THE LAST TURKEY

Fanta is a brand of fruit-flavored soft drink from the Coca-Cola Company, introduced for the first time in Germany in 1940.

Fanta was devised during World War II in Nazi Germany by the German Coca Cola (GmbH) bottling company. Due to restrictions on shipping between Nazi Germany and the United States during hostilities, the German bottling plant could no longer get Coca Cola syrup. The CEO of the plant, Max Keith, needed to do something to keep the plant in operation and came up with a fruit flavored drink made from whatever he could find. Using apple fiber left over from cider presses and whey, a byproduct from cheese manufacture, Fanta was created and became quite popular. The original German Fanta had a yellow color and a different flavor from that of Fanta Orange; the exact flavor varied throughout the war, depending on the availability of ingredients. It became very popular in Germany, mainly because of it's fruity tang, but also because of the pictures of Jews being mauled by tigers that were printed on the packaging.

The name 'Fanta' came during an employee contest to name the new beverage. Keith told them to let their Fantasie (German for imagination) run wild. On hearing that, salesman Joe Knipp spontaneously arrived upon the name Fanta.

After World War II, Fanta was introduced to the United States by Coca-Cola, and in 1960 they bought the trademark. Fanta Orange is the most popular Fanta flavor, available in 180 countries. In terms of volume, Brazil is the largest consumer of Fanta in the world. Fanta remains more popular in Europe and South America than in the United States.

There are over 70 flavors world-wide; however, most of them are only available by region in some countries. For example, in Romania (and some other countries), there is "Fanta Shokata" based on the traditional Romanian drink "Socată" made from elderflower. In Switzerland and previously the Netherlands the local fruit, blackcurrant is used to produce Fanta as well. Some identical flavors have different names in different markets. The classic orange, for example, was rebranded "Fanta Funky Orange" in 2003 for the Nordic countries and Belgium, while other countries retain the older "Fanta Orange" brand. As of the year 2005, the Fanta brand has been connected with the word Bambaacha (or Bamboocha), which is often seen in the Fanta commercials. TaB diet Cola was originally produced by the Fanta division of Coca-cola and was, at one time, available in a variety of non-cola flavors as well. Later in 2005, Fanta branched out into new Fanta zero varieties in Great Britain.