Even if you eschew sodas of all sorts, opening a Powerade, Nestea, Odwalla, or Dasani bottle (among many others) still supports the Coca-Cola Company. This global soft-drinks brand is colossal, with a net revenue of over $30 billion in 2009. And the company has come up against some serious backlash, both for its products' nutritional values and for its questionable actions overseas. Michael Blanding explores these controversies in The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World's Favorite Soft Drink. More

This pop vs. soda map is circulating again. It's from waaaaaay back, but, funny enough, we've never blogged about it on Serious Eats. Probably because it was way old even when we launched in late 2006. Do you call that brown-sugar-water stuff soda or pop? Or something else entirely? When I was a kid, I remember an older gent at my church urging us youngsters to go get some "fizzler" while there was still some left. Never heard that one before or since. Oh well. [via Food Mayhem]... More

To promote the latest Bond film, The Quantum of Solace (out mid-November in the States), Coca-Cola and Sony Entertainment shook hands on this numerically-convenient special edition Coke Zero Zero 7 bottle. The bottles will roll out next month, but only in the UK. According to the Coca-Cola brand director across the pond, the edginess of the Bond persona matches that of the Coke Zero identity. The core audience is 20-something men who dream of wearing more tuxedos and carrying a license to kill card. [via The Dieline]... More