Ingredient Overload

I recently went to chill in Sarah's room. I was sitting on her couch, "engrossed" in my math homework (singing along with the radio, skipping problems that required brainpower, and chatting about the latest campus gossip), when I discovered a box under her sofa. I pulled it out, and it turned out to be one of those inconveniently long "fridge pack"s that never fit in my fridge. I gazed at the box in wonder. It declared that the contents of the box was a dozen cans of "Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper." My initial reaction was shock, and then I contemplated all the taste's I'd had in the world, trying to desperately to imagine what cherry, vanilla and Dr. Pepper could possibly taste like together. Second, I felt old, for I could remember when plain, old Vanilla Coke revolutionized soda. But now we've upped the anti.

One flavor simply won't do in today's increasingly competitive market. People can't drink that calorific swill that is regular soda, so we must have diet options. Second, everyone's already got one flavor in their drink, so the only answer is to keep adding more flavors. Yes, that will make it more extreme, more delicious than the competition. Brilliant!

It was with great skepticism that I tasted what I assumed would be a monstrosity. I took a sip, expecting it to evoke the same reaction as Diet Coke with Splenda (a mouthful involuntarily ended up watering a lawn). I was shocked when I found the superloaded Dr. Pepper to be delicious. It was the first time I'd found a truly convincing argument for overloading everything with more "Xtreme" elements. In this case, less is not more. While companies keep loading down food with too many flavors, electronics with erroneous features, and cars that you can start from 20 feet, I have to ask: has any of this made my life any better?

While occasionally I appreciate one of the monstrosities of excess, such as the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, usually I feel better about sticking with the classics. I know we've gotten lazy, and the idea of actually inventing new technology or kinds of soda is appalling, but it might be necessary. It's kind of like those shoes you love desperately but are now mostly made of duct tape. At a certain point one must admit that they're no longer the same, good shoes, and it's time for something new and different. A twist on a classic only goes so far before you twist it beyond recognition.

For an example of a good, new twist on a classic, check this video out.