The bottle does say it's a product of Italy, and never having had any colas manufactured in Europe, I figured, why not? It comes in a classy glass bottle, so it's probably really high class. At any rate, how bad could it be?
It got me thinking about the origin of cola nuts as a beverage flavor. Apparently the kola nut, of African origin, has long been used to flavor water, and I can believe that even though Wikipedia ties it to the slave trade. It was praised even then for its powers of refreshment -- its caffeine content compares favorably to that of the coffee nut.
Kola nuts had been hanging around for a while before being used to make a soft drink, Coca-Cola, in 1886, then Pepsi two years later. America thus did as much for the kola nut as probably the entire Ottoman Empire ever did for the coffee bean. Yay us!
But back to the Italian soda. Is it any good?
It's -- okay. It reminded me of C&C.
When I was a kid and my mom wanted to try to save some money, she might buy a cheaper off-brand cola. This never worked, because Dad was a dedicated Pepsi man. Most colas were not that good, and none of them had a rich and distinctive flavor the way Coke, Pepsi, or even Royal Crown did. One that came close was C&C, a regional brand that was founded in Belfast, Ireland, believe it or not, in 1865. The company moved to the United States in 1955, is based in Cranbury, New Jersey, and its products can still be found in stores around the New York City / Northern New Jersey area. I'm glad to see that the company has come out with all kinds of crazy flavors like Orange Pineapple, Cotton Candy, and Red Candy Apple. It's the only way to compete with the big guys, who can't move quickly when it comes to new products.
But back to Tuscanini. I noticed that the bottle explicitly said that their cola was kosher, which is not something soda brands usually do. Coca-Cola did not become certified kosher until 1935. While Pepsi Cola has always been kosher, Pepsi does not always go to the trouble of getting certification overseas -- and apparently not all modern Pepsi products would meet those standards. (No, there's no pork or crab in Gatorade, smart aleck.) This would make Tuscanini more appealing to the large and growing Orthodox Jewish community in my area of the lower Hudson Valley.
On further investigation, it appears that all products sold under the Tuscanini name in the United States are distributed through a kosher foods company called Kayco, based in Bayonne. A quick look at the US Patent and Trademark Office database confirms that the trademark "Tuscanini" is owned by Kenover Marketing, which merged with Kedem and B&W to form Kayco. While I believe these products do come from Italy as advertised, they may be from a variety of manufactures nowhere near Tuscany.
None of that matters much to us in the non-kosher community if the products are good. The odd angle is that we have a brand called Tuscanini that one can buy with assurance if one needs foods that are kosher. I guess it is a small world after all.
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