Each month, our Masters of Social Gastronomy lectures bring you the history and science behind your favorite foods. Up this month: soda

Caffeine, cocaine, and a little bit of fizz were all it took to hook America on a brand-new beverage. We'll dissect Coca-Cola's namesakes, exploring the now-illicit 'Coca' and the Africa-sourced 'Cola'. What joined these two bitter, unappealing flavors into the most iconic of soda flavorings?

But don't forget...

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If there's one thing Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop and Fix the Pumps neglected to tell me in their deep dark secret-revealing takes on root beer and soda, it's that sarsaparilla is totally a thing in Asia.

I'd thought it was just for olden days cowboys and specialty soda producers, but I was w-r-o-n-g. It shows up all over the place sporting the name sarsi.

While we in the Western hemisphere have condensed all our herb-y, root-y...

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Soda syrup! Have you ever worked at a restaurant where you had to change out the bags of syrup for the soda fountain? And you got it all over yourself the first two times because you didn't know how to open them? And then the third time you thought you did it right but it leaked all over the place? Me too! As revenge, let's learn how to make that at home.

Soda syrup's main purpose in life is to be mixed with seltzer water. Then you've got...

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All of our March classes are now up and open for registration! Read all about them below and sign up fast to grab a spot. 

This Semester's Classes:
$7 Sundays - Gardening Basics: Seed Germination - No need to wait for warm weather to get your plants going! (and, as always, $7 Sundays are drop-in classes cunningly priced at $5)
Even More Soda Making - The follow-up to the ginger ale workshop! Turn your kitchen into a...

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February classes are open for registration (and a couple already filled up by the time we got around to posting this!)

They're all listed below, but first an announcement! With the popularity of the Kimchi Party, we've decided to start a monthly tradition at the Brainery: $7 Sundays. Brief, easy drop-in classes where you learn a quick something and get to hang out with a bunch of other interesting people. We're capping registration this time,...

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