1: the change was to quote be less about breaking through

639
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:17,160
Speaker 1: brick walls and shouting oh yeah, and more about making friends.

640
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:21,120
Speaker 1: Using the latest three D technology, craft has simulated a

641
00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:24,360
Speaker 1: dewey coding of condensation on the man's and I just

642
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:29,600
Speaker 1: want to note man is capitalized here on the man's exterior,

643
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:33,719
Speaker 1: making him appear more fragile and lifelike than he has

644
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:40,840
Speaker 1: in the past decades. So maybe he's just a fragile soul,

645
00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:47,600
Speaker 1: a stumbling around him this confusing world, trying to make friends.

646
00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:51,399
Speaker 1: Maybe it's just surreal for him as it is for us.

647
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:55,759
Speaker 1: That's fair. We need to be more empathetic to these mascots.

648
00:44:57,000 --> 00:45:01,920
Speaker 1: We do. Yeah, lesson, learned, all full lesson, all right,

649
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:07,240
Speaker 1: cool aid man, And I just want to say future

650
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 1: episode tang because oh yeah, I've always been curious about

651
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 1: the space aspect. Yeah, yeah, tang one day, all right,

652
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:24,239
Speaker 1: I'm into it, all right, all right, well I think

653
00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:26,800
Speaker 1: that's what we have to say about kool Aid and

654
00:45:26,840 --> 00:45:31,520
Speaker 1: a kool aid Man for today, for today. Yes, um,

655
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:34,719
Speaker 1: we we do have some listener mail for you though,

656
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:37,480
Speaker 1: but first we've got one more quick break for word

657
00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:48,879
Speaker 1: from our sponsor. And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes,

658
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:55,120
Speaker 1: thank you, And we're back with oh yeah, you have

659
00:45:55,280 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 1: to do it, you have to do it. So Rose,

660
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:06,080
Speaker 1: frequent listener and sender of delicious delicious items to us uh,

661
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:09,520
Speaker 1: wrote about her experience with food Girl. Um and she

662
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 1: says to read it with Sophia from Golden Girl's voice.

663
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,720
Speaker 1: But to my great shame, I have never seen Golden Girls.

664
00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:21,799
Speaker 1: I know. I just clutched my pearls Annie Race, Oh

665
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:26,759
Speaker 1: my heck. Okay, um wow. I really grew up with

666
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:30,239
Speaker 1: Golden Girls. Designing women was like too southern for me.

667
00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:32,480
Speaker 1: I didn't really get a lot of the references, but

668
00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:36,960
Speaker 1: Golden Girls was my jam. Um. I think I will

669
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:40,279
Speaker 1: love it, and I've been I got it on my list.

670
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:44,719
Speaker 1: Who is b Arthur's character, Dorothy? I've been told I'm

671
00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:47,920
Speaker 1: a Dorothy. But I don't know, I'd say, I'd say

672
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:52,480
Speaker 1: that's pretty accurate. I um, I aspire to be a Sophia.

673
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 1: I'm afraid some days that I'm mora Rose. But but

674
00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:00,080
Speaker 1: I aspired to a Sophia. Which one has been you

675
00:47:00,160 --> 00:47:04,759
Speaker 1: White Ross? Okay, okay, all right, yeah, I got I

676
00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:06,759
Speaker 1: gotta watch this. I gotta figure it out. Our good

677
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:08,480
Speaker 1: friend Ramsey has been on the show before. It has

678
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:12,960
Speaker 1: Golden Girls tiki mugs and uh he was the one

679
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: that was like, if you have to watch this, I

680
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:16,520
Speaker 1: will never let you use one until you watch it

681
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 1: and you figure out what character you are. Um. I

682
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:21,840
Speaker 1: think that's great. Yeah, I think he said he was

683
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:25,040
Speaker 1: the one that you said you were, uh yeah, yeah,

684
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:28,680
Speaker 1: the Sofia. Yeah, no, he's He's definitely a Sophia. Alright, alright,

685
00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:32,400
Speaker 1: well Golden Girls aside. I will fix that. Sorry, I

686
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:34,920
Speaker 1: can't do the voice, but maybe later, maybe one day.

687
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,600
Speaker 1: Picture it. The first day of New Year's Tokyo, Japan,

688
00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:40,920
Speaker 1: two thousand eight, Year of the Rat, I was invited

689
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:45,280
Speaker 1: to my flicker friend Mica Mica Armika's house for traditional

690
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:48,200
Speaker 1: Japanese New Year's meal. When I arrived, it was actually

691
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:50,320
Speaker 1: your parents house when your extended family was there, including

692
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,600
Speaker 1: her uncle, a jovial elderly man who loved beer and

693
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:56,640
Speaker 1: talking about American football. Turns out he was the owner

694
00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:59,000
Speaker 1: of a very well regarded fugi restaurant just behind the

695
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:02,360
Speaker 1: famous Ginza Fookie House. On the spot, he invited me

696
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,160
Speaker 1: to a meal at his restaurant, dying ha ha for

697
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:07,920
Speaker 1: a chance to finally try fugu. I accepted the offer.

698
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:11,120
Speaker 1: A few weeks later in late January, arrived one cold

699
00:48:11,200 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 1: dark night to his restaurant. My friend Mica or Mika

700
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:17,520
Speaker 1: into as our translator. Having a few weeks to prepare,

701
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:19,360
Speaker 1: I read all I could about fugu, as I was

702
00:48:19,400 --> 00:48:22,560
Speaker 1: a little nervous about what to expect. Just the day before,

703
00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:25,120
Speaker 1: a woman and her husband had died of fugu poisoning.

704
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,200
Speaker 1: She had bought some fugu on the black market and

705
00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:32,080
Speaker 1: attempted to prepare it at home. I also read that

706
00:48:32,160 --> 00:48:35,640
Speaker 1: the Yukuza loved using the liver to poison their enemies,

707
00:48:36,320 --> 00:48:38,239
Speaker 1: so fugu chefs were required to have a record of

708
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:40,320
Speaker 1: all the food that came into their restaurants and a

709
00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 1: trash can that was chained to the floor and locked

710
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:46,880
Speaker 1: wow The livers were put into the trash can and

711
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:51,000
Speaker 1: taken away by police at regular intervals. Finally, there are

712
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:54,399
Speaker 1: other versions of the kabuki actor who died from the liver.

713
00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:57,239
Speaker 1: The one I heard was a famous sumo wrestler, upon

714
00:48:57,360 --> 00:49:01,080
Speaker 1: winning the final bout, thought himself in inciple, he went

715
00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:03,279
Speaker 1: to the nearest fugu prevyor and ate not one but

716
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:07,640
Speaker 1: several the number varies depending on the storyteller, and died

717
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 1: on the spot. As for the tingly sensation of death,

718
00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 1: the most skilled fugu chefs are supposed to have the

719
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:18,879
Speaker 1: ability to leave just enough poison it behind to give

720
00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:22,919
Speaker 1: the mild sensation a near mop. Far from it being

721
00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:25,320
Speaker 1: a food for thrill seekers, it is a pause to

722
00:49:25,440 --> 00:49:30,239
Speaker 1: contemplate the shortness of life, much like how Japanese enjoy

723
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:34,239
Speaker 1: the cherry bossoms for their fleeting beauty. Taking in all

724
00:49:34,360 --> 00:49:37,160
Speaker 1: of this, I sat down for my fugu mill. We

725
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:40,400
Speaker 1: are shuttled into a private room of the tiny Fugi restaurant,

726
00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:44,319
Speaker 1: and shortly after Chef Uncle comes out. He greets us

727
00:49:44,560 --> 00:49:46,959
Speaker 1: warmly and announced that he has closed his restaurant tonight

728
00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:51,319
Speaker 1: so he could entertain us. Then he force us all

729
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:53,960
Speaker 1: large beers, including one for himself, and we have a drink,

730
00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:59,120
Speaker 1: feeling confused, nervous, and overwhelmed drink. Then comes the first course,

731
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 1: which was the skin, the part that's supposed to give

732
00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:05,360
Speaker 1: you the toxic tingle, and the chrysanthemum of death, plate

733
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:09,680
Speaker 1: of impossibly thin sliced fugue. The skin was tough and ruber,

734
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:11,680
Speaker 1: and did give the slightest tingle for just a moment.

735
00:50:11,880 --> 00:50:15,479
Speaker 1: The sashimi, though, was beyond belief in its wrong form.

736
00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:18,640
Speaker 1: It was sweet and buttery, by far the best fish

737
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:21,719
Speaker 1: I have ever eaten in my life to this very day.

738
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:26,120
Speaker 1: In that moment, I saw why so much effort has

739
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:28,680
Speaker 1: been taken to tame such a poisonous fish. It is

740
00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:33,680
Speaker 1: freaking delicious, y'all? Pleased with how much I am enjoying

741
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:36,120
Speaker 1: the food goo, Chef Uncle brings out course after course,

742
00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:39,359
Speaker 1: each time stopping to have a beer with us. At

743
00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:41,279
Speaker 1: this point in life, I drink very little, and I

744
00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:43,719
Speaker 1: was tipsy after just a beer, but Chef Uncle was

745
00:50:43,760 --> 00:50:47,920
Speaker 1: getting drunk as the night progressed. Very concerned and alarmed,

746
00:50:48,200 --> 00:50:51,080
Speaker 1: I asked my friend if this was okay? What about

747
00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:54,040
Speaker 1: the poisonous liver? I was starting to second guess that

748
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:57,400
Speaker 1: tingly sensation that was still present my mouth. Was that

749
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,759
Speaker 1: beer or was that the poison slow killing me? And

750
00:51:00,880 --> 00:51:04,880
Speaker 1: are these last happy moments of my life? Then my

751
00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 1: friend and her uncle let me in on a big secret.

752
00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:10,760
Speaker 1: The vast majority of fugu in Japan is now processed

753
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:13,680
Speaker 1: in central facilities, where fugu is broken down with surgeon

754
00:51:13,800 --> 00:51:17,000
Speaker 1: lank precision, using lasers to cut out the liver, and

755
00:51:17,040 --> 00:51:20,240
Speaker 1: then the fugu is screened for any remaining toxins before

756
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 1: going to restaurants and other markets. The number of fugu

757
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:26,839
Speaker 1: restaurants that are allowed to prepare live fugu on site

758
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:30,000
Speaker 1: is less than a hundred acost the entire country. That

759
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:36,040
Speaker 1: tingly sensation I felt san show or chechuan peppercorns. Slightly

760
00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:40,120
Speaker 1: relieved and intoxicated myself, I enjoyed the very best part

761
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:44,320
Speaker 1: of the meal, fugu hot pop. Oh my goodness, that

762
00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:47,080
Speaker 1: is easily one of the top ten meals of my life.

763
00:51:47,480 --> 00:51:50,120
Speaker 1: The fugu is rich and flakey, went boiled and really

764
00:51:50,160 --> 00:51:52,840
Speaker 1: hard to compare to any other fish. Honestly, it was

765
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,719
Speaker 1: more akin to crab in both flavor and texture than

766
00:51:55,800 --> 00:51:59,040
Speaker 1: any fish. I did ask to see Chef Uncle's special

767
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,600
Speaker 1: trash can, which is still all had now long empty

768
00:52:01,640 --> 00:52:04,160
Speaker 1: since the lasers took over but a relic from when

769
00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:07,200
Speaker 1: he did have to prepare them himself. I asked if

770
00:52:07,200 --> 00:52:08,880
Speaker 1: he missed the old days, and he said no, he

771
00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:12,239
Speaker 1: likes being able to entertain his customers and drink with them.

772
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:16,040
Speaker 1: Since coming back to the States, I too heard that

773
00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:18,760
Speaker 1: a very few select restaurants in the US are allowed

774
00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:21,560
Speaker 1: to serve food gou Foogu must be processed in Japan

775
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:23,959
Speaker 1: at one of those laser facilities, can only be sold

776
00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:27,359
Speaker 1: to US markets in winter. Turns out fugu have less

777
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:30,320
Speaker 1: toxins in winter than its summer. For this reason, fugu

778
00:52:30,480 --> 00:52:32,480
Speaker 1: is by and large considered a winter food and is

779
00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:36,319
Speaker 1: especially popular as hot pot. Even in Japan. You can

780
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:38,880
Speaker 1: eat fugu all year round, but it's more expensive at

781
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:44,040
Speaker 1: these times as they must go through the screening. Oh

782
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:48,359
Speaker 1: that's okay. I want to try this so badly. It's

783
00:52:48,600 --> 00:52:53,480
Speaker 1: so sounds so delicious, Yes, yes, and I this sounds

784
00:52:53,520 --> 00:52:58,719
Speaker 1: like a wonderful experience. Um, and I do love still

785
00:53:00,080 --> 00:53:05,440
Speaker 1: all these legends around it around the UKUSA using it

786
00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:11,719
Speaker 1: and yeah, I love that. Um yeah, maybe one day

787
00:53:12,280 --> 00:53:14,560
Speaker 1: we'll get to try it. And now there's a lasers involved.

788
00:53:14,600 --> 00:53:19,399
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, right, man, I feel like not enough

789
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:25,160
Speaker 1: of my restaurant prepared meals have involved lasers. Yeah, that's so.

790
00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:31,600
Speaker 1: That's a very James Bond territory. Um. I guess it's

791
00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:34,600
Speaker 1: a certain type of Oh. I would love to go

792
00:53:34,680 --> 00:53:37,960
Speaker 1: to like a Super Villains themed restaurant with food prepared

793
00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:43,920
Speaker 1: by lasers. I oh my gosh. I feel positive that

794
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,960
Speaker 1: someone has done this before. All right, Next up on

795
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:53,480
Speaker 1: the research block, cool cool um, Tim wrote, I've been

796
00:53:53,520 --> 00:53:55,759
Speaker 1: listening to you two since episode one and look forward

797
00:53:55,760 --> 00:53:58,560
Speaker 1: to each new episode. Your episode on peaches inspired me

798
00:53:58,640 --> 00:54:01,160
Speaker 1: to write to you with a little fun fantasy fact

799
00:54:01,239 --> 00:54:04,080
Speaker 1: about the lovely fruit in the Wheel of Time series

800
00:54:04,120 --> 00:54:07,920
Speaker 1: by Robert Jordans and Brandon Sanderson, currently being made into

801
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:10,120
Speaker 1: a streaming TV show. Oh, I didn't know that, humh um.

802
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:13,120
Speaker 1: It is a well known fact that peaches are poisonous.

803
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:15,759
Speaker 1: A common saying in the world of the series is

804
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:19,000
Speaker 1: as surely as peaches are poison I was struck by this,

805
00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:21,759
Speaker 1: as he mentioned that canned peaches seem to crop up

806
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:25,960
Speaker 1: pun intended in Armageddon slash apocalypse fiction as well as

807
00:54:26,080 --> 00:54:30,160
Speaker 1: the South Carolina rivalry. The series centers around a group

808
00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:34,719
Speaker 1: of people preparing to fight Armageddon spoiler alert. At one point,

809
00:54:34,840 --> 00:54:37,520
Speaker 1: the protagonist has given a vision of a utopian world

810
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:40,279
Speaker 1: and thinks he's beaten the bad guy, but his first

811
00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:42,880
Speaker 1: hint that something is amiss is when he runs across

812
00:54:42,920 --> 00:54:47,520
Speaker 1: a vendor selling edible peaches. Robert Jordan, the creator of

813
00:54:47,560 --> 00:54:53,280
Speaker 1: the series, is from South Carolina. Oh oh, that's a classic.

814
00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:56,000
Speaker 1: I've played that video game where you think you're done.

815
00:54:57,040 --> 00:55:01,680
Speaker 1: Oh no, little fine start popping up that you are

816
00:55:01,800 --> 00:55:08,719
Speaker 1: in fact, far from done. Oops. Yes, yes, I yeah,

817
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:12,360
Speaker 1: I was into um we love time, but I forgot

818
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:15,959
Speaker 1: about this. Uh yeah, that that was totally I haven't

819
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:17,920
Speaker 1: read this series and in years I dropped off a

820
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:21,040
Speaker 1: long time ago, um and uh never never picked it

821
00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:23,640
Speaker 1: back up. And I that is totally out of my brain.

822
00:55:23,840 --> 00:55:26,880
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, thanks for the nerdy reminder. We always

823
00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:31,600
Speaker 1: love the nerdy of course, yes, and we do have

824
00:55:31,719 --> 00:55:35,840
Speaker 1: a super short bonus third message here, Andy Rope, I

825
00:55:35,960 --> 00:55:38,399
Speaker 1: just want to say that the kids got to learn

826
00:55:38,440 --> 00:55:41,399
Speaker 1: about flavor toowns sometime should be your new sign off,

827
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:44,080
Speaker 1: even if not all the time, but just once would

828
00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:49,920
Speaker 1: be nice. I mean, it is pretty, it's true, and

829
00:55:50,360 --> 00:55:53,880
Speaker 1: we should be imparting that wisdom more often we should,

830
00:55:54,480 --> 00:55:56,800
Speaker 1: we should. You know it's true, it's straight to the

831
00:55:56,840 --> 00:55:58,680
Speaker 1: point it is, and you know that's that's part of

832
00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:02,759
Speaker 1: the part of the saver a saver goal, you know, yes, yes,

833
00:56:03,360 --> 00:56:08,320
Speaker 1: the kids got to learn about Flavortown sometimes. Well. Thanks

834
00:56:08,360 --> 00:56:11,360
Speaker 1: to all of those listeners for writing in. We always

835
00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:13,759
Speaker 1: love hearing from you, and we would love to hear

836
00:56:13,840 --> 00:56:15,960
Speaker 1: from you other listeners. If you would like to email

837
00:56:15,960 --> 00:56:18,239
Speaker 1: as you can. Our email is Hello at savor pod

838
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:21,359
Speaker 1: dot com. We're also on social media. You can find

839
00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:25,160
Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at savor pod, and

840
00:56:25,239 --> 00:56:27,800
Speaker 1: we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production

841
00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:30,239
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio,

842
00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:32,920
Speaker 1: you can visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

843
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:35,880
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as

844
00:56:35,920 --> 00:56:39,319
Speaker 1: always to our superproducers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks

845
00:56:39,360 --> 00:56:42,000
Speaker 1: to you for listening and the kids got to learn

846
00:56:42,040 --> 00:56:43,400
Speaker 1: about Flavortown sometime