This is a new country for me to discuss on my blog (at least as far as I recall). Which is always fun--my goal is to try something from every nation on Earth, and every single type of food and drink. Which is obviously impossible, but ultimate goals should be high, I think. Anyway, this week it's two drinks from the Fruit of the Nile brand--their guava flavor, and their mango orange one.
Alas, this is one of those times when the manufacturing company is basically unknown, and only the distribution company's name is on the container's label, and then online. So all that I can tell you is that both bottles are clearly stamped, "Product of Egypt," and that there are two more flavors in the Fruit of the Nile line--regular mango, and strawberry guava. And that the drinks are made from pureed whole fruit, and not from concentrate or frozen fruit. Plus the drinks are 25-30% juice.
Then there's the distribution company, Carl Brandt. Readers with eidetic memories will recall my post about another Carl Brandt product--my post about zwieback on April 13, 2019. Here's when things get confusing. That Carl Brandt is listed as a German company, which began in 1912. This new Carl Brandt was established in 1989, in the American state of Connecticut. But, on the "new" Carl Brandt website it shows the same zwieback that I had, so there's clearly a connection. Admittedly, for the April 2019 post I consulted a website that appears to just be about the zwieback division, but still, it's puzzling. Evidently the 1989 Connecticut company was bought out by the German one, but why they don't explain that on the website I don't know. The second Carl Brandt distributes food and drinks from all over the world, and its line includes various breads, cookies, cakes, chocolates, candies, teas, soft drinks, and rice. And zwieback, of course. Perhaps when I report on yet another Carl Brandt product I'll find yet another company website which will muddle my understanding of the company even more!
1) Fruit of the Nile, mango orange flavor: Came in a 1 liter (about 34 ounces) glass bottle. This one had an orange color, and a thick, pulpy texture, almost akin to a milkshake. It was okay, but not great. I really like orange, as a fruit and as a juice, but to me mango is just "meh," or alright. So I think the mango addition is dragging the orange down a little. So not bad overall, but not something I'd buy again. The juice concentration was 25%
2) Fruit of the Nile, guava flavor: This one had the same texture as the previous, and came in the same size bottle. And once again it was 25% juice. The color was a pinkish yellow. This one was quite nice. I've enjoyed other guava juice drinks, and I appreciated Fruit of the Nile's take on it. It had a pleasing sweet taste. I would buy this one again.
To flesh this out some, I'll do my usual thing and throw out some further informational tidbits about Egypt. However, I think that Ancient Egypt's folks and accomplishments are common knowledge (and I hope it's not the "ancient aliens built the pyramids" type pseudoscientific crap), so I'll stick to briefly discussing some famous modern Egyptians, or those with Egyptian heritage. The most famous Egyptian actor is surely Omar Sharif, who appeared in such films as "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Dr. Zhivago" (1965), "Funny Girl" (1968), "Top Secret!" (1984), and "The 13th Warrior" (1999). However, Egyptian-American Rami Malek is gaining on Sharif, as he was the first person of Egyptian heritage to win a Best Acting Academy Award, for his role in "Bohemian Rhapsody" (2018). Malek also appeared in both "Night at the Museum" movies (2006 and 2009), "The Master" (2012), "Battleship" (2012), and in the "Mr. Robot" television series (2015-19). Staying on "Mr. Robot," the series creator (and sometimes director and writer) was another Egyptian-American, Sam Esmail. He also directed the 2014 movie "Comet." Atom Egoyan, who is Egyptian-born, of Egyptian-Armenian heritage, and lived mostly in Canada, is another famous movie director. He was nominated for the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for his 1997 project, "The Sweet Hereafter." Some of his other films include "Felicia's Journey" (1999), "Chloe" (2009), "Devil's Knot" (2013), and "Guest of Honor" (2019). Movie director Alex Proyas's background is quite cosmopolitan. He was born in Egypt, is of Greek heritage, and grew up mostly in Australia. His career started off strongly, with 1994's "The Crow," and 1998's "Dark City." After that, he did "I, Robot" (2004), and the critical and box office bomb "Gods of Egypt" (2016).
In the world of sports, there is currently an NBA player who was born in Egypt, Abdel Nader. He started with the Boston Celtics, but now is a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, mostly as a reserve small forward. Turning to the Olympics, most of Egypt's success has been in the weightlifting and wrestling events. Their most recent gold medal winner was Karam Gaber, who won it in the 96 kilogram wrestling event in the 2004 games. He also won silver in the 84 kilogram category in the 2012 games. Egypt's two female medal winners have both been weightlifters. Sara Ahmed won the bronze medal for the 69 kilogram category in the 2016 games. Abeer Abdelrahman won the silver medal in the 75 kilogram category for the 2012 games. However, she was awarded this years later, as the original gold, silver, and bronze medal winners were stripped after a later blood test indicated PEDs. Abdelrahman also won the bronze medal for the 69 kilogram weightlifting category in the 2008 games.
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