During World War II, it suddenly became… “difficult,” let us say, to get Coca-Cola syrup from the US to Nazi Germany. Communications with corporate headquarters were cut off and ingredients scarce, but the Germans running Coke’s operations there wanted to keep looking out for Coke’s bottom line (as well as their own employment) Nazis be damned, so they had to make something.

And that, children, is where Fanta comes from.

This may explain why, every time I see those Fanta previews before movies, I always feel like I’m in some kind of forced labor camp.

My favorite research tidbit:

This new soda was often made from the leavings of other food industries…. Whey and apple fiber from cider presses found their way into the drink. As for which fruits were used in the formulation, it all depended on what was available at the time. In its earliest incarnations, the drink was sweetened with saccharin, but by 1941 its concocters were permitted to use 3.5 percent beet sugar.

This resonates with me. Lately, when I go to refill my near-empty soda only to find we’re out of the flavor in question, I catch myself filling the rest of the glass with whatever else happens to be in the fridge.

“ehhh, it’s all the same thing,” I hear that part of my brain say.

“Maybe you should drink more water,” I say back.

Fanta.com’s “All About Fanta” page is not, as you might imagine, All About this stuff. But at least I checked.

This historical footnote was brought to you (in half-truth form) by The Corporation, answer to the bet, “No way could you get me to describe being repeatedly hit over the head for two hours as ‘dull’!”