It wasn’t until a few months ago that “Hecho en Mexico” really meant anything to me.

Then, everything changed.

In the late 1970’s heavy tariffs and quotas were placed on sugar imported to the US.  In an effort to save money, beverage (soda) companies started to look for a cheaper alternative to sugar. By the late 1980’s most had converted to using high fructose corn syrup in place of cane sugar.  Due to heavily subsidized government incentives the cost of converting corn into a sugar substitute was far cheaper for companies like Coca-Cola than, ironically, using the “real thing.” (For a great look at the other effects of this subsidy check out the documentary “King Corn“) Michael Pollan, acclaimed foodie and novelist, refers to the move to subsidized corn as a  ”system that produces a lot of cheap corn… resulting in a lot of cheap fast food.” Foods like soda.

So what does this have to do with Mexico?  Because the US farming subsidies don’t exist south of the border it was never economically feasible to rework HFCS into the Coca-Cola recipe and Mexican Coke is still good ol’ sugar, just like the kind you used to put in your Kool-Aide.  This of course leads to discrepancies in taste – big ones. The fans of Mexican Coke claim that it’s smoother and lacks the saccharin aftertaste of it’s American counterpart (to which I agree).  Meanwhile on the other side of the fence (not that one) American Coke spokespeople claim that there is no taste difference, and HFCS was engineered to taste just like real sugar.

What’s most interesting is the bootleg movement that’s sprung up around Mexican Coke.  It’s like a real life “Smoky and the Bandit” except no one gets arrested and Burt Reynolds keeps his shirt on.  Many grocers and beverage suppliers are now shipping Mexican Coke into the states despite the taxes and tariffs associated with the transportation.  These sodas, which were once only available in the taquerias off Cherokee Street are now easy to find on the shelves of Straubs and even Costco (though I’m still waiting for Piña soda to go mainstream).  Apparently there are also certain bottlers that will produce a special variant of Coca-Cola during the passover season; you’re supposed to look for the yellow caps and the use of ’sucrose’ in the label. Of another interesting note are the few bottlers in the States that never switched over to HFCS.  Dublin Dr. Pepper in Texas still produces the original Dr. Pepper sweetened with cane sugar, you can purchase bottles off of their site.

Pepsi has now released it’s own versions of real sugar, actually a blend of beet sugar and cane sugar, sodas.  Both the Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwbacks feature this new additive; I’ve tried both and wasn’t too impressed but I’m not a Pepsi fan anyway.  My coworker, an avid Dew drinker, prefers the HFCS version to the sugared version as the later lacked the “bite” commonly associated with the drink. Though I’m a huge proponent of eating locally grown and sourced foods, I have to say that Mexico and it’s Coke has won me over. It’s subtly sweet taste and lingering, smooth never sharp finish is worth a visit to the market for a look.

Archie is the Dude in residence for Girls Guide. You can check out his personal blog at MightyFineCerealFlakes.com where he talks about whatever strikes his fancy and pontificates on pop culture, you can Email him at archie [at] girlsguidetothegalaxy [dot] com, and you can follow him on Twitter – @archiemck.