I drank three Red Bulls for breakfast. Is that bad? >> You’re keeping count. >> This is a hot dog is a sandwich. >> Ketchup is a smoothie. >> Yeah, I put ice in my cereal. So what? >> That makes no sense. >> A hot dog is a sandwich. >> A hot dog is a sandwich. >> What? [laughter] >> Welcome back to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. The show we break down the world’s biggest food debates. I’m your host, Josh Sher. >> I’m Emily Fleming. I’m subbing in. >> You’re subbing in? But no, you’re not a substitute. Well, if you are, you’re like the cool substitute that rolls in. >> I am definitely the substitute teacher that pulls out the TV on the little on the wheelie thing. >> Yeah. Yeah. That’s how we watch the movie Troy. Still one of the greatest movies of all time. >> Oh, cool. >> Yeah. But we’re not talking about the movie Troy today. Unless >> Unless you really want us to cuz like listen, Brad Pitt, so he fights We’re going to talk movie Troy. Brad Pitt in one of the opening scenes, he fights a wrestler named Nathan Jones. >> It’s where he does that cool little side step and then he jumps in the air and kind of gets him in the back. >> I guess I’ve never seen Troll. You should just come on my podcast to talk about troll. >> Okay. Yeah. Go to Emily’s plug your podcast. >> Free with ads. Um, >> we’re talking about Troy. >> Yeah. >> Wait, I would love that. >> Yeah, we should do Troll. Is it Troy or Troll? I thought you said Troll. >> Troy. It’s like the Iliad. Brad Pit, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Nathan Jones with ads somewhere. You’re coming on soon. >> We’re not talking about the that today. Unfortunately, we’re talking about our energy drink consumption habits. [laughter] Dude, I drink. Okay, to back up a little bit, I currently have the caffeine shakes, not from energy drinks, from a bunch of coffee that I drank this morning. >> Oh god, that >> skip the gym this morning and now I’m gonna drink this. But I have had a caffeine addiction probably on the better part of 20 years since I was in middle school. >> Absolutely. >> And that is coincidentally when energy drinks really started hitting the market. I remember seeing energy drinks for the first time in a store. I knew Red Bull kind of existed, but I kind of knew it as like a weird thing that like adults drink. This is in like 2010. Well, I’m older than you cuz it’s like I think that Okay, don’t sound so >> you Okay, in your geriatric stage of life, what have you learned? >> Um, there wasn’t really I don’t think there were energy drinks when I was in high school. It was like Coca-Cola like you would just shotgun Coke. >> Were you around for Surge Surge? >> I was I was, but I never really >> That was kind of like the American attempt initially at energy drinks because what what had happened was Red Bull is an Austrian company, right? >> Okay. Okay. And so Red Bull, that’s why they have the fluke to seen Red Bull’s fluke where they like it’s not it’s a German and they like jump weird crafts into the water they play and stuff when they have the Red Bull challenges. >> Yeah, the fluke to. >> Oh wow. >> And a fluke. >> I love how you didn’t preface it with the Red Bull like sports ch. You just said fluke. >> Well, fluke is a specific thing where they’re they’re building very strange crafts like almost like homemade go-karts that they’re like launching them into the water and they try and like fly. >> That’s fun. It’s like the box car races that you know kids used to do. >> And so the point is Red Bull, it’s an Austrian company. It was started in 1987 and it’s kind of credited as the first energy drink in Europe slash like the general west, right? And then it gets to America in 1997. So depending on how old you are, I’m never going to ask a lady her age. >> No, I would have been 11 at that time. I’m 39. I’m getting to four. I don’t like that whole not telling your age thing. >> How much you weigh? >> Actually, I don’t know now. I think I’m I think I’m at 180. How tall are you? >> 510. >> 510 180. That’s good because you got like a good amount of reach but still have like the strength of people inside that you can hit them with body shot. >> A gust of wind ain’t taking me nowhere. >> Here’s the thing. I’m I’m not part of the body neutrality movement. I’m part of the uh universal body athleticism movement where I judge every single person’s body based on what sport they can do. >> Well, yeah. Also, I will say >> Irish hurling. >> Okay, I’ll take that up. Irish hurling. It’s like a like I think it’s kind of like field hockey meets uh meets football. >> Huh. Yeah, beat each other with clubs. Megie looks like she’d be good with a club. >> Oh, thank you. Maggie does look like she could kick [laughter] someone’s ass. >> Um, but yeah, no, I I wanted to say that I’ve been I’m like running. I’m So, I do interval running and I’m trying to get down to three 10-minute miles in a row. That I’m at 35 minutes. >> That’s pretty damn good. >> But we’re going to see if I can get down. >> That’s pretty damn good. So, 1997, you would have been how old? 11. >> 11. And you do you remember seeing Red Bull for the first time? >> I don’t remember seeing Red Bull for the first time. I do remember the Surge commercials. I do remember. But I didn’t I guess I didn’t notice that it was supposed to be caffeinated. I thought it was just another soda commercial cuz it kind of it was yellow. It kind of looked like Mountain Dew. And I don’t think Mountain Dew is caffeinated. Is it? >> No. Mountain Dew is caffeinated. I’m going to look up how I don’t know how much um in each can, but Mountain Dew >> The Sprite is not caffeinated. Sprite is not caffeinated, but um something like 70% of American sodas are already caffeinated. >> And the interesting thing here is like so a can of Mountain Dew for instance has 55 millig of caffeine. Okay. >> Um FDA recommends that you keep under 400 milligrams of caffeine per day. So there’s 55 milligrams in a Mountain Dew. So you drink seven of those, which certainly some people do. You’re at your FDA limit. A cup of coffee, it’s so variable on the amount of caffeine that’s actually in it because you can a blonde roast has more caffeine than a dark roast because heat denatures caffeine. Um the >> there sativa very [laughter] indica if you if you drink an indica you’d be into couch if you know what I’m talking about. Uh but no, if you like if you brew it stronger, right, then it’s going to have more caffeine per ounce. But typically something like 80 to 100 milligrams of caffeine per cup of coffee. So a Mountain Dew is like half a cup of coffee. >> Okay. Okay. >> Mountain Dew’s like 5 ounces of Coke. >> What’s a What’s a Coke? What’s a Coca-Cola? >> Uh >> that’s got to be more than Mountain Dew, right? >> No, less 34 milligrams of caffeine in a can of Coke. >> Oh, wow. >> Yeah. But but all of them have in and Coke was originally supposed to be a stimulant drink, right? It was literally cocaine in the cola and the cola nut actually has natural caffeine. So like this all, you know, all this exists because humans love caffeine. >> Yes. Well, I guess we always I think that especially >> in this day and age of late stage capitalism, competition is like a big thing. Everybody wants to be the best that they can be and the most jacked we could possibly be >> to like >> to be be like I’m on the money. I’m doing a good job here. I’m I’m on C like I’m go go go go go kind of thing. And I think that that amazing market. >> Oh, it certain it certainly does. And I think like talking about the idea of late stage capitalism uh author Michael Pollen uh who wrote omnivore’s dilemma he and he’s written about a lot of other like psychopharmarmacological things but he writes about the role of caffeine in capitalism and how it literally he doesn’t think the industrial revolution would have happened in the way that it did without the use of caffeine. even before that caffeine. So if we trace it all back, every culture has pretty much found a natural stimulant in their environment. Whether that’s the cocoa leaf in the Andes, whether it’s like, you know, the beetle nut in like central and northern Africa, I believe, >> of course, >> uh tea, [laughter] uh tea, chameleia sinencis in China is caffeinated. >> Yeah. Tea. >> And then you don’t get coffee uh until some think it was Ethiopia, some think it was Yemen, but they basically share a a very thin border with a a straight. It’s the straight body of water that goes between two things. Anyways, so they’re very close to each other. But um coffee eventually >> makes its way around the world because the giant European colonial powers were all competing to see who could grow it and where. So the term Java Java is literally an island in Indonesia and that’s where the Dutch started growing their coffee. >> I didn’t know that. >> And then the Spaniards and the Portuguese started growing their coffee in South America because they had colonial holdings there. So all the great coffee growing powers basically were Western European colonialists trying to figure out where they could grow this kind of stuff. But then that gets exported to Europe. And if you can imagine like Europe didn’t have a form of caffeine, tea only came from China and was like more rare at the time. But then when coffee hits Europe and they start building these coffee houses, people are gathering and suddenly they get this jolt of energy and they can think clearly and they’re like, “Oh my god, this is incredible.” And so you have a lot of these like enlightenment thinkers like Voltater hosting salons at coffee houses and apparently legend has it Voltter would drink up to 50 cups of coffee a day little little cups >> little demi tosses of coffee guys. Yeah. Little dimples. So he wasn’t like you know ripping a bunch of Bang energy drinks or whatever. >> Everybody’s breath smelled crazy. >> I bet it was awesome. You know hand rolled cigarettes and coffee the French way. >> Rough. But like but caffeine is a like big part of the human story and somehow this is the story that we’re telling in the year of our lord 2025. >> Yep. >> You know, and it’s kind of a logical end conclusion like these things are all they’re have these hyper uh hyper vvisible color palettes on them to stand off of shelves. They’re making new weird promises. Whereas the thing in coffee that really gets you off is caffeine. But then this stuff, it’s got carnipure carnitine, whereas this one only has Lcarnitine. It has torine, which is where Red Bull literally gets its name. >> None of these things are real to me. Like every [laughter] It’s like when I’m on TikTok and people are like talking about um serotonin. I’m like, that’s not a thing. [laughter] I just don’t think it is. Cuz I feel like I see the biggest idiots talking about it and I’m like, they don’t know. >> I feel like Sarah Well, serotonin is definitely a real thing. Like, >> no, it’s not. It’s just they they made it up so they could get us to do stuff. >> What do you mean? I think >> serotonin if you buy this and if you do this. >> Okay. But there’s like drugs that help serotonin reuptake like SSRI. >> Sure. And that’s Yep. And I’m on those. Thank you so much. Science. >> I feel like serotonin is a very real thing if you’re on >> I know. But if you’re on TikTok it’s not. I’m sorry. Anybody who’s like on Tik Tok and they’re like this is a gives you a real boo boost to your serotonin. I’m like you don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s a fair point. >> Like I just know you don’t. >> Well, now seems like a good time to check my Aura Ring daily scores. What is that? >> Well, so I’m checking out my stress levels. Like for instance, I drank a ton of coffee this morning and I can actually check to see how it has affected both my body temperature and my heart rate. And ding ding ding, my average resting heart rate is about 54 cuz I’m a highly tuned athletic machine. >> Um, but yeah, it did jump up to about 59, >> which is something that, you know, for me, uh, I don’t necessarily think is terrible, but also I do need to know how it affects me throughout the rest of the day. For instance, if I’m drinking a lot of these in the afternoon, you get to that like 3:00 post lunch sleepy time and I’m like, I have a bunch of work to do. Let’s rip an energy drink, but then I’m noticing my sleep scores and it’s like, hey, you’re not actually getting deep sleep. You’re laying in bed for a while. So, I think I might need to start cutting these out in my afternoon. >> Okay, I’m going to see if you can do it. I’m not um I’m not, you know, confident >> because that’s one of the things I love about Aura. doesn’t just track your steps and your sleep, but it actually gives you this broader picture about, you know, your holistic wellness for your body. It brings together sleep, stress, activity, heart health, metabolic signals, and recovery into a single view of how your body is doing. >> Oh my god. Do you think you could uh let me know when I said something I should apologize for? >> Absolutely. >> Cuz I really need that. >> So, head to aura.com/hotto today to make your health and wellness a daily practice. Thanks to Aura for sponsoring this portion of today’s episode. You haven’t had any energy drinks today? Well, we have a bunch of energy drinks. We have a bunch of energy drinking myself for this. >> We should try some of these because I want to talk about how much crazy variability there is on the market. Crack crack one open. But I’ve >> Okay, we’ll do the classic first. >> Red Bull Zero. So, Red Bulls tend to have, I believe, 87 uh grams of Sorry. I believe Red Bulls have 87 milligrams of caffeine per standard can, which is like what 8.3 ounces? 8.4 ounces. It’s 250 milliliters because it says a European company. And so like they literally had to settle a lawsuit because of how little caffeine there was in a Red Bull. So I don’t know if you know this, the founder of Red Bull, I’m gonna yap for a second. The founder of Red Bull was actually um inspired by a Thai energy drink because energy [clears throat] drinks hit the market a lot earlier in Asia. So it’s one that’s like credited for starting. It’s called Lipovatan D. And I used to drink >> very catchy. I used I used to rip Lipovatans all the time when I was interning uh in they used to call little Osaka now it’s called Sautel Japan Town but I was interning at like a burger restaurant there and their corporate offices which are just above the burger restaurant and I used to get paid in burgers. >> It’s not legal anymore. They were literally my favorite. It was my favorite burger restaurant in LA. But there was a little Japanese convenience store next to it and they used to sell like povitan and I love weird energy drinks and so I would rip them all the time. that started in the 60s in Japan. >> And so like Red Bull by the time it got here, um it’s named after torine, which is what was initially in Lipovitan, okay? Which is kind of like it could improve mental acuity. It could do a lot of things, but it’s not really scientifically proven in double blind studies. >> And so for me, like >> energy drinks are about the caffeine, but this only has about as much caffeine as a standard 56 ounce cup of coffee. >> Okay? And so you get to ghost actually doesn’t even have the most. But Celsius and Ghost both have 200 milligrams of caffeine in it. >> Oh god. >> But then if you get to like >> I’ve been drinking so much Celsius. >> Celsius [laughter] has really taken over the market. But I remember the rise of Bang Energy. >> Bang Energy. And then there’s a competitor called Rain that uh they have 300 milligs of caffeine each. >> Good lord. >> It’s a crazy amount of caffeine. Americans consume caffeine like nobody says this. People talk about like I think Finland or Norway consumes the most cups of coffee per capita. Uh-huh. >> Their coffee, their cups of coffee are tiny. >> A a Starbucks venty blonde roast has 420 millig of caffeine in it. That is absurd. Americans are obsessed with caffeine. >> Is that how much all of those kind of drinks? Cuz I’m not a Starbucks girly. I don’t I don’t want sugar. I want to feel something. >> Yeah. >> And um which I guess you feel something from consuming sugar because it’s nice and tasty. But are they all like that? Is that like how crazy? >> No. And I’m glad you asked because people tend to not ask these questions. >> Okay, >> so espresso, right? Espresso is like a 1 and a half ounce little shot of coffee. Same. An espresso shot probably has around 60 milligrams. Again, depending on the strength, depending on the roast. >> You know, I said I didn’t do like the bougie sugary drinks, but that is not true. I got to backtrack. I do a chai tea latte with two shots of espresso. It is lit. So is the best. >> That probably has, no matter how big it is. If there’s only two shots of espresso, that’s only going to have about 100 120 milligrams caffeine. Whereas a venty blonde roast drip coffee >> because it’s huge. >> It’s huge and it’s all coffee. You’re drinking a bunch of milk and delicious sweeteners and sugars in that chai latte or whatever. Um but you’re not getting this crazy blast of caffeine. >> Yeah. I will say that I’m noticing Okay, so I drink a lot of Celsius and I started drinking Celsius when we were rehearsing for the tour. >> I remember that. I remember introducing you to Celsius. It blew my mind. I was like >> tired because it’s it was just a lot of repetition when we were rehearsing. Yeah. >> And in kind of a cold big rehearsal space and I was like getting sleepy and not in the game and I was I had one of those and I was like I’ve never felt better in my life like ever. This feels so good. >> There’s something. >> And I had a second one. And Re was like did you have a second one? I was like yeah why? And he goes, “Do you know how much caffeine is in that?” I’m like, “No. Is that why I feel amazing? >> So, there’s 200 milligrams in a can in Celsius. However, the 200 in Celsius hits like 300 elsewhere. And I don’t know what exactly it is. >> I it it hits different. Maybe there’s whatever we there’s torine. What are all these madeup things? >> Yeah. Well, so that’s [laughter] actually like the devil being in the details of all the additives are kind of why, right? We’re talking about are we drinking too too much energy drinks or are energy drinks really bad for you? there’s such an emerging market that have only been around in America for about 20 years that there isn’t these long uh you know lifestyle studies associated with it. Um but there was one initially that the American Heart Association wrote about that showed that >> people who drink 200 milligrams of caffeine worth of energy drinks experience a much more rapid uh blood pressure rise and heart rate rise than people who drink the same amount of caffeine and coffee. So, there is something different with the >> Oh, well, there’s always something in there >> and that could be due [laughter] to a lot of different factors, right? Um, but >> do you think that there’s something about drinking hot caffeine versus cold? >> I can’t imagine. I know heat does does temper caffeine, but I think it has to do more with the roasting process. >> Okay. Cuz I um like I can drink Celsius’s like crazy and still take a nap, >> but when I drink a cup of coffee, for some reason, I can’t. My eyes won’t shut. Right. >> Interesting. They won’t. It’s I don’t know what that is. I’m not sure. >> Get get to it, science. You heard it. You heard me. >> Because like [laughter] my biggest question about are energy drinks bad for you is what makes it different from coffee? And so I’ve been like doing a lot of research about this and I tend to have a I’m I’m a scientist and I could be a doctor one day. >> Oh, hang on. I got to talk about this [laughter] Celsius. >> Do you like it? >> I like this flavor. What is this one? Sparkling fruit punch edition. Cosmic Vibe. >> Cosmic Vibe. Keep it around Celsius. >> Well, so I think the thing that makes energy drinks potentially more dangerous than something like coffee is your reaction to that. >> Yeah, >> it’s how fun it is. >> I’m a I’m a sucker. >> It’s so much more fun. I’m We’re all suckers. Like we’re all marketing really well on me. >> And so [laughter] there there have actually been uh studies about the amount of hospitalizations due to energy drinks. >> Oh yeah. Remember the what was the um the coffee shop? Panera. Remember that thing? Exactly. Is did you research that? >> I researched it. So yeah. So, Panera had lemonade that had basically the same. >> And I never got to have it. >> Me neither. >> I’m so bummed. >> I forgot what exactly they called it, but it it wasn’t clearly marked how much caffeine was in this lemonade. And you would have people there’s free refills at Panera who would just be getting refill. >> Refills. >> Yes. >> Oh, no. >> So, they would sit there. There was one of the women who was hospitalized, I believe, talks about working on her laptop from Panera and she’d buy this lemonade and she would just drink 48 ounces >> of lemonade and consume 600 milligrams of caffeine. >> No. >> And the reason I think you can consume that much caffeine in this form versus coffee >> is coffee at the end of the day tastes bad. Like it tastes good, but it’s bitter. Bitterness, bitterness is your body’s response saying this is poison. And caffeine by itself, this is incredibly dangerous. Don’t do what my buddy in college did. He bought a thing of pure caffeine powder [gasps] >> and you can do that. >> And he would he just wanted to save money. He was like, I don’t want to brew coffee. I don’t want to buy energy drinks. He would put pure caffeine powder in water and it was so bitter that he couldn’t get it down that he started mixing it with ketchup and he would wake up to a shot of caffeine ketchup. >> Disgusting. >> Chris, you’re a mad man. >> Is he alive? Have we checked? >> Yeah, he’s doing great, man. >> Oh, good. Yeah. I mean, I I’ll say don’t do this. Also, I um we talk about, you know, neurode diverency, which I also think is a madeup word, but maybe isn’t great, >> but I don’t know. Anyway, I take a stimulant. I have taken one for god, how many decades? How many decades am I alive? Um, >> and you’re really not supposed to drink a lot of caffeine when you’re on a stimulant. But guess what? Guess who’s bulletproof, baby. I don’t recommend doing it. If you take a stimulant, try your best to not do the caffeine thing because it does make it kind of I think hinders the effectiveness of the medication or something. But I am >> just continuing to elevate your heart rate and blocking your body’s natural response to >> possibly or it’s just for me it’s a dopamine thing. I want to keep feeling more and more and more. Same >> and so I’ll be on set to shoot something and I’ll be like I need another Celsius. I mean, cuz I need to stay excited >> and stuff and like in the zone when I could probably just do that without it if I just tried. [laughter] >> Yeah. >> But nah, I don’t want to do that. >> It’s kind of like if you track the history of the need for caffeine like to say the industrial revolution and then in the enlightenment people being like, “Hey, let’s think through these big problems. You know, caffeine’s giving me the energy to do it.” You fast forward all the way to now, we’re in like the most stimulated environment that a human has ever been in in the history of humanity. And also like people continue to have less and less work life balance. There tends to be more and more economic pressures on people. And so it’s just like what can I consume right now to make me feel better about all that? And then you see this just brightly colored can raspberry cream ghost with carnipure carnitine. cream. >> So, I know you’re worried about the carnipurity of your carnitine that you’re consuming. >> Carnitine? Y’all just making stuff up. I’m going to I’m going to make one up today. >> Carnitine? I want a carnosid teen. >> Plumide. Um, get you [laughter] >> what? Sorry. What’ you make up? >> Plumide. >> And now what does plumide do? >> Well, it’s an extract from um the plum. >> Oh, indeed. Well, I actually remember reading something about this about the plum extract, but tell the people because they need to know. So, um, if you’re ever if you need to move your bowels along, everybody knows prunes are good, but like what if you need everything? >> Yeah, prune is French for plum. >> It’s, um, so you you are going to be so >> um, energized and focused, you will be crapping yourself the whole time. But >> yeah, well, here, if you actually look if you look at at the Romans, right, like in the coliseum, everybody knows like the vomitorium in there. But what actually like a Roman soldier would do is he would crap his pants before going into battle. >> And there are rumors I did read that they were eating these plums that actually grew wild and that’s where plumme plumide >> and that’s where plumeride comes in. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> That sounded real. >> Yeah. Marcus Aurelius drank plumeride every day and great meditations while his pants. [laughter] >> And that’s what we believe. Buy Josh and Emily’s new plumeide filled energy drink. >> Yeah. You’ll be unfilled after getting filled. >> I think the perfect example of all this here is this. >> Okay, we got a Starbucks. >> It just tastes like all the other things. It’s just fizzy and has fake sugar and citric acid in it and it’s brightly colored and reflective. But Starbucks, I don’t know if you know this. >> Starbucks used to make something called coffee. I just sound like every hacked old man comedian now. >> But they also used to have these um refreshers or whatever in cans. >> Yeah. Yeah. This is the new uh >> I don’t like it. It doesn’t taste like the one that I used [laughter] to get. I used to get it was like when I worked in retail. I worked in retail for a long time in New York and it’s you got to make commissions. So you got to be like at the front getting everybody like it is and I would drink those refreshers all day. >> Yeah. >> And those were they tasted amazing and then they stopped making them. I don’t know what they did. You know >> the the whole they tasted amazing thing I think is actually a really key part to this. >> This doesn’t taste amazing. Caffeine um in nature exists as a defense mechanism for plants. >> It tastes like those lollipops that my grandmother had at the bottom of her purse that were sugar-free and they had dust on them. >> Yeah. Grandmas love dusty candy in their purse. >> I mean, but it was like inside the plastic it was dusty. [laughter] Like why? That’s what this tastes like. No thank you. No thank you. >> I even if this is not calibrated to your own taste. the fact that there is this balance of like sweetness and citric acid, you know, and fizziness, they’re all things that are meant to engage you versus if you wanted to drink, let’s say, 12 ounces of straight espresso. You could do it. It would be a slog. It would be a lot. >> It would be work. >> You know what I mean? It would be work because that’s how it’s sort of meant to taste in nature. We’re sort of like defying God’s will by taking coffee, something that naturally existed, through a lot of human ingenuity to to spread around. But we’re taking that and we’re taking the drug in it that people like, and just putting it into these brightly colored cans that are, you know, filled with artificial tropical peach flavors >> and stuff like that, which I think makes it dangerous for like kids, right? >> Yeah. I mean, I we were drinking Coca-Cas when we were kids, >> but Coca-Cola had like one 55 or no, 34 milligrams of caffeine. drinking them with every meal. That’s the thing. It was all day. >> You would need to drink uh you would need to drink nine cans of Coca-Cola to equal one Bang energy drink. >> Well, we didn’t even do the cans. We had those giant pizza party, you know, big old What are How many liters is that? The big ones. The Coke thing. >> I don’t know if Coke made three liters. The the generic store brand sodas. Yeah, >> love that stuff. RC Cola has a zero sugar version now and it’s at my grocery store and I get it all the time. It’s pretty good. RC Cola. God bless him for hanging in there. The fact that they’re still able to compete with Coke and Pepsi. >> When I played softball as a kid, that was And you had the concessions. They didn’t have Coke. They had RC Cola and they had Warheads um lollipops with the gum inside. There is nothing better than an RC cola and a Warheads lollipop. I’m telling you right now. >> Amazing. That’ll make you feel alive. I mean, Warheads, it’s like why are we eating that? It’s probably to make usim stimulation. >> Stimulation for sure. Similarly, like sour is your body sort of recognizing, >> you know, spicy. Yeah. >> That’s why we’re all like >> we’re all so stimulated all the time. >> Like it’s fish for like blowing our mouth up with stuff. >> No, it really is. And also like these companies to compete have to keep innovating. This is really interesting. This is the original design of the Celsius can. >> I like that. >> So the original design it looks like a fat burner supplement, right? >> It does >> because that’s what it was supposed to be. >> I really like that. that um kind of ombre color effect at the top. That’s kind of what I do with Flem. I’m gonna take that color. >> But like look at this design versus the new design of their like retro vibe. One is a lot more vibe, one looks a lot more sciency. >> Yes. >> You know, so now they’re like trying to tap into a form of culture where it’s like you want to sort of be seen drinking this. >> Yeah. Whoever designs the stuff for Celsius, it’s my favorite. Like >> it’s very clean and white, but then the fruit looks cool and then the black top of the can I think is super cool. very other ones don’t look as cool as >> but they’re they’re all trying to attract a certain market right like monster I remember uh going to like How’s Game Shack gaming cafes and just drinking monsters cuz this looks like what a 13-year-old boy who’s playing Battlefield 2 I mean >> would want to drink it looks like an ad looks like a um armband tattoo from somebody from Nickelback >> oh it 100% does >> like what do you call those >> what do you think we were listening to in my buddy Anony’s mom’s car on the way to how’s game chat >> do you know what I was listening to I have a cleaning soundtrack and the the Nickelback song from the Spider-Man soundtrack hero. >> It’s so good. [laughter] >> Nickelback says it’s a great word. >> We’re going to plow through these, right? >> Do it. Do it. Do it. Because there’s a couple new ones here. Like Ghost, I remember. So Ghost makes weightlifting supplements. They make uh protein and pre-workout and all that stuff. Um, which is interesting because supp dietary supplements are legislated different than food and beverage. They basically get a lot more leeway, but now energy drinks are walking a weird line of like, is this a drug or is this a food? >> Yeah. Yeah. Drink it. >> It smells weird. I don’t like it. It smells [snorts] It’s the creamy thing. You said there’s creamy in this. >> Yeah. Yeah. It’s creamy raspberry. >> Oh, no. >> Let me try it. Raspberry cream. >> See what it looks like. Perfectly clear. Love that. >> No, >> that’s something, dude. That smells awesome. >> God. >> Oh, wait. This is taking it. >> So, no. No. This is interesting because this is probably the newest energy drink here. Except maybe is this Alani new. Um, but uh this >> is so much sweeter and so much more acidic. >> It’s every other energy drink here. >> And so, yeah, this is ghost. >> Yeah. I It tastes like um a bowl of vanilla ice cream that someone took a uh Lip Smackers chapstick and they they cut it and then put it in there and smashed it in. That’s what it tastes like. >> This This is utterly fascinating. Like truly the levels of citric acid on there are like [sighs] >> wow. But God, it it is so engaging to the palette. >> I feel like >> that’s crazy. So you’re now sort of in this like arms race where every energy drink company has to compete to make theirs tastier than the last. And they can’t make it taste better, but what they can do is they can make it taste more. >> Oh, that’s interesting. >> Being that caffeine is naturally bitter, they do obscure the bitterness of the caffeine by adding more sour and a lot more fake sugar. >> I’m going to try the Salani thing. And I’m starting to feel really jazzed. >> You ever have a go girl energy? >> It’s an energy drink, but for chicks. >> Is that what it says? >> No, this but this has similar branding to go girl energy. It’s the pink can. >> Yeah, I’m I’m very susceptible to that. If you market it to me, I will buy it. And that’s bad. Rockstar once had a lady Rockstar that had a pink can and it actually had a straw that was attached to it so that way you could not mess up your lipstick. >> I kind of love that. You know that um what’s his face? You know who who has he did the Godfather movies. >> Uh Marlon Brando. >> No, >> Francis Ford Copala. >> There it is. He had um a little [clears throat] Sophia champagne that he made and they were cans after Sophia Copa his daughter and it was little cans of champagnes and they had straws that came with it and boy I loved it. I loved it. Um but Okay, so real fast. This is delicious. The Alani one. >> Yeah, I like it. >> Let me try it. The marketing works. >> Mhm. >> Do you remember these pink Rockstar cans? >> No, I don’t. But I want it immediately. >> Straw in it. Man, that looks like the soul of Averal Lavine is like stuck in that can. >> Oh, this Alani new what? Pink SL just pink slush flavored. >> I like it a lot. >> Um, how much caffeine? I think these are 200 millig. 200 milligrams per. >> Um, I love that they have big labeling on it. I do love that. Sometimes they obscure it. >> So, if we’re talking about like are energy drinks actually bad for you? Are we drinking too many of them? Um, like a lot of things in life, it is so new that we don’t have a lot of really good data to back it up. What we do have data on is incidentally uh more kids end up in the hospital with athmic events or gastrointestinal distress drinking energy drinks than they do coffee. I think there is something about the fact that >> not everything that comes from the earth is good for you. But the fact that coffee tastes as bitter as it does. I know a lot of people add a lot of cream and sugar to it, whatever. But I think that literally is a natural stop gap in getting you to not just drink 1,000 milligrams of caffeine a day. Yeah, that’s true. >> And I think there’s something reasonable about that. I think we’re sort of rewiring codes and reward systems when we have uh energy drinks like this. >> I’m like the coffee of people. [laughter] It’s naturally a little bitter. >> No, also like you Sorry, I just had a stroke. Um yeah, you want to you find a natural stopping point at some point. >> But um I [clears throat] do want to say this. I just had the uh Monster Juice and it’s like a apple juice type thing. Got a sexy lady. Pretty good. Got a sexy lady on it. >> And while we’re doing while we’re about to wrap up, I’m I got to get this out here now that I’m all jacked up on caffeine. >> I have a business proposition for you, Josh. Yeah. Hear me out. Okay. I We were talking about you talking about the gamer place that you go to. Yeah. And I I makes me think about Dave and Busters. I want to open a gym that is all of the games that you would play at Dave and Bust. Like a whole dance dance dance revolution room just so you get a membership and then you just do that and then the basketball thing where the thing moves back and forth and then the thing where it’s like all of the the circles and they light up and you have to punch them all. It’s like a grid of circles like that. >> What do you think? I think that would make people work out more than anything else. >> You just kind of want to open a sweatier Dave and Busters. >> Yes. I mean, it would be a lot of um cleaning, [laughter] >> especially probably be like really annoying maintenance guys who have to come in. They’re like, “Oh, this is the model from 2006. >> I’m in.” >> And all right, let’s do it. What should we call it? Plumemeride. >> Plumemeride. >> Join us at Plumeride. >> You know that quiet holiday moment? Maybe you’ve got warm socks on, lights twinkling, a mug of hot chocolate in hand. 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A hot dog as a sandwich listeners can grab Rosetta Stone’s lifetime membership for 50% off. That’s unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. or porvita and espanol. Nailed it. Visit rosettastone.com/hotog to get started and claim your 50% off today. Give a gift that keeps giving. Go to rosettastone.com/hotog and start learning today. >> All right, Emily heard what you and I have to say. >> We’re we’re we’re back but with headphones. >> Now it’s time for a little segment we call opinions are like cook casserole. room. So that’s Yeah, THAT’S OH JEEZ, RIGHT. GOD DANG IT. COME ON. GOD DANG energy drink. Spilling the goddamn energy [laughter] drinks. >> Shon of a biscuit. Well, that happens. >> Oh no, it’s the ghost one that you spilled to your >> I know that’s val. That’s at least 30 milligrams [laughter] of caffeine that have been spilled on our table. Now >> I hope that you don’t want to get sponsorships from the ones that I’ve Listen, Ghost. I’m not on this show ever, so you know, don’t penalize Josh for this. >> Oh god. You ready to hear some people’s opinions? >> I would love to. >> Let’s go to the people. >> Greetings and salutations. >> You too, brother. >> Calling today with a great appetizer for the hot dog nation. >> So, what you’re going to do is get yourself a box of Totinos pizza rolls. Don’t matter if it’s cheese, don’t matter if it’s pepperoni. You’re going to air fry them to the point where they almost burst their bellies, but not quite. >> You take them out, you toss them in some buffalo sauce or hot sauce or some barbecue sauce. Sprinkle on some of that Tony Sature seasoning. Put them back in just for a minute. Warm it back up. Get a little glaze on them. Take them out and go to hog heaven. >> I’d get some Parmesan cheese on that, too. Yeah. I That sounds amazing. >> Yeah. Um, I would put some parmesan cheese on that though and put it on a baking sheet and then >> Yeah. >> You know, that would that’d be it’s kind of like a toasted ravioli almost. >> It really is. Uh, what I love is one the way you say tootinos. I love where you put the empasis on the salabals there. [laughter] Um, but two, the idea of taking a pre-made product that’s already like quite hyper seasoned and then reglazing it in something smart. I call this the chiliesification of food because what Chile has done recently is we didn’t know we had the technology or the moral turpitude to do this, but uh Chili’s decided that you could fry a brick of mozzarella cheese >> and then take that and toss it in a sauce like a boneless wing. Yeah. >> And so you can now get Nashville hot mozzarella stick. >> We um we did stuff about this and >> yeah, we made our own. Do you remember how freaking good that was? >> It was amazing. >> Oh my god, >> those egg rolls like oh my god. But yeah, everything tasted insane, >> man. >> That’s definitely I think that goes up there in the episodes for me of how good the food >> that was some of the best food and very spiritually similar to these bar I like the idea of barbecue sauce glazing cuz then you get like sort of an extra >> I don’t know if I could do that but it does sound like >> the sugars caramelized a little bit. >> Yeah, I think the buffalo sauce sounds good, but I guess that’s a little drier than a barbecue sauce. >> Yeah, the barbecue sauce has some sugar that gives you that stickiness, that tackiness. But man, because I’ll tell you what, normal Totino’s pizza rolls, they don’t really do it for me anymore. I feel like when I was a kid, they were more exciting and now I’m like, if I’ve kind of been there, done that. This is a way to spice up the relationship. >> Hell yes. >> I love it, brother. >> Thank you so much for that. Um, I’m going to do that for a party or something. >> We got more. >> Hey, Josh and Nicole Wyatt here. Uh, just listening to you guys talk about Carl’s Jr. and the fact that I now live in like southern central Pennsylvania and there’s no Carl’s Jr., No Jollibee, no gym boys. >> It really makes you miss some fast food. >> What are other fast foods that you think your life would just be a little bit less beautiful without? >> Oh, that’s an interesting question. >> Mine’s gym boys. >> I don’t know. Gym boys. I don’t know what that is. >> The boys. >> I’m a little bummed. [laughter] >> Have a great rest of the podcast. >> Thanks. Thank you. You didn’t say hi to me, but that’s fine. Yeah. >> Um, also, yeah. Hey, Nicole. Miss you. Um, but yeah, I I think that in Nashville, the thing that I miss most is Crystal. We used to have crystals. >> I’ve never been to one. >> And I I like the other one. What is it? The night one. Castle. White castle. >> White castle. >> I don’t even know the name of it. I don’t care about it so much. Um, [laughter] but it the crystal chicks, the crystal spicy chicks. They were little fried chicken sandwiches that I would get after volleyball practice. That was is they were little >> and you could just pound a bunch of them and it was like >> something about the way it was breaded or whatever and then you got a little bit of mayo and one pickle on each of those and it was like there was no better reward after working out and then it went away and I’m so sad. It does still exist in certain places >> and recently I saw they had social media my mouth just got so wet. Did you hear that? Um, there was social media for it. I think there’s a Tik Tok and Ray J I or was it Cisco? It was Cisco or Ray J are doing like ads for them and I was like, “All right, so they’re they’re trying to stay in the game.” >> Cisco is from Maryland. I know that. >> Yeah. Well, I don’t know where they still have them, but it’s God, I miss Crystal, >> man. Jimbo, I I had never heard of it. Jimbo Tacos. They’re like a kind of midsize chain. Looks like they have probably like 30 or 40 locations up in like north central California. >> Okay. >> So, it looks like they’re all centered around is this Fresno? Yeah, around Sacramento area. Um, crazy. And then there’s a couple in Nevada, but none in SoCal. I’m I’m I think I’m taking like a California road trip this this winter because this is going to be really exciting. Um, but I want to check out Gym Boys. >> That’s fun. For for me, >> In-N-Out has my heart because I have so many childhood memories associated with it. You win a basketball game, someone drives you through it and they drive. >> A lot of after sports stuff is when you would get fast food. It wasn’t a regular thing for my family. I feel like >> No, generally not. Well, I mean, if my dad was like working late, my dad used to like drive a limo late at night. He’d like work as a substitute teacher and then he would like drive a limo to make supplemental cash. >> What the there just when I think I know everything about you, [laughter] there’s something else you pull out. >> Yeah. And then like I had a neighbor who worked for I have a lot of fond memories of this. I had a neighbor who worked for Jack in the Box. Her name was Blanca. And Blanca would just like if she knew my dad was out driving late at night, >> get you some Jack in the Box. >> She would like come home from her Jack in the Box shift and she would just drop off like giant sacks of Jack in the Box to me and my brother. >> We didn’t have Jack in the Box in Nashville. That’s not >> It’s a very Southern California. Yeah. Started in San Diego. >> It is amazing. It is the most It’s the Cheesecake Factory of fast food. >> Yeah. >> It’s just the craziest down They’ve cut down their like They got rid of their teriyak bowl, I think. >> Yeah, I think that’s a good call. [laughter] The chicken fajita pito was incredible. >> Yeah, it’s good stuff. We had a Mr. Gatties. Um >> Mr. >> Mr. Gatties. It’s not fast, I wouldn’t say, but it was a a pizza place. Yeah. And they I guess they came from Louisville, Kentucky, >> and there’s a Mr. Gettys. There’s usually like an arcade in them. >> Yeah. >> And there’s one in Louisville, Kentucky that has like a um a huge like arcade and I guess a ferris not a ferris wheel or what? What’s the one where >> merrygoround carousel? Yeah. Carousel in there. And I’m like, “God, I’ve got to go to that before they all disappear.” So, if you got a Mr. Gaddy’s, you got to comment. The chocolate pizza. >> My favorite local fast food is called The Habit. >> The Habit Burger Grill. >> Yeah, that was >> They’ve been expanding a lot lately, but they were just from Santa Barbara originally. I think they just still make one of the best. >> Is it just burgers or is there other stuff? >> No, they’re trying to be more like upscale, fast, casual, so they have like chicken salads and they fast food salads. >> But yeah, >> I ate the the Wendy’s ones when they came out. I was really into Frescata menu. >> Yeah, we did that. But I mean, nothing beats from Wendy’s the just the bacon. >> Yeah, >> baconater. >> Man, >> it’s so good. I’m hungry. Josh, >> I’m all energized and now I want to eat. >> Hey Josh and Nicole, uh potential calling you guest. >> I know. >> My name is Greg calling from Philadelphia. Just want to know which >> this guy needs an energy drink. as the best fish sandwich and why the fish sandwich doesn’t get as much love as the chicken sandwich. >> I mean, cuz it’s fish, my dog. Um, [laughter] sorry, I’m giving this guy a hard time. Um, cuz I’m I’m all jacked up on energy drink. >> That’s like a good question, though. Like, why why isn’t fish nearly as popular as chicken? I guess. Do you think it’s like distrust in the idea of fast food fish? I think that it’s not as fun to chew. Um, I think fish sandwich is way funner falls apart in your mouth. >> I love that about it though. >> But I like chicken because I like the I guess the elasticity and the chewy. I like the experience of masticating chicken. >> That’s a good point. >> As opposed to like fish feels like something you don’t you put on a salad or something. >> Yeah. No one’s putting like a mahi mahi or a swordfish in a fast food sandwich. You really got to sink into >> I love swordfish. I had that like once and I was I love a flaky fish. I love so good >> a flaky fish and I love a fast food fish sandwich. To me, the best one was uh god Popeye’s had a Nashville hot flounder sandwich. >> Whoa. >> That was awesome. But like Carl’s Jr. They they did a collab with I think Red Hook IPA and did a Red Hook IPA battered fish sandwich >> that was awesome. Arby’s deceptively had, >> you know, what’s funny is wrote and pitched the episode for GMM about fried fish sandwiches really >> because it was um during, you know, Easter or whatever when it’s like, you know, on Good Friday on Fridays you have fish sandwiches. So, it was like those are kind of limited things. Not all those fast food places have it year round like McDonald’s does supposedly, but then there’s a lot of places that would only have it around that time period. So, we managed to I think I pitched it one year and then they were like, “Ah, it’s past Easter.” [laughter] >> Oh, man. >> And now, so we had to wait another year. But yeah, they’re pretty good. >> Popeyes slamfer fish sandwich. I think it was the best of all time. >> I think the worst thing you could do though is put too much of that like sauce on it. >> Just too much hot mayonnaise or tartar sauce. >> The tartar sauce. Putting too much tartar sauce on there is, you know, kiss kiss death. >> The fileto fish is like I have a soft spot in my heart for a filet fish. I will say it’s the one fast food item where you can really tell if they’re changing out the oil. You got a dirty oil fileto fish, man, that’ll ruin your day. You got a clean oil filt fish. >> This Popeye’s one that we’re looking at, the flounder. Oh my god, that looks amazing. >> I think it was after Popeye’s had introduced their their new buns for the chicken sandwich. >> Yeah, >> it was like during the height of that craze and they came out with this flounder sandwich. Love a fast food fish. Love it. >> Okay. Well, I’m now I’m kind of, you know, I’m swayed. Now I’m swayed. >> Let’s go get some, dude. Let’s franchise a Long John Silvers. I think there’s only one left in the line. >> Yeah. And then we can get my the gym in the back. You [laughter] go, you know, you eat the fish sandwich and then you go barf on a dance revolution. >> I mean, this is a handshake agreement. And with that, we’re officially business [laughter] partners. Thank you all so much for stopping by. Hot dogs a sandwich. We got new episodes. >> Gosh, all the time. Every week. >> Bloomeride uh merch coming soon. >> Bloomide merch coming soon. We got audio episodes on Wednesday, video episodes coming out on Sunday. >> [music] >> Emily, now you tell them what number they can call to leave a voice message. >> All right. If you want to call in uh for opinions [music] or like casserles, uh please dial 833 dog pod one. >> If you want to see more of my face, just like walk around local public parks, I like to shoot poops [laughter] there sometimes. >> No, I was at a bar yesterday and I’m People recognize me and they told me they see you at Ralph’s a lot. >> That adds up. I love being at Ralph’s. I love shopping around. I’m a real grocery head out here in the sheets and the streets. Uh, follow us on YouTube, Mythical Kitchen. See you next time. >> Check out the latest episode of Last Meals with Mythical Chef Josh over on the Mythical Kitchen. Plus, get your hands on a Last Meals apron and pin at mythical.com.