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May 15, 2005

The Juice Dilemma

So I thought I would take a moment to talk about my daily struggle in this crazy country to find juice. This may sound like a boreing topic but trust me, it's quite a struggle to find high quality juice around here.

One of the things I like best about traveling is the wide availability of fresh juices. Most Middle Eastern countries have an abundance of fresh juice stands where they squeeze any type of juice you want as you order it. Amman, however, in it's race towards modernization has lost a lot of it's juice stands. The only place you can get it fresh squeezed is downtown or in a fancy cafe where you pay an arm and a leg for it. In places like Jerusalem or Damascus you can't walk a block without almost being run over by a juice cart so you can tell that the juice scene in Amman is quite a bit different.

All of this really isn't a problem untill you look for juice alternatives. You can't find fresh juice in America either but you can find things like Tropicana if you look. Here in Amman, however, the only other option juice lovers have is Tang. There is absolutely nothing in the middle! One day I did find bottled apple juice that tasted real but it was expensive and hasn't been replaced in the cooler at the super market. I think that bottle was a fluke.

For now I've resigned myself to just drinking the best of the Tang varieties that are around. The interesting thing is that I think this dilemma can be found elsewhere in Jordanian society. I have noticed that Jordanians either study all the time or never study at all. They either eat a lot or they don't eat at all. They either crash diet or they weigh 500lbs. They either cover completely or they wear tank-tops and short skirts. There isn't any moderation in this country. Although my teachers tell me there is a middle class it is hard to believe because everything else just works in extremes.

I don't know what the consequences of this are but I do know that it means I only drink Tang. Another interesting cultural study waiting to be done.

Posted by rcollins at May 15, 2005 7:28 AM

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