Ginger beer

[Julie2owlsdene]

"Lashings" of Diet Coke, anyone??

Even more dangerous, contains asparatame (not sure of spelling here) which most diet drinks contain, more dangerous, can cause heart failure etc and has been banned in the USA and some countries.

I'd rather have the sugary gingerbeer!

[Eddie Muir]

I'd rather have the sugary gingerbeer!

Hear! Hear!

[John Pickup]

Let's hear it for ginger beer.

[Rob Houghton]

I agree about Aspartame Julie - I always avoid anything that contains it. Some people argue that theres no evidence its bad, but America (and other countries I think?) banning it, is enough evidence for me! I used to drink Ribena Tooth Kind/low sugar but soon gave it up when I discovered it contains Aspartame. I hate the way everything that is screaming out 'LOW SUGAR!' Contains cancer-causing chemicals instead!

[Moonraker]

The vast amounts of sugar in drinks and other foods (cooking sauces, for example) is the prime reason for rising obesity from childhood onwards. Type 2 diabetes is also at a record high and increasing. It might be fashionable to scoff at some of the warnings we receive these days, but sugar can and is as dangerous as tobacco. Jamie Oliver's campaign for a sugar tax was strongly supported by me, and we were two of the thousands who added our names to the government petition to bring in a sugar tax.

[Daisy]

I also avoid aspartame like the plague. I read about the adverse effects it could have, many years ago. Sadly only the other day I heard someone on TV saying the assertions of its adverse effects on the human body had not been proven. It was first produced in the USA I believe, so if it has now been banned there it must mean that their longer usage has meant more evidence has been accumulated that it is not good!

[Rob Houghton]

I sort of agree with the sugar tax...theres no doibt we eat too much sugar...but then isnt this more to do with hidden sugar? We all know how much sugar is in fizzy drinks...but what about the sugar in ready meals, and in bread and soups and all sorts of things people dont suspect?

I also think the childhood obesity issue has to be the result of much, much more than just sugary drinks. In the 1970s I'm sure we werent the only ones who regularly drank Corona pop, coke, Ribena, ate Wagon Wheels and Rainbow Dust and sugar mice and high sugar sweets and foods...but most of us werent obese - because we used to play outside, running around for hours and also we walked to and from school and had many more PE sessions (three a week)

[Moonraker]

I sort of agree with the sugar tax...theres no doibt we eat too much sugar...but then isnt this more to do with hidden sugar?

Oh definitely. It is indefensible the amount of sugar (and salt) that is put into foodstuffs. Take a look at the so-called healthy cerals. Many contain upwards of 34% sugar. Heathy? I don't think so. Of course, some sugar comes from fruit, and more is in your bowl when you add the milk. To think I used to love a bowl of Frosties! Blended fruit drinks are worse as the sugar is concentrated and you miss out on the fibre. Avoid smoothies - they can have the equivalent of 23 spoonfuls of sugar!

Some fruit juices and smoothies contain four times the amount of sugar the World Health Organisation recommends an average person should consume in a day, a Telegraph analysis shows.
A survey of 50 products from supermarkets, coffee shops and food outlets found that more than half contained at least six teaspoons of sugar, which is the recommended daily limit.
Two of the items — large fruit drinks from Costa, the coffee-shop chain — contained at least 23 teaspoons in a single serving.
Experts and campaigners described the amounts as “horrifying”. They believe that high levels of sugar are contributing to health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay and cancer.

[KEVP]

I've pointed out before that I really don't think that in the 1940s and early 1950s real English children would have been able to eat (and I suspect drink) as much as Enid Blyton characters do--because of course at that time there was strict rationing in the UK.

And yes, Ginger Beer has always been carbonated! Carbonated water was invented in 1767 by the English dissenting clergyman and chemist Joseph Priestley.

When Ginger Ale first appeared, it was very similar to Ginger Beer. Then the Canadian company Canada Dry started marketing a "dry" Ginger Ale, which became very popular, so that now almost all Ginger Ale is "dry" Ginger Ale. But where I live here in Michigan, there is a company called Vernor's that still makes the older "not dry" type of Ginger Ale. Vernor's Ginger Ale is also very good for stomach troubles.

[Julie2owlsdene]

I fear now that as these companies cut back on the sugar, they'll put in aspartame, which is even worse for you than the sugar!!!

[Courtenay]

I don't drink fizzy drinks of any sort anyway, as they hurt my mouth. I get my sugar fix from lashings of chocolate instead.

[Rob Houghton]

I've pointed out before that I really don't think that in the 1940s and early 1950s real English children would have been able to eat (and I suspect drink) as much as Enid Blyton characters do--because of course at that time there was strict rationing in the UK.

While I agree to a certain extent that Enid was using food descriptions as a form of 'wish-fulfilment' during times of austerity, I'm sure that most of the foods she describes would have been available - most of it home-grown, such as tomatoes, apples, lettuce, etc, potatoes, and things like sausages and potted meat etc would also have been home-made. Meanwhile, lemonade was usually home made, and I'm sure ginger beer could be home made also. Most people grew their own vegetables, which was encouraged throughout the rationing years.

My dad lived on a farm in North Wales as a boy. Unlike my mom, who was born in Birmingham, and grew up with powdered egg and strict rations, my dad ate most things. They always had plenty of eggs and bread and butter and cheese, plenty of milk and cream and all kinds of vegetables as well as jam and cakes etc.

[Katharine]

I'm not sure whether the sugar tax will work or not. I think unfortunately, that as others have pointed out, everything will just contain sweeteners instead, which personally I think are worse.

I don't actually think sugary drinks are that bad, it's like many things, fine in moderation. When I was a child we were allowed one drink of squash a day, if we were thirsty then we drank water the rest of the time. Fizzy was reserved for special occasions, such as a birthday and Christmas.

[KEVP]

I keep meaning to do some serious, extensive research into this subject, Robert.

Yes, the individual food items that that Famous Five ate would indeed have been available under rationing. But I am suspicious of the AMOUNTS that the Famous Five eat. I think they are eating more than a child of the time would be rationed.

For example, a child would be limited to three eggs a week. (which was generous, adults were limited to one egg a week). Does it really feel like the Famous Five limit themselves to three eggs each a week? In one book they eat "lashings of hard boiled eggs"!

But I think there is considerable evidence that in fact the Famous Five books take place in a parallel universe where the Second World War never happened.

KEVP

[Rob Houghton]

I think it's definitely true that the Famous Five (and all Enid's other characters!) lived in a parallel universe where war (and rationing) didn't exist. I feel she was offering children a glimpse of what life could be like without a war. She once said she wanted to write about 'the sunny, happy things of life' (that's probably a bad misquote, but she said something similar!) and so she did - writing of endless summers and snowy winters and good food - she was a great believer in wish-fulfilment as I call it - giving children what they wished for and blotting out the cold realities. I think this is the main reason her books were so popular and have lasted so long.