Food: Big Red Soda

It's that time of year again. The time when I order copious amounts of Big Red and stock my fridge and cabinets. Because while they have a lot of great stuff out here in California, one thing they don't have is Big Red.

In my life, I've never met another person who drinks Big Red. I'd say it's an acquired taste except I've loved it for as long as I can remember, yet no one in my family will touch it, so I have no idea how I acquired the taste for it. Maybe just from growing up in Texas and Louisiana, which is Big Red's natural habitat. I used to always grab a bottle of it for long car trips. Or freeze it at home for homemade slush.

Once at orientation for uni, I had a Big Red and my bunkmate (who was from Boston) asked if she could try a sip. She hated it. Too sweet, I think, for some tastes.

Big Red touts itself as a "red cream soda" but it doesn't taste at all like those caramel-colored creams. I'd say the closest description would be "liquified bubble gum." And since I love bubble gum, and all things of that flavor, Big Red is a win in my book.

Alas, it's difficult to find outside its immediate region, so I must resort each spring to hoarding it as if provisioning against some kind of cataclysm. Even so, it won't last the summer. But that's fine. I'll get my fix and then go back to Dr Pepper (which at least has a wider reach). And when next spring rolls around, it will be time for another huge order of Big Red.