Coca-Cola and Milk

Soda sales dip, so make milk

A FAMILY of Polar Bears celebrating Christmas in the North Pole. It's about the only TV commercial I remember as a kid. It featured my favourite drink. These two idea's together seemed cool and obviously unforgettable. Just like the taste of my favourite drink. You guessed it - Coke. Who doesn't like Coke at the end of a hot and hard day's work on the property? Or at the beach? Or once you leave the office? Or with dinner? I certainly can attest to being that person several times over. 

I know Coke isn't so cool and refreshing for your body. On the other hand, it certainly does good things for the mind. It's relaxing and it's fun to drink. Puts some pop into your life. Here in Shanghai, it's used for home cooking. Called Coke Chicken, all you need is to cook up one chicken and saute some onion and garlic. Put it all together with a bottle of Coke and an hour later you will have a nice casserole. Not the healthiest but Coke does great things with flavor, permeating through the meat like none other. 

As popular a drink as it is, Coke sales have dropped to a multi-decade low. That doesn't mean the global giant that is often found in our fridges and pantries is about to disappear. Introduce premium high-protein Coca-Cola milk. Trading under the brand, Fair Oaks Farms Brands, and named Fairlife, this milk has 50 percent more natural protein and less sugar than regular milk. In the US, the enhanced milk product is being rolled out to grocery stores throughout this year. Like all good things for our body, Fairlife milk will come at a higher cost. In the US prices for a half-gallon jug of the specialised milk are about $4.59, almost $2 more than regular and organic milks. 

 

The Fairlife bottle isn't so eye-catching like the Coca-Cola brand. So how is the multi-national company going to make sure your fridge is stocked? Through your mother. Advertisements will be directed towards homemaker's who, generally-speaking, are female. 

 

At this point it's unknown when Fairlife will be available globally.

The a2 Milk Company & Chinese Opinion

Feelin Gluggy - Try that A2 Milk

 

In mid-2008 hospitals in China were being overrun with infant patients. A total 54,000 babies were made ill by the infant formula they were being fed, unbeknownst to their families. A type of resin used to make plastic was later discovered to be the cause. Some died, some had kidney failure, some recovered. Since that scenario, people held accountable within infant formula companies have been executed. 

This lesson about life and trust is fresh in the minds of most Chinese people. It’s a common belief here that Chinese milk cannot be trusted. I often teach on the weekends and am not surprised at some of the opinions I get from my students about milk. “What are you up to this weekend,” I ask. Common answer: “I have to go and pick up the infant formula I ordered from Germany.” Or a student mentions: “I love Australian milk,” or “Can you buy me some infant formula when you go home next?” 

Recently I read about New Zealand’s a2 Milk Company on news.com.au. I coupled together the idea that Chinese people like clean, fresh milk and the latest in milk technology and thought, hey, why not do a class on milk. It’s going to get a good result. So I read up on The a2 Milk Company and found out what A2 means. It’s in the protein of the milk. It has a different protein, beta-casein protein, known as A2.  Not like the normal A1 milk most of us drink. New Zealander milk specialists believe that, historically, Europeans drank A2 protein-based milk before that gene was bred out of dairy cattle. With their research, cattle were specifically bred to grow a2 milk. Considered an alternative for lactose intolerant people, A2 leaves you feeling less “gluggy” and able to handle your dairy products better. The perfect formula for Chinese people, a lot of whom are lactose intolerant.

The company markets A2 milk as being easier to consume for people who struggle to digest dairy products.     www.smh.com.au

I explained this to my students. I thought it would be a winning idea. The debate was quickly squashed by some: Why drink what we don’t really know about? How do we know it is good for our babies? A baby’s milk must follow tradition. (Meaning the formula cannot change for 22 months.) 

We further debated and the topic changed to GM food versus foods grown with hormones. Most students were opposed to GM food consumption, but the classroom went quiet when I asked what would you prefer? GM food, food grown with growth-hormones, or both? In China a lot of meat, fruit and vegetables are grown with the aid of size-enhancing drugs. The result: apples the size of grapefruits, carrots the size of eggplants and a sweetness nobody can resist. It’s true; a lot of Chinese fruit is grown with special sweeteners fed to the blooming crops. This helps keep those strawberries and pineapples tasting sweet as maple syrup. 

For these reasons I expected my students to be very open to the concept of milk made traditional, with A2 protein. I was wrong. But everybody agreed, if New Zealand’s a2 Milk Company sold its fresh product on the shelves of Shanghai, there would be none left to buy. The company’s infant formula is currently available here. I’m sure that will be a success story.

HeiLongJiang, China

Trekking in DongBei

SITTING tight for four hours inside a budget plane, on the tarmac, is a test of patience. My destination, Harbin, was only 2.5 hours from Shanghai, about half the time spent squeezing my body into a comfortable position during the delay. The loss of travel time was initially put down to fog, but when the airplane next to the one I patiently sat in took off ahead of time I knew it was all trickery - an all too common experience here in China. Why Chinese airport authorities are reluctant to allow a foreign budget airline take-off gets the rumor mill turning. Nobody has ever really confirmed the truth behind the delays. The number one reason Chinese people give is that the carrier, Spring Airlines, doesn’t have a good relationship with the authorities.
 

Finally as the plane descended into the capital of HeiLongJiang (Black Dragon Province) it was difficult to make out any buildings. The city was blanketed in snow. An exciting prospect for a guy from Western Queensland. The outside temperature lingered around -16 degrees Celsius, a warm winter day for Dong Bei (North East China). 

I took a bus to my hostel, and as the vehicle slowly weaved its way into the city, it became a historical tour. Russian architecture has stamped itself on this city. Its urban plan is European, its buildings crowned with Russian architectural flare. Pedestrian bridge crossings and bus stops showed the city’s colonial past, all colored green and gold and with neo-classical architecture. Clear as ice, this is where China meets Russia. 

After checking in at the hostel, I quickly made my way to the river. Frozen with a few inches of snow on top, it was like a vast tundra. My sense of sight was challenged at first. Unlike Shanghai, my eyes were free to gaze into the distance. No bike, car, truck, building or person stood in the way of my sight. Just clean air and space. It took a few minutes for my eyes to readjust. 

During the winter cold plenty of thrill seekers head down to the river and race across the ice in their sedans. Watching it at first made me wonder how strong the ice was beneath me. I didn’t feel that comfortable. I didn’t know how strong the ice was. On the other hand cocky motorists felt safe tackling the ice with their 4 wheels. A kind of stay-at-home adventure. 

The next day I took a 6 hour mini-van to a village of only 2000 people. Of all my trips in China I have never been somewhere as isolated or as small as this village. Xue Xiang – China’s home of snow. The mini-van raced through undisturbed countryside and climbed steep mountains, covered in virgin forest, clean air and snow. Arriving at the one and only street in this remote village, heavy wind picked up, blowing snow into my eyes. This reminded me of some dust storms in Western Queensland. The hotel was clean and comfortable, with a small fire under the bed. Windows were double-glass. The first thing that struck me here was that indoors, residents were growing roses and cacti. 

Outdoors I had to learn all about walking in snow. I equate it with walking in sand at a beach. Until you set foot on a soft patch of snow and fall in half a meter. Down to my hips I was just about swimming around trees, trying to find more compact snow to walk on. I really didn’t know how far down I could go but luckily no deeper than my hips. 

The village straddled some small hills, covered in forest, but challenging to get to because of the snow. To me it seemed like the perfect escape from Chinese urbanization. A great place to get peace and quiet, something that doesn’t exist in the hustle and bustle of Shanghai. It also defied what I knew about winter. Trees, in -30degC, had shoots ready to pop once the sun warmed up a bit. Apart from the crunch of snow beneath my feet, the woods were so quiet it was like a non-China. Only for the wind, it was still and quiet, making it eiry.

Beneath the hills, in the village, businesses sold ice-blocks on the street, kept frozen naturally by the temperature. A common traditional Chinese medicine belief is that if the weather is cold, eating cold things is good for the body. Judging by the number of tourists I saw eating ice-blocks at -30degC, I would say it's a popular belief. Another store had freshly-caught game hanging from the door. Frozen solid, the pheasant and rabbit were probably ready for the stew pot. 

Men worked tirelessly with the snow, building fences and bridges of ice and igloo's. It was amazing to me to see how compact and hard ice could become if you worked with it. Or how you could build make-do luge tracks. This is one of my best memories in Dong-Bei, laying in a gigantic tire racing down a slope backwards.

It was fascinating to see in the northern-most province of China how much Russian paraphernalia was sold. Dolls and and vodka were the most popular buys for tourists. Classical music floated around the downtown and St. Sophia Church was churning out a tune from Titanic. Seeing a whole square of downtown designated for this Russian Orthodox church was surprising, made the city seem more connected and legit with its Soviet/Russian history. Iconic in Harbin, the church is emblematic of the Russia-Dong Bei relationship. It has had its moments. Russians drowning thousands of Chinese and the disconnect at the border. One side developed, the other side forgotten about by a government in a very distant European city. 

Dumplings and vodka were common at mealtime. Meat is a vital part of the diet in Dong Bei as is a 3PM bottle of beer or shot of vodka. A few times I came across Chinese fellas reeking of vodka or beer in the mid-afternoon. A warmer I guess.