Some things one simply takes for granted such as coke, pepsi, sprite and 7Up are internationally known and available. And the good news is, they are. One will have no problem finding a wide variety of soft drinks in Saudi Arabia even to include Western favorites such as IBC root beer or other IBC flavors. However one distinction one will discover when drinking a soft drink in Saudi Arabia as compared to America or Europe, is that the majority of soft drinks here are opened with the “old fashioned” pull off tabs instead of the newer
style push back openers. As a result it is pretty typical to see the ground around soft drink machines or vendors littered with “pull off” tabs on the floor or dirt. I was surprised to discover these older style tabs were prevelant here as even when I lived in other places such as India and Pakistan, the canned soft drinks would usually have the “newer modern style tabs.”
Filed under: America, culture, Food, Just for fun, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, Saudi Living, travel, Uncategorized Tagged: | America, culture, customs, KSA, Saudi Arabia, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, travel
Perhaps Saudis could recycle the tabs, and have those school- organized drives to collect them and donate the proceeds to charity. On the other hand, perhaps this idea would have Saudi-based readers ROTFL?
that would be a typical suggestion which would likely get implemented in the West but needs more time (alot more) here before put into effect.
Chiara- did you hear me laughing? Recycling in Saudi means to seperate your cans in a different garbage bag and than call on that guy you see digging through the trash dumpsters looking for cans to come and take it.
And ya know I don’t care how my can gets open.. i would just love for it to be a Dr. Pepper.
They used to have production of Dr. Pepper in Jeddah but I can’t find them anymore in khobar. Unless they are imported and US imported soft drinks cost a small fortune. 5.00 SR for one can of Dr. Pepper. WOW!
our pop cans in canada have those tabs too!
Those pull tabs are really sharp!
It’s funny. But I remember vividly when Coca Cola made a comeback here some 15 years ago they featured push back openers, which I remember thinking were really neat. They stayed that course for quite a few years before switching to the classic throwaway tabs. Never really understood why, but if I had to guess I would say that they either switched their can manufacturers in Saudi Arabia to a more traditional plant, or their manufacturers made the switch themselves to save cost perhaps.
Bottles taste way better anyway, especially ones with classic metal bottle caps.
Though recently, I’ve sworn off Soft drinks completely. They really mess up your body.
Waw! I can’t remember when I last saw a real vintage pull off tab!!!
Are there typically saudi soft drinks? We can get all sorts of fascinating soft-drinks from the far east, but I don’t think I have ever seen anything from the middle east.
I will admit I have an unexplainable urge for diet-coke from a can…
(Push-back tab)
What I loved (when I still drank soft drinks) were those little 3 oz cans you can get in Saudi Arabia and Qatar – and I have never seen them anywhere else!
If you can collect enough of those they make an interesting beaded curtain……LOL
Really smaller cans? You get them in Holland too, but they are more expensive! Shows one pays for the packaging, rather than the content.
Nzingha–I heard you, kept me awake half the night!
Perhaps “Dr Pepper” could be prescribed, and covered under a health plan (stop laughing, I once was forced by my hospital superiors to prescribe optional beer 1-2 cans at night for sleep, or verbatim, “beer 1-2 cans po qhs prn–patient may use own stock from ward fridge”)
Well, researcher that I am I just had to know. So in brief:
“pull tabs” invented by a Canadian in 1956, perfected and mass marketed by an America 1962 (what else is new
);
“colon” or “stay tab” or “push tab” invented by a Virginian in 1975 to remedy pollution, swallowing hazard, and sharp edges of “pull tabs”;
replaced “pull tabs” through the 1980′s in most of the world except China and the Middle East;
last school drive for collected “pop” can tabs (Br/Cdn for “soda”) in which I participated was in the mid- 1990′s in Canada and featured “push tabs” (haven’t see a pull tab in years anywhere);
“pop”/ “soda” has no redeeming nutritional features, contributes to obesity, tooth decay, diabetes (even the diet types), and possibly Alzheimer’s, and the colas are so caustic they are used as industrial cleaners eg. to get bug goo (a technical term
) off of car windshields;
none of which stops me permanently from cracking open a migraine- inducing “cold one”, a diet cola that is
PS love the small cans, seen in Morocco, Europe, and more rarely in Canada.
I cannot think of a truly “Saudi” soda although I do remember in Pakistan how much I enjoyed the Lychee sodas there.
How about “sharbah” or sherbet “The World’s First Soft Drink”? Great article courtesy of Saudi Aramco World, informative with beatiful photos and recipes. I’ll definitely be making Sharab Loomi ma Ward
Lemon and Rose Sherbet in about 4-5 months.
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200505/the.world.s.first.soft.drink.htm
You are so observant!
Still? I remember those pull-tabs from our years in Riyadh more than a decade ago. Kids used to make necklaces from them (despite the sharp edges!).
If they use the traditional pull-ups, then they can use that in contests and competitions where the 4 or 5-digit code will be printed under the pull-up.
Whereas if they use the modern one, they cant do that!
Couldnt think of anything better LOL
What about those flavored malt drinks? Do they count as soft drinks? I love those things, wish I could get them here.
you’re right, asiyasmom…I’d not seen those flavored malt drinks anywhere else like they have here and in such varieties…i like the farouz brand.
There used plenty of Saudi soft drinks, but they all got decimated by the competition. Though I still see “Alsi Cola” (cashing in on the similarity to RC Cola) cans every now and then. Then there’s the malt drinks, although I’m not sure if they are Saudi or not. Fairouz in particular I know to be Egyptian.
Hey Saudi Jawa, whatever happened yo your blog man? You haven’t updated in months!
:(
It’s funny because I took a picture of one of the discarded tops laying on the street (and I swear I was thinking…these people are going to think I’m crazy) and sent the picture to my friends/family back home…as I hadn’t seen one of these since, what…the 70′s. They were like, “they still make soda cans with these tops”.
I personally don’t drink soda…but it would seem it wouldn’t be too complicated to just use the can that is being used in the US (and in other countries as well); because these tops are all over the ground on the compound. And, what’s extra funny is that the “do not litter” signs are all in English…and really they should probably be in Arabic.
What about the Sorbet drinks? Though those come in glass bottles would they count as a Saudi Soda?
Had a chicken shawarma yesterday for lunch and got a little can of mango juice to go with .. classic pop-top … had a giggle about that.
BCIS:
I doubt the signs would work. None of the other signs (speed limits..ect) have any effect.
Saudi Jawa–an excellent point about global companies and competition. One of the vintage local restaurants here in Canada, has kept a local supplier’s bottled pop as part of its 1940′s charm. Also there is a reason that one that my earliest reading vocabulary words in Arabic is the Coca Cola sign; and imagine my surprise to discover Fanta Orange soda in Maoist China (in Beijing, then called Peking)!
David–I think the sorbet drinks you mention are the same as the ones I referenced in the comment above. They seem to be at least part Saudi, and considered soft drinks though not carbonated.
I wasn’t sure initially whether to post on this topic but then figured…why not…. and now I’m happy I did as I see how others have also noticed this trait.
Mohamed…U R absolutely right. I was in Khobar just this evening…and I saw a woman open up her back window and throw out a soda can with a straw like there was nothing to it. Right on the street. I was so freakin’ irritated. It’s like, “who in the hell do you think is going to pick that crap up”. It’s like the earth is their damn trash can. Gawd!! OK…enough on that rant.
hate to say it BCIS but start getting used to it….it’s not only soda cans but everything else too. Littering is predominant and recycling is still in its infancy.
@Mohamed — didn’t you hear? Saudi Jawa is married now and doesn’t have time for blogging like he used to! (smile)
in regards to saudi drinks, i think the majority of the fruit drinks in saudi are the absolutely best.
So Jawa got married huh?
What’s more important? Family or blogging?
That’s right! get back on that blog mister! >:(
j/k
What a blast from the past!!! ; ) This coming from someone who grew up in the 70′s! Never thought I’d see one of those again. Can remember a few times that the pull ring would come off and then you had to figure out how to open it without the ring!!! Those were the days!!!
Pepsi here in the US makes an 8oz. can. I really like it because sometimes 12oz. is just too much.
maybe those were your days Tina but that’s something (the pull ring coming off without opening the can) that we still have to contend with here! (smile)
A post about soda can pull tops…lol.
Please do inform us Carol if this one gets picked up by Reuters…
I prefer twist tops myself….I can never finish the can and like to put it in the fridge till later…they dont make diet soda here in twist top bottles though
I am exactly the same coolred…especially when traveling! I like to have something I can close again as I usually do not finish a drink all in one setting!
Ha! I think the tabs overseas are way better than the modern tabs we use in the states. The pull off tabs are way easier to take off and throw away.
I even kept one as a souvenir when I came back to the states, haha! I thought they were so cool : )
They are easier to take off but sadly here most folks just throw them on the ground and they can be quite sharp if stepped on!
yes but they are not as bad as curved sea shells. I was in bahrain this weekend walking on a beach with flipflops on and I stepped on a seashell that was curved and it went through the whole flip flop and poked into my foot. it was rather irritating. the whole was small, but the flip flops were a present from a friend who had gotten them for me when he went to Australia.
make sure you have a current tetanus shot!!
I also wondered why they have these, odd.
I’m just glad to know I’m not the only one who noticed this!
i have been searchning for kool aid and dr.pepper all around and haven’t found any ! do we have them in Saudi Arabia or what?
Welcome Al.
Tamimi (Safeway) carries Dr. Pepper (regular and diet) and I believe kool aid too.
Regards, Carol
OMG thanx alot !
i ve been looking for them for ages lol
My pleasure — enjoy!
Thanks for the pic! With the throwback Pepsi out right now, my husband wondered outloud if they had the old tabs, and my daughter (20 yrs old) had not a clue what the pull tabs were. Thanks for the education!!
My pleasure just me and welcome to the blog!
It’s good to see others in the Mideast who miss Dr. Pepper!
I’ve been living in Abu Dhabi this last year, and noticed the pull tabs which were banned in the States when I was a boy. What I’d like to unravel is WHY pull tabs still exist at all, why aren’t the stay-tabs in use?
A friend suggested the stay-tabs aren’t used here due to high patent fees. I find that hard to swallow given the wholesale piracy of music and video in this part of the world.
Welcome Big Erns!
I don’t understand how there could be a patent issue involved with the pull tabs since the soda manufacturers are the same. It would be interesting to learn the reason though why pull tabs are not used in the region though.
Hey AB,
The legal issue’s not my specialty, but I wonder if it technically isn’t the same manufacturer but a licensee of the brand and basic formula… for example, a coke can in the usa has in small print usually “bottled by the coca cola company of” whatever state. Here in the UAE it’s something like “Dubai Entertainment, Inc.” So the opening mechanism may not be covered in the license agreement but the responsibility of the licensee.
Pull tabs are ancient technology at this point, so it’s still a bit of a mystery as to why they continue to be used in this part of the world, or why the manufacturing equipment is still geared to turn out a 40 year-old design. Thanks for entertaining this question… if I ever find the answer I’ll be sure to follow up here.
Glad to hear you here, Big Erns!