Did the original coke taste similar to today's version? What about other vintage foods?

Cafe Society
1

Last night, I ended up watching a really interesting History channel documentary that was not about Nazis or UFOs (I know, right?!). Instead, it discussed the history of some of America’s most iconic foods through the people who turned ideas into billion dollar industries, such as Milton Hershey (milk chocolate), Henry Heinz (ketchup) or the Kellogg brothers (cereal).

Now, I had previously read a book on the Kelloggs, so I was aware of their rivalries (both with each other and with C.S. Post) but found the other tales equally riveting.

And also informative, as I had not realized just how old some of our iconic food are:

Coca-Cola, I knew, came about in the 1800s, but I couldn’t have told you that Hershey Kisses were first sold in 1900. Or that the Milky Way candy bar came about in 1922.

Which leads to my question:

If we could travel back in time to try such foods, would the original taste at all similar to what we know and love today?

Would Coca-Cola that still had traces of cocaine in it be palatable to us?

Was the original milk chocolate which Hershey invented (per the show, he was an innovator because he found out how to mix chocolate with fresh milk, whereas in Europe they used condensed milk) the same flavor as today? (The show claims that Hersheys tries really hard to maintain it’s ‘slightly bitter’ taste)

Other discussed:
Kentucky Fried Chicken - I wonder if Colonel Sander’s original recipe fried chicken, served in the back of a gas station in Kentucky, would be recognizable today (apparently, after he sold the concept to corporate America, he complained about the quality of the food)

Mars candy - Three Musketeers are clearly different, since there were originally three flavors. But I would love to compare an original Milky Way (designed to taste like a Malt Shop Milkshake) with the ones we buy in the store.

Grape Nuts - CS Post stole the idea of breakfast cereal from the Kelloggs after attending Harvey Kellogg’s sanitarium. His first product was Grape Nuts - still the same? What about Kellogg’s Corn Flakes - I’m guessing they are the same, but the original recipe was decidedly lacking in sugar, so frosted flakes are right out.

They also discussed the McDonald brothers’ hamburgers; I’d love to try an original burger at their walk up window in California. I bet it’d be legions better than any McSandwich today.

Any thoughts?

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Along those same lines, I recently had a few bags (not all at once!) of Bugles snacks, and I swear they aren’t as yummy as they were years ago. But I admit it may be my tastes have changed.

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I remember having my first McDonald’s hamburger in the backseat of a station wagon filled with kids in the winter of 1961, right after the chain appeared in Minneapolis. So far as I can tell, they taste exactly the same today as they did then. (I’m talking about the basic Mk I Mod 0 burger here.)

Soda pop in general I think became overwhelmingly sweet sometime in the early '70s, when they started substituting high glucose/fructose corn syrup for cane sugar. I know the Seven-Up I drank as a kid was smoother and creamier than it is today—less sweet and without a sharp citrus bite.

I remember thinking the last time I had KFC (several months ago) that it didn’t use to be so tough and dry. Neither is Taco Bell today as fresh and as tasty as it was back in the '70s.

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you can still get coke with real sugar pretty easily in a lot of supermarkets , most of it comes from Mexico. I assume the same is true of Pepsi.

5

I watched that same show - very interesting!

I’ve always pondered this question. There are all sorts of foods I’d like to taste to see if it was better back in the day:

Candy bars
Apples
Graham crackers
Doritos
Saltines
Pop
Cereals

I’d like to taste the processed foods when they first came out and also when I was a kid.

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In Big Secrets, William Poundstone attempted to estimate the amount of coke in the original Coke. He believes that there was never more than tiny traces of either cocaine or kola extract in the original beverage. He believes that any significant amount of either ingredient would make it too bitter to be drinkable.

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That’s true; here in Denver, you can find cane sugar Coke, which is identifiable by the fact that it is bottled in Mexico and therefore has Spanish on the label.

So, it’s true that Coke used to taste different (although, in all honesty, the cane sugar version isn’t that noticeably different from the typical version I also drink). But there’s also the fact that there was a federal lawsuit against Coke in the 1910s by the federal government, which ended with Coke agreeing to cut the caffeine in its drink. I wonder if we’d notice the difference.

Now I’m sure that original Graham crackers would be totally different, as Graham created them as part of his effort to curtail physical lust and other carnal urges. It was meant to be boring and bland and I’m sure he’d be appalled at the slightly sweet abominations which now bear his name.

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Actually Pepsi markets a cola made with real sugar in the United States. It was formerly known as Pepsi Throwback.

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Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies taste the same. I’ve eaten them consistently since childhood.

Cheerios taste different. They changed taste about 25 years ago. They’re gritty now. I notice it chewing.

Burger King Whoppers lost their grilled taste.

I don’t taste much chocolate in Baby Ruth’s anymore.

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My knowledge only goes back almost sixty years.

I wouldn’t be surprised if cereal had changed many years before that.

People began to expect sweeter food. Kellogg’s and Post may have changed cereal for modern tastes.

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I concur with this right down to the same time period. McDonald’s number 195 opened in Lorain, Ohio in June, 1960. I don’t have a Mickey D burger very often but It instantly takes me back in time when I eat one.

Of course these are Kroc burgers instead of the McDonald brothers like the OP asks about so who knows.

Dennis

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Today’s Mexican Coke tastes the same as American Coke did prior to the release of New Coke. The current day American Coke tastes almost the same as Mexican Coke, and my guess is most people can’t tell the difference. Whether or not the early 1980s recipe or today’s Mexican Coke tastes the same as what people were drinking in the 19th century is a whole different question. Since I was born in 1977, I’m unqualified to answer that one :smiley:

13

Apples are certainly different. Better? That’s a matter of taste. I prefer the apples of my childhood (they aren’t as sweet), but I’ve never been an enormous apple fan: one per weekday in my late teens, along with two oranges and 4 tangerines.

Apples have names. If you eat a Golden Delicious now, it tastes like a Golden Delicious from 50 years ago. I very rarely find Golden Delicious in the supermarket now, because people prefer a crisper, sweeter apple.

Saltines is an interesting question. I’m curious too. I don’t remember what they used to taste like, and I don’t eat them often now: on principle I’m opposed to buying anything that’s labelled “Original Recipe,* now with 50% less fat*”

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A few years ago, a soda pop called Fentiman’s Curiosity Cola was available. It was cola flavored all right, but with something extra that gave it a slightly medicinal taste. I am convinced this taste was similar to what the original coca cola must have been like. (It was delicious, unfortunately, I haven’t seen it in years. I did spot some I could order by mail, a four pack for $30 not including shipping),

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I’d like to know what Gros Michel bananas tasted like. I think they’re still available in some countries so this one is actually possible.

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Yeah, apples are probably identical within the same varieties, but modern varieties are different- there were no Honeycrisp or Gala apples back in the day, for example.

Saltines seem the same to me- I’m not seeing how they could really be all that different anyway- their ingredient list is too small to really allow for much variation I’d think.

I also think in some ways, foods may not taste the same as they did back in the day, because they’re BETTER now, due to advances in packaging and shipping, or just increases in sheer volume. For example, modern-day orange juice seems better to me, because it’s not made from a can of frozen concentrate or canned in a steel can anymore.

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Yeah. I don’t like banana flavoured candy. I’ve been told that the flavour is supposed to be the Gros Michel variety so I would like to see…

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If you ever get a chance to eat vine ripened bananas, or some other varieties, you’ll find that they are closer to that banana flavoring than a green picked force ripened Cavendish.

Unfortunately my local bottler stopped producing that. I can still get in cans over in MA but they aren’t producing glass bottles.

Graham crackers are crackers made from Graham flour. Graham was a health advocate but I don’t think he made Graham crackers at all. The original crackers may not have been significantly different than they are now, at least not the ones loaded with sugar. Baker’s supply of graham cracker crumbs are less sweet than the typical cracker I’ve encountered.

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If you’ve got time to spare, I’ve found this an interesting channel. New England Wildlife & More - YouTube

He tests all kind of vintage food/drink products. For example, he compares an ‘7UP’ from the mid 70s to today’s and finds the older recipe much sweeter and with less lemony taste than today’s 7UP.

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If you happen to live in a city with a sizeable Jewish community, head over to the grocery stores in that neighborhood around Passover, and you might be able to buy some Coke with sugar instead of corn syrup. It’s kosher for Passover, but the regular stuff is not. You can tell by the yellow caps. Usually the same price as the regular stuff.