This morning I almost skipped my subway stop on the way to work, three days in a row, engrossed as I was writing away, but today I managed to notice it in time and get off at my station. Phew!
I mentioned in a recent post that my recent ability to refocus on this project was seeing seltzer everywhere. Specifically, I’ve seen it in three unexpected places that suggest that, damn, if only I’d had the book done by now I’d be moving them like latkes during a Chanukah bash!
First, there was a recent article in the journal Science, of which I am NOT a reader, documenting a study analyzing the “taste of carbonated water.” Absolutely fascinating. I only learned of it through hearing it on my NPR Podcast.
The best image from the study, as it is so bizarre: what a rat’s tongue looks like tasting seltzer! Specifically, sour-sensing cells and the enzyme lighting up a mouse tongue:

You can almost see the ads now – “This is rat’s tongue. This is a rat’s tongue on seltzer.”
The second November appearance, which surprised me the most, was in Entertainment Weekly magazine, my source for all things movie, television and music. It lets me know what I need to consume to be cool. Well, according to their latest What’s In and What’s our report, I can now add seltzer to the list!

Believe me when I tell you, I can’t imagine a more unexpected place to see seltzer come up and I sure wish I could find out why now, of all times, they choose to give their nod to the fizzy fun.
Finally, and this one is only a little more gross than a rat’s tongue:

“Are you pouring on the pounds?” this NYC Subway ad asks, in both English here, and, elsewhere in Spanish. “Don’t drink yourself fat.” Instead, drink water, seltzer or low-fat milk.
It’s hardly a surprise to see the health benefits of seltzer touted – that’s one of it’s most common cultural narratives. But it was still a surprise to see drinking it encouraged in a public health campaign, picture underneath a photo realistic image of… what IS that, anyway? I’m sticking with seltzer.