June 29, 2010

Faygo Pop of the Week

In honor of the amazing Ivan!

This week's Faygo flavor is...

ORANGE!!!



Orange pop was my childhood. Orange pop, Seven-Up and/or Sprite, Redpop, Root Beer, Cream Soda -- these were the only flavors of pop I could have as a kid because they didn't have caffeine in them and were therefore deemed "safe" by the parents. Seven-Up was pretty bland; Sprite was slightly better but a little too sour; Root Beer and Cream Soda were good with ice cream but that was a special treat kinda thing, not an everyday kinda thing. That left Orange and Redpop, and while both were suitably delicious, I was always more of an "Orange" girl than a "Red" girl. Red was a pretty good color in general and things that tasted "red" could be counted on to taste pretty good.

But I was a fanatic about orange. When other little girls were naming pink or purple or red as their favorite color, I was naming orange. I had orange backpacks, orange scrunchies, orange t-shirts and shorts. And when it was summer and I wanted something to drink with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich -- I wanted Orange pop.

There are many choices of orange soda out there (including the ever-famous Orange Crush), but when you are growing up in suburban Detroit in the 80s and early 90s, there's really only ONE kind of orange soda: FAYGO.

Faygo Orange has been a staple of my grandmother's kitchen since forever. On summer vacation, where we would spend all day at grandma's swimming in the pool and playing "let's pretend" games in the woods around her house, it was always Faygo Orange that we would come back to when our mouths were thirsty and craving a sugary carbonated kick.

Faygo Orange Pop began life in 1935. It wasn't the first orange soda, but it was the right flavor for a nation and a city (Detroit) in the midst of a harrowing, depressing Depression. What better flavor is there than orange to dazzle and delight and pick up one's spirits? Orange is zany, fun, off-beat, childlike. Is there any wonder the first network for kids, Nickelodeon, took orange as their signature color? Orange is the color of childhood, the color of letting loose and watching your cares drift away on the tops of soda pop bubbles.

We're firmly in the grip of summer now. July is right around the corner. Kids are off riding their bikes into a summer vacation that is in full bloom and seems endless. What better time to enjoy a Faygo Orange Pop (or in my case, Diet Orange, heh). It's like a drink made of summer.

2 comments:

  1. Aw, you sweet thang! Dedicating this post to me. Rarely am I at a loss for words, but I'm positively gobsnacked.

    As it would so happen, I'm drinking Diet Orange Faygo over ice as I type this. I was really impressed with the Diet Orange--naturally, I gravitate more towards Orange Crush but since I'm making a honest attempt to cut back on the sugar I have to say the Faygo is the best I've drank, hands down. That Fanta Zero--tastes like orange food coloring in water.

    While I was on my trek to WV this past weekend, I stopped inside a convenience store just over the WV border and found--to my utter surprise and delight--BOTTLES of both Grape and Orange Nehi. I was tempted to buy some, but I'd already had a Coke for breakfast at Burger King that morning so I settled for some Diet A&W root beer instead. (They even had A&W in bottles!)

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  2. Ivan!!! The diet orange is a DELIGHT. I just bought a bottle yesterday and drank it with my lunch this afternoon. Fanta is the enemy of all things on earth and the eternal nemesis of Faygo. Never drink Fanta. ;)

    Maybe I'm showing my inexperience here, but I've never heard of Nehi sodas before. SHAME.
    I'll have to be on the lookout for them next time I go to the grocery store. :D

    Root beer in bottles is the best.

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