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Wait, we ship water from Italy to California? Why don’t they just produce it in CA? It’s just bottled sparkling water right?

lazide 3y ago
Italian sparkling water can command a higher price because... Italian. Olive oil from California is also much cheaper than Olive Oil from Italy. In both cases, it's up to you to decide if you think there is any actual quality difference, and if such a thing is worth money to you. Alternatively, the soviets usually only had one (maybe two-three if it was military equipment) brands or models for any one thing. So there is that alternative.
- laurencerowe 3y ago
  > Olive oil from California is also much cheaper than Olive Oil from Italy. Where do you buy cheap Californian olive oil? Whenever I’ve seen it for sale (rarely) it’s always a more premium product available only in medium sized glass bottles while Italian olive oil is available in large plastic containers.
  - lazide 3y ago
    Ah hah, the marketers are at it again. If you go to Safeway.com, there are clearly a couple different ‘markets’ or sub-verticals in olive oil. Glass bottle ‘fancy’, plastic jug ‘bulk’, and large metal jug/tin ‘medium fancy bulk’. Looking at the sub-categories, it it seems like Italian extra virgin is typically about 2x in price of Californian equivalents within a given sub-category, but there are some Californian brands coming close to equivalent. Like Californian wines vs French. Each sub-category for oil has its equivalent of 2 buck chuck of course.
cratermoon 3y ago
Yes, but no. Water in different locations has different chemistry. The levels and kinds of dissolved minerals differ drastically and that affects the taste. In theory it's possible to take distilled or r/o water and add exact amounts of various carbonates, chlorides, and sulfates to match any water profile. In practice, it's not worth it it.
- LoganDark 3y ago
  I don't like water that has a taste. It's the reason why it's so hard to get me to drink it on a consistent basis. I always go back to soda because water tastes bad. Some people say I might be tasting the hydrogen or oxygen in it, some people say it's the minerals or whatever, but either way, I find it unpleasant.
  - tguvot 3y ago
    different water brands has different taste. there is water that I can drink, and there is water that I can't. you just need to find those that you like. just get 20 different bottles and taste till you find one that is tasteless for you.
  - lazide 3y ago
    More likely? You’re conditioned to not pay attention to thirst, and to need lots of sugar and the like to drink something. I bet if you went a couple weeks without soda and drank more water, you’d probably find the water tasty and not drink any more soda for awhile.
    - LoganDark 3y ago
      I don't know how to tell if I'm not paying attention to thirst. I know that I can forget to eat for days at a time when I'm hyperfocusing, but I've at least gotten better at thirst management. There was a period of time where I did switch to water, when I first started my ADHD medication. And you're right, even though I didn't find the water "tasty", I was perfectly fine drinking it and just using the feeling of it instead of the taste. It did take a while even after the meds stopped working for me to switch back to soda. I think it actually happened just because we ran out of water bottles and I was still thirsty. Which I guess proves that I still have thirst at least.
  - cratermoon 3y ago
    > I don't like water that has a taste How many different places have you had tap water? The tap water in SoCal, west Texas, Seattle, and Hawaii all have distinctive tastes. Or have you tried distilled or R/O water?

lazide 3y ago

Italian sparkling water can command a higher price because... Italian. Olive oil from California is also much cheaper than Olive Oil from Italy. In both cases, it's up to you to decide if you think there is any actual quality difference, and if such a thing is worth money to you. Alternatively, the soviets usually only had one (maybe two-three if it was military equipment) brands or models for any one thing. So there is that alternative.

laurencerowe 3y ago
> Olive oil from California is also much cheaper than Olive Oil from Italy. Where do you buy cheap Californian olive oil? Whenever I’ve seen it for sale (rarely) it’s always a more premium product available only in medium sized glass bottles while Italian olive oil is available in large plastic containers.
- lazide 3y ago
  Ah hah, the marketers are at it again. If you go to Safeway.com, there are clearly a couple different ‘markets’ or sub-verticals in olive oil. Glass bottle ‘fancy’, plastic jug ‘bulk’, and large metal jug/tin ‘medium fancy bulk’. Looking at the sub-categories, it it seems like Italian extra virgin is typically about 2x in price of Californian equivalents within a given sub-category, but there are some Californian brands coming close to equivalent. Like Californian wines vs French. Each sub-category for oil has its equivalent of 2 buck chuck of course.

cratermoon 3y ago

Yes, but no. Water in different locations has different chemistry. The levels and kinds of dissolved minerals differ drastically and that affects the taste. In theory it's possible to take distilled or r/o water and add exact amounts of various carbonates, chlorides, and sulfates to match any water profile. In practice, it's not worth it it.

LoganDark 3y ago
I don't like water that has a taste. It's the reason why it's so hard to get me to drink it on a consistent basis. I always go back to soda because water tastes bad. Some people say I might be tasting the hydrogen or oxygen in it, some people say it's the minerals or whatever, but either way, I find it unpleasant.
- tguvot 3y ago
  different water brands has different taste. there is water that I can drink, and there is water that I can't. you just need to find those that you like. just get 20 different bottles and taste till you find one that is tasteless for you.
- lazide 3y ago
  More likely? You’re conditioned to not pay attention to thirst, and to need lots of sugar and the like to drink something. I bet if you went a couple weeks without soda and drank more water, you’d probably find the water tasty and not drink any more soda for awhile.
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    I don't know how to tell if I'm not paying attention to thirst. I know that I can forget to eat for days at a time when I'm hyperfocusing, but I've at least gotten better at thirst management. There was a period of time where I did switch to water, when I first started my ADHD medication. And you're right, even though I didn't find the water "tasty", I was perfectly fine drinking it and just using the feeling of it instead of the taste. It did take a while even after the meds stopped working for me to switch back to soda. I think it actually happened just because we ran out of water bottles and I was still thirsty. Which I guess proves that I still have thirst at least.
- cratermoon 3y ago
  > I don't like water that has a taste How many different places have you had tap water? The tap water in SoCal, west Texas, Seattle, and Hawaii all have distinctive tastes. Or have you tried distilled or R/O water?