Goli soda and Lamune
I subscribe to the “Herro from Japan podcast” (http://feeds.feedburner.com/hfj_podcast). One of the recent episodes talked about a soda in Japan called Lamune (or Ramune) that comes in this unique bottle.
(image from www.nitto-ramune.co.jp/)
The bottle is sealed by a small glass ball. The get to the drink, you got to push the ball. The ball then falls into the gap in the neck of the bottle and the drink fizzes out.
Josh in Japan has more on Lamune.
I remembered Goli Soda - a similar drink from India. The Indian version used a goli (marble) as a seal. Again you had to press the marble into the neck to get to the drink.
I found this “goli soda” image on Raji’s blog.
I had never seen Goli Soda in Bangalore or Bombay or any other bigger cities. The 80s was dominated by Thumbs Up and Limca. Delhi had a drink called “Double Seven” (1977 was the year that Coke was chased away from India and local cola makers took over the market. Hence the name). Coke returned to India in the 90s. We would only see Goli Soda when we went to Mangalore- a smaller town on western coast. I think they were more popular in the South. I was just googling for some pictures of Goli Soda and I found this picture of a vendor in Banglore.
Picture by G.R.N. Somashekar/ Hindu Businessline
Seems like Goli Soda is now taking on the bigger brands.
`Goli’ soda, the bottled drink with a marble stopper, for long a rural favourite, is increasingly seen at Bangalore street corners holding its own against the onslaught of majors such as Cola-Cola, Pepsi. Priced at Rs 3, it is offered as an instant concoction of wholesome herbs such as ginger, pepper, fresh lime etc.
October 7th, 2005 at 11:40 am
hey!
i do not blog, no idea about your blog and all that but this goli soda thing caught my eye..
i am currently staying in japan as my software husband got an onsite job here…
just wanted to confirm that ‘ramu’ is very popular here and they sell it in every tourist spot, festival or large gathering of people and also freely available in all major super markets…
costs anything from 67 to 300 yen!
October 7th, 2005 at 7:40 pm
Preetam,
I haven’t been there lately but Sarojini Nagar market in Delhi (among some other places) also had goli-sodas a couple of years ago. The Delhi ones have only soda, to which the guy adds masala and nimbu.
October 8th, 2005 at 1:59 am
Goli soda can be still seen in mangalore, but its disappearing fast.
But you can easily get it in small towns around mangalore like puttur, karkala, udupi etc…. The Goli Soda manufacturing unit (if i can call so!) is quite intresting ! ie, the why in which its packed!
October 21st, 2005 at 12:38 pm
Thanks Aadisht and Arjun for dropping by. I must go to delhi one of these days, been almost 20 years since I last went there. I think many people in Mangalore used to run that goli soda manufacturing plant some years back. And Lavanya, I am going to try and find that bottle this weekend at the local Japanese supermarket here.
October 26th, 2005 at 10:53 pm
Ramune is sold in taiwan too for quite a number of years now. Its called the marble (roughly translated from chinese) softdrink.
November 3rd, 2005 at 12:43 pm
I remember these fondly from 15 years in Japan…
Found you on Technorati…Nice blog…
If you ever want to link trade drop by…
Best,
L
December 5th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
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April 6th, 2008 at 9:40 am
You can get ramune or, ramu, at almost any asian store, even in the U.S. It comes in rice, peach and leechie nut.