Published Mar 6, 2005
One of the many injustices and trials heaped upon little ol’ me in this life is that I’m allergic to corn. I actually figured this out a few years ago after spending a couple of years being sick and miserable all the time! But removing corn from my diet has been difficult, it’s in everything. I cook a lot of my own food, and eat a lot of organic stuff, but who wants to eat crunchy-granola additive-free foods all the time? That’s why I thank goodness for corn-free foods imported from third-world countries.
I’m not quite sure why these products don’t contain corn syrup, but what they do contain is good old fasioned sugar. Maybe it’s that corn syrup is difficult to make, compared to sugar syrup. Maybe it’s a capacity-related issue in the corn industry of other countries, resulting in insufficient corn syrup supply to meet all possible demand. Maybe it’s old equipment that can’t handle corn syrup. Maybe it’s that agricultural policy in some countries makes corn syrup cheaper than sugar and in other countries makes the two prices equal or, even, sugar cheaper. Whatever, the below products are available at your local halal carneceria.
One long-time favorite is Pakola, which is maybe “fresh, fruity, fun for everyone” or maybe “ice cream cola”. Either way, it’s bright green, and from Pakistan.
A new discovery, which warms my heart to no end, is Choco Listo. Everyone loves powdered hot cocoa, right? Well, if you look at the ingredients on your cocoa, it almost certainly contains corn syrup. Not Choco Listo! Choco Listo is a fine product of Colombia, and, while it contains no corn products, it makes me so happy that it may, in fact, contain that other famous Colombian product, cocaine.
But who cares? Everyone needs soda and instant cocoa. Thank goodness for the Third World!
pakola looks panasty