I would consider myself a southerner. I grew up just outside of Atlanta and have lived there my entire life until I recently moved to central Florida. While I still live in the south, there have been a few uncomfortable adjustments I have had to make.
Most people would think my biggest issue is the heat and the humidity. Let me tell you, that is definitely something I am still trying to get used to. I don’t even attempt to do my hair anymore and when I wear a face full of makeup I feel like I look like a melted ice cream sundae.
My biggest issue I have faced since moving to central Florida is the beverage options at restaurants. Lets start with tea. Why don’t the restaurants here serve sweet tea? Isn’t this still considered the south? (I know, Florida is more tourism than the south). If I try and order sweet tea don’t offer my unsweetened tea with sugar packets, unless you are going to bring me a pound of them and chances are the tea STILL won’t taste sweet enough. To fix this problem, I propose restaurants just start serving sweet tea.
Now, while I consider sweet tea very important, there is another drink that holds even more value to me. Coke. Where I grew up, we didn’t have ‘pop’ or ‘soda’, we had Coke. Everything has always been considered a Coke. Especially growing up in Atlanta, if you wanted any brand other than a Coke, you were betraying your city.
This brings me to my biggest problem with moving to central Florida. If you don’t serve Coke at your restaurant, PEPSI IS NEVER OKAY. I know it’s not the server’s fault and it probably puts them in an awkward situation. To a Coke fan, drinking a Pepsi is not only betraying your life-long companion (Coke), it tastes absolutely disgusting.
I don’t think the war between Pepsi and Coke will ever end. The north loves their Pepsi and the south loves their Coke. With that being said, and the amount of relocating people do throughout their lives, wouldn’t it be nice if both Coke and Pepsi were served all over the country? It may make a lot of angry people in this world a lot happier.
