Weird Food-Related Collections
This is my collection of international Coke cans. (What, is that weird?)
It's the kind of relic from my childhood that I forget about, now living three thousand miles from the house I grew up in, until I walk into my bedroom and realize—oh, right—one entire wall is lined with cans of Coke.
The collection started when I was about nine years old. My family was flying back from the East Coast, and my older brother realized that the soda a flight attendant had brought him had a German label. That familiar Coca-Cola can—but in a different language! Awesome, I said to myself. I bought that can off him for a dollar. (My ever-entrepreneurial brother let me have nothing for free.) And a new hobby was born.
As word of my collection spread, my young friends (and, more often, their parents) would contribute to my collection, after vacations and business trips: one from Hong Kong, one from South Africa, one from the Philippines. On my own first venture abroad, I scored not only Italy, but Vatican City—no, there's no visible difference—and dutifully carried around my Vatican Coke can for the remainder of my three-week summer trip.
But things really took off once I discovered the just-launched eBay. I'd use my $3 allowance to buy Coke cans from around the world. I was only nine, but I soon racked up an eBay rating of +20... never letting slip that my mom drove me to the post office to mail my money orders. And within a year or so, I'd imported more than one hundred choice Coke cans: mini-cans from Holland, long, elegant cans from Tunisia, and French-labeled ones from New Caledonia. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person I know with a New Caledonian Coke can.
So that's my weird collection. Any other food-related collections out there?
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16 Comments:
lol When my daughter was traveling around Europe as an older teen she saved all the paper place mats at the McDonald's she went to.
goodcooker at 7:57PM on 06/18/09
Not only is the collection impressive, but your display looks great! Nice sized shelf there.
Yamoo at 8:24PM on 06/18/09
my mom collects olive oil from every place she has been to( every place that produces olive oil). She likes to think of her collection as always evolving, because she uses them. It kind freaks out some people who come into the kitchen though, to see a shelf of 30 kinds of olive oil, all open. But a lot of people think its cool too.
allistew at 8:37PM on 06/18/09
I have an odd Campbell Soup can collection--I have a few from Spain, some OXO products (when they were owned by Campbells) and some of the odder flavors from the classic rotation, like Pepper Pot (which, by the by, is still made because Pope John Paul II declared it his favorite soup and the good little Catholics in Philly bought it in droves as it had his seal of approval). :-) Eventually I want to get all of the Red & White cans, arrayed in the order that they appear at the MoMA, and display them on a shelf in my kitchen.
ElizabethS at 8:54PM on 06/18/09
I know someone else who collects coke cans, too. My husband has a collection of vintage ice cream scoops.
DanaMcCauley at 10:44PM on 06/18/09
I'm a PEZ collector.
pezbabypez at 11:18PM on 06/18/09
i collect coke bottles from all over -- there are these kooky ones in Europe at the moment made of aluminum and they have different designs that correspond to songs you can download, so I have a few of those. But I also have a bunch of glass ones, among them an Obama inauguration bottle, one from my high school graduation year, and one from a Waffle House anniversary... which leads me to my truly weird food collection: I collect Waffle House paraphernalia of all sorts. I'm not really certain what started it, but when I discovered the odds and ends people put up on eBay I was hooked. I need to do an inventory, but I have enough WaHo stuff that when people come to my apartment they always ask about it (or are silently weirded out).
posephus at 11:18PM on 06/18/09
I don't think it's weird that you have the collection, but it may possibly be a bit weird that you built or bought what appears to be the perfect display case. Also, if I'd known, I would have collected a few of the various Diet Coke cans we got on our recent cruise - clearly they stock up wherever they're at, so sometimes we got Japanese cans, or Canadian cans, or (I think) Korean cans... though I guess Diet Coke isn't the same.
Also, you're making me feel old, talking about going on eBay with your weekly allowance, for heaven's sake. By the time eBay appeared in my life, I'd had a job for, um, quite a while. And I'd been on the internet long enough to think it'd never work.
In any case, it's no weirder than my friend's husband, who collects Mac 'n Cheese boxes from around the world (which got him on to the Jimmy Kimmel show a few months ago, in fact.)
Osomatic at 12:23AM on 06/19/09
osomatic-I SAW HIM ON JIMMY KIMMEL! that's so awesome! ha ha! :)
i don't have an extensive collection of coke cans, but i do have an unopened six pack of the commemorative steelers superbowl championship cokes! they make me happy. (they're in my bed's headboard, so i don't think your shelves are so weird)
gastronomeg at 8:14AM on 06/19/09
Food jewelry for me. Mostly earrings, but a few brooches as well. The best are some earrings that are a tray covered with a red checkered cloth, with a hamburger, tiny Coke, and a bag of Lay's Potato Chips.
lemons at 10:20AM on 06/19/09
I used to collect soda cans (not only Coca Cola's) until the Best By date and then drink them on or around that date. Average holding time was three and a half years. I always had a curiosity about whether the flavor was really different by then.
I never sensed any discernible difference until one day a can of Dr. Pepper proved me wrong! It was crispy and delicious in a way that I still can't explain...You should try it.
asg749d at 10:29AM on 06/19/09
@ lemons - I have a lovely necklace with food pendants on it from this company here in the UK, they seem to have discontinued that line - but these earrings are cute (plus they have a few more food bits on the site too) - happy shopping:
http://www.tattydevine.com/boutique/product_info.php?cPath=84&products_id=578
PeckhamEater at 11:52AM on 06/19/09
I collect salt. Everywhere I go I look for their local unique type of salt and bring it home. Hence I have salt from different places of different countries, so many different colors and textures! Most of them are mainly for collection, as I use pretty the same types (about 3-4) for cooking and eating.
kobetobiko at 2:41PM on 06/19/09
I began collecting Fanta cans and bottles when I first started traveling abroad. Similar to Coke, I can find Fanta in every country and in different languages, but what makes it unique is that a lot of countries have flavors that you can't find anywhere else. In Japan they have Melon Fanta, in they have some flavor called Shakara (or at least they did when I was there). I found some crazy blue flavor in Argentina and learned that in the Philippines it's actually called Royal. I have also made it a collection that only I can add to, so if I want a Fanta can from Australia, I'm going to have to go there myself. It's by far my favorite collection and I love watching it grow.
alphazack at 4:44PM on 06/19/09
Check out this guy's Coke Can collection:
http://colaplaza.com/index.aspx?PageID=7
wunami at 1:00AM on 06/21/09
I collect fruit and vegetable sticker labels.
jo_wang at 7:41PM on 09/23/09