In a world obsessed with “clean” eating, a food trend called “dirty soda,” seems like an unlikely candidate for virality—even less so considering it comes from Utah. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful state, but in the popular imagination it doesn’t have much of a culinary reputation to speak of beyond funeral potatoes. Having spent a year living in Utah, though, I actually find it easy to believe Utah started a viral food trend—I’ve asked more than once why the rest of the country doesn’t follow the state’s example of having readymade fry sauce at any fast-food restaurant.
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Dirty soda has been popular in Utah for almost a decade. An easy, sweet drink for a state with a large population of folks who don’t drink alcohol or coffee, it’s basically a diet cola over ice with coconut syrup, lime juice, and a bit of half-and-half (or just coconut creamer and lime juice, for a simplified version). Consider it the Italian-American cousin to the Italian soda: the Snooki to Sophia Loren, or the Guy Fieri to the Pasta Grannies. The Beehive State even has chains (multiple!) devoted to the drink—a fact less known outside the region.
