Once upon a time, I was a child in St.Louis, MO. The beautiful new spring sunshine we are enjoying this week makes me think of picnics and parties at my Aunt's house, where we would have a real treat: soft drinks. Since it was St.Louis, we called them all "soda" -- during my adult life in Michigan, of course, I've heard them called "pop" but I still say "soda." Here are a few drinks that I remember enjoying. I remember the ads, too.
 |
| The BIG bottle! |
 |
If something was a long way off we would say it
would happen when the Mississippi River drank Canada Dry.
(I know, not funny, we were kids). |
Soda bottles then normally held 7 to 10 ounces — there was also a large size like the Vess bottle in the picture. I think we had little paper cups, so one little bottle, I think, made 2 servings for children. Probably the adults drank soda too: I can’t recall any beer at these events. Being in St.Louis, we did know the ads for Anheuser Bush products: this local company (which had gone national) had already been around for a century at the time I’m describing.
 |
Note the link between Budweiser
and the St.Louis Cardinals. |
I’ve located these images of vintage bottles and advertisements to illustrate my memories, which I am sharing with the bloggers linking up at Elizabeth’s
Altered Booklover blog. Advertisements and commercial packaging are copyright by the products’ owners, but I assume they are ok with my giving them a bit of free publicity here. My own words are © 2021, and if you read this other than at mae food dot blogspot dot com, you are reading a pirated version of my blog.
And right now: Kathy’s Bear has the same idea — drinking a coke:
I drank lots of tea when I was a kid...I meant just plain tea. Soda wasn't available at that time..
ReplyDeleteRoyal crown and vess didn't go across the atlantic... Mine were orzngina, pschitt and verigood. I remember, you made a publication about them. Pour moi garçon un pschitt citron ! et pour vous cher ange ? un pschitt orange ...
ReplyDeleteI remember 7-up from my childhood but haven't had any lately. Happy T Day!
ReplyDeleteI call them both and I'm not sure why. Pop is probably first to mind but they are interchangeable in my own vocabulary. I'm a sucker for cola -- I liked RC and Diet Rite but rarely see it. I sure do miss my Tab!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Kansas and we called soft drinks "pop." When I was in Alabama one year, they call EVERY soft drink "Coke," regardless of the brand or type. I found that especially strange.
ReplyDeleteIt's been YEARS since I've had a cream soda. I don't think they even sell it anymore, at least not where I shop. I always loved the taste. When I think of St. Louis, I think of Anheuser-Bush. When I hear the word Coors, I think of Golden, CO. When I think about Atlanta, I think Coke. Possibly because I've been to their facilities to see how the product was made and processed. My favorite, though is Red Hook, which is a beer made in Seattle long before Starbucks took over the town.
Thanks for this unusual and unique take on soft drinks for T this week, dear Mae. You always come up with something totally different for T time.
LOVED seeing Kathy's bear out of hibernation also enjoying a coke for T this week.
Cool finds! I still buy tons for Ingo, we call them "Brause".
ReplyDeleteThe Teddy, awww.
I remember the 7up bottle when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. I drank Coke going up and switched to Diet in my adult life :) I'm from New York and we always called it soda.
ReplyDeleteI was visiting a high school friend when I was given a whole bottle of pop ...the first time I’d ever had more than a glassful from a shared bottle. And that was a special treat. I remember all those ads. And in Pacific Northwest, it definitely was (and is) pop. I more often nowadays drink water (and beer and wine for that matter) and I think those words are the same everywhere ))).
ReplyDeleteI live in the south and growing up our term for all carbonated beverages was "COKE" We rarely ever had them because my mother would not waste her money of such foolish things, but my aunt always had them, so splitting a coke from a green bottle was always a treat.
ReplyDeleteSweet memories.
ReplyDeleteI call is it soda, these days. I used to call it 'soft drinks.' And I've heard it being referred to as 'cold drinks,' too. :D
Nice vintage soda bottles. I grew up in Central Massachusetts, and soda was called tonic there. The only thing we ever had in my house was ginger ale. Then I went away to college, and it was soda. So now I call it that. I began partial to diet coke, and I must admit, it is still my weakness. Have a great T day Mae.
ReplyDeleteFun post! We called it "soda" and had too much of it growing up. We now no longer have soda. It's water, coffee or tea, and the occasional wine or beer:) Happy T day!
ReplyDeleteOoooh, I haven't had a Dr Pepper in ages! Such fun bottles!
ReplyDeleteand I love Teddy with his beverage!
The second time I read when the Mississippi River drank Canada Dry, I got the joke. It is still worth a giggle. Kathy's bear could be a great advert for Coke!
ReplyDeleteI know a lot of those brands from England, and some are still on sale here in Germany, too. They were a big treat for us as kids. Today I like a Cola light here and there, but that's about it. Happy T Day, Valerie
ReplyDeleteWe called it Pop but only ever had any when we were on holiday, we would have a picnic and when the pub opened in the evening dad would treat us to plain lemonade in a bottle with a straw with a bag of crisps, /chips my parents couldn’t afford to buy it normally, we only had squash as we called it, orange juice diluted with water, happy days
ReplyDeleteHappy t day
Jan x
Fabulous! The only drink I haven't tried is Dr. Pepper, it's not really available here and although I've travelled to America many times I've never tried it, maybe one day...lol 😉. Take care and Happy T Day! Hugs, Jo x
ReplyDeleteLove the vintage adds - they bring back a lot of memories. I was a Dr Pepper fan for many years - my Mom would buy me a 6 pack each week as a teenager so I had to decide which 6 days would have a treat and which day was left out (usually Sunday).
ReplyDeleteLove your bear - so cute! Super fun to pose it like that!
Cute post!
We call these drinks pop as well. Love the old photos. Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteI call it soda. I always loved drinking from those vintage bottles and ordered one when restaurants carried them. It always felt scandalous to be a kid drinking from a "beer" bottle. I think my favorite is cream soda in a bottle.
ReplyDeleteHappy Tea Day,
Kate
Fun memories. When I was a kid growing up in the Boston area, soda was called tonic. That word pretty much died out with my parents generation. I have enjoyed all those soda except Vess. A local specialty perhaps? Bear has the right idea. Sit in the sunshine, sip a a coke, and take time to smell the flowers. Happy T Day
ReplyDeleteWe used to call any fizzy drink (except Cream Soda) 'Pop'. Happy memories! On our news today there was an item about a man who is starting up soft drink deliveries like there used to be in the 60's here in the UK. Happy T Day, Chrisx
ReplyDeleteI say "pop". I loved Dr. Pepper as a young girl. I had forgotten about RC!
ReplyDeleteGreat memories seeing those old photos. Happy T Day!
Yep, in England it was called 'pop'. I drank SevenUp, but I never liked Coca Cola for some reason. I can't really remember what we drank as children in the 50s. I think tea and water and also buttermilk (I didn't like normal milk and we didn't have a fridge until much later).
ReplyDeleteCanada Dry was also known in Europe but drunk by adults (or as a mixer with whiskey). I did drink Bitter Lemon as a teenager. And I still like to drink it if I can get it (Doesn't seem to be available here in Spain, although they sell other Canada Dry products)
Happy belated T-Day,
Hugs,
Lisca