May

11

Rivella Rave

Filed Under Consumer Concerns, Food & Drinks, Health, Swissness | 6 Comments


Who cuts a fine figure? Those who drink Rivella Blue do.

A little over a week ago, a young lady handed me a free bottle of Rivella Blue at Uni. I’m no Rivella drinker, but my Swiss husband is. So I took the sampler and hied off to the train station.

Rivella Blue is the low-calorie version of the original Rivella Red. It’s meant for those who are conscious of their figure. (Note: I personally think it tastes worse than Rivella Red, but that’s just me.)

To those who are unfamiliar with Rivella, well, it’s Switzerland’s all-natural softdrink made from whey (or milk plasma). It’s the undisputed ‘Swiss national drink’ that comes in three flavors: Rivella Red (original), Rivella Blue (low-calorie), and Rivella Green (with green trea extracts). It contains no preservatives or artificial colors.

While it’s a constant hit in its homeland, Rivella never really swept America off its feet. After only a year of distribution in the US, this Swiss drink, packed with all those minerals, was reportedly retracted from the US market in 2005.

However, not all non-Swiss dislike the taste of Rivella. The drink is said to be very popular in the Netherlands. A local franchisee there produces and distributes Rivella in a totally different packaging.

I blogged about Rivella in November 2005. The Rivella blog post elicited some interesting comments from Rivella fans from different parts of the globe. Here are some of them:

CAK: “My only explanation why we Swiss like Rivella is that we start drinking it long before knowing something about its ingredients. When I read years after my first Rivella that it was made of milk serum I was shocked. Fortunately, I was already a Rivella addict.”

Andrew: “Of course, I enjoyed Rivella thoroughly when I was in England around 1999. Never once have I seen it in the US from 2001-2006. I wonder where it was sold. Anyone know any Swiss or Dutch stores that sell it online?”

Raymond: “I have just returned from Switzerland, and I discovered Rivella … all three flavours, and I just love it. Trying to find an outlet in the UK. Fast going into withdrawal symptoms!”

Arty Garfunkel: “Personally, I like Rivella. I thought it was any old soft drink when I tried it…. a bit of a funky flavor, but not bad. Not until afterwards that I found out it was made out of milk whey, which I thought was odd. It seems entirely a Swiss thought, leaving no part to waste. Too bad more Americans don’t enjoy it.”

Swiss Tony: “I spent a fun-filled 15 months in Zurich and have returned several times since. The first thing I do at the airport/train station/customs, is look for the kiosk machine and get my fix of Rivella rot! I fell in love with Rivella for the taste, the amazing hangover remedy properties and the ‘Swissi-ness’ about it…Hopefully someday a Migros will replace my local Tesco Express, and once again I can enjoy my glass of Rivella with blood sausage and chips — truly an autumn meal to cherish.”

Peter: “Married to a Swiss Lady with a daughter missing her Rivella. I have been following the posts with great interest. Is there any information when Rivella will hit the shelves again (Waitrose did try a few years back) in the UK? Regards from Middlesex.”

In July last year, commenter Bob Davies announced on my blog that he would be bringing Rivella Red and Rivella Blue on UK shores. In December, he confirmed through a follow-up comment that Rivella could now be ordered online by the case (24 x 500 ml bottles) via the Genorel Soft Drinks website.

This is great news for all UK-based Rivella lovers. I can’t understand how they can stand the taste of this Swiss milk serum softdrink, but I’m truly happy for them. I guess, for these Rivella-crazed drinkers, it was love at first sip.

(Note: Rivella fans can also order their favorite drink — all the three flavors, including Rivella Green — via the online Swiss shop Swissmade.com. For residents of Switzerland, Rivella is now available in Migros supermarket outlets.)

Feb

15

Love Story

Filed Under General, Health, Humor, The Philippines | 11 Comments


The story goes that they met at a posh beach resort in Bohol, Philippines way back in 1991. She was then a nursing student. He was a foreign tourist from Switzerland. She was having merienda alone at the restaurant of the resort. He was basically doing the same thing.

After sizing up the lady from afar, he approached her and introduced himself. He asked if he could join her at her table. She said it was fine and welcomed him with a smile. They had some small talk over drinks, which would mark the beginning of what would later become a long romantic saga.

That chat led to an impromptu tour of the place with some of the girl’s friends in tow. The Swiss guy went to this place and to that place for days on end. He enjoyed so much this initial Philippine experience — the cliche Filipino hospitality clearly imprinted on his heart — that he revisted the Philippines twice after that. Suffice it to say that his itinerary would always include a visit to Dumaguete City, where his Filipino friend was residing and studying at that time.

During the course of their friendship, sustained by long distance calls and letter writing (yes, they were deep into snail mailing), he fell in love with her. On his last trip to the Philippines, he proposed to her. She declined his offer of marriage; she had her reasons (clue: it may sound weird, but it had something to do with “unremoved foreskin”).

So that was that. He flew back to Switzerland, confused and heartbroken.

A few years later, the girl fell for a Filipino guy, who who later father her one and only offspring, a boy who’s now 10. This didn’t sit well with her rather conservative family. Relational storms ensued afterwards. She left her home province and tried her luck in Manila, where she sought work as a nurse. Life treated her harshly there. While the father of her son did support her financially – he’s now married with kids in the province — it was not easy to be a single mom.

Surprisingly, her Swiss friend managed to keep in touch with her all this time. He would religiously call and send text messages. But one day her cell phone got stolen, along with her precious SIM card. The guy didn’t know where to get hold of her after that unfortunate incident. Having no hard copy whatsoever of his contact information on hand, she didn’t know how to inform him of the lost SIM card. They lost communication for a long time.

Sometime in the latter part of 2006, she met one of the daughters of her patient, a Filipino visiting from Switzerland. This balikbayan was friendly enough to chat with her during breaks. It was not clear how she (the main character) got to tell her love story to her patient’s daughter, but somehow, she blurted it all out in one go one lazy afternoon.

Pained by what she had heard from her father’s nurse, the balikbayan then embarked on a frenetic online search for “Mister Switzerland” via telsearch.ch, the reliable telephone directory of Switzerland. Her research yielded fast results: a list of several Swiss men having the same full name! Obsessed and impulsive, she enlisted the support of her Swiss husband by telling him this rather sad love story that had no meaningful closure (”We must find this guy. We must reconnect him with my Dad’s nurse. His love for her is truly amazing. Imagine, loving her after all these years….”).

To make the long story short, the hysterical quest for the guy’s contact info (and civil status) was successful. “Write to him. He sounds like a pretty nice chap based on your story,” the balikbayan urged the nurse, handing a piece of paper that contained the Swiss guy’s Zurich address.

A few weeks later, the nurse left her job in that particular household to take on a better-paying one elsewhere.

This was how the tale temporarily ended in December 2006.

More than a year later, the nurse bumped into this family she was working for at a nearby mall. She was surprised to see the balikbayan daughter of her former patient back again in Manila for the holidays. She was then invited spontaneously to join them for dinner, along with her 10-year-old son.

At the Chinese restaurant, she spilled the beans: the communication line between her and her Swiss friend had been restored. “The address you gave me was correct. It matched the return address written on one of the letter envelopes my brother found in the province,” she reported to the balikbayan daughter of her former patient who, after hearing the news, got so ecstatic she couldn’t eat anymore the noodles and dimsums served before her.

In April this year, the Swiss banker, whom the nurse first met at a posh beach resort in Bohol way back in 1991 when she was still a nursing student, will take that journey back to the Philippines after a long, long time. The ‘foreskin issue,’ that easily merited him a “no” when he proposed to his lady friend many years ago, might just as well be addressed discreetly this time around, now that the object of his affection is a competent nurse who knows how to use local anesthesia.

Most probably, he’ll pack with him some good intentions, along with the obligatory Swiss chocolates.

(Note: This true love story is crying out for a happy ending. The main characters deserve all the happiness in this world.)

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