I was having a discussion with my friend last night and she claims she is trying to drink less soda. It seems like almost every week that we go to the grocery store, she buys a 12-pack of soda (usually Dr Pepper, which is a good choice ). I think this is ridiculous. I mean, I don't even drink that much soda! But that's not what we were talking about. This past week she bought a 12-pack of the store brand of Dr Pepper. I think it was Dr K and some people don't consider that generic but it's besides the point. Apparently, according to her, it's ok for her to drink this different brand because it's "not the same thing". I told her if you compare the ingredients on both of them, they are exactly the same. You're basically buying the brand or the name.

She gets all fiesty on me and says, "No, they're different because I can taste the difference." There have been many studies that challenge such a statement where researchers will put the generic brand and the "actual" brand right next to one another and the taster will try to tell the difference. Most of the time they can't tell. I bet you any amount of money that my friend would never be able to tell which brand they each were if she were in that study.

These companies have marketed their product so well that they have convinced consumers that their product really is different than that "cheap, less tasteful generic stuff." As much as I love my Dr Pepper, I'm willing to buy the generic brand if it means I'm saving money. Am I alone on this? Are there other people that agree with my friend?

If it is cooked/distilled/mixed in a different way from the previous recipe despite containing the same ingredients then there is a very good chance that it does taste different, if only by a small margin.