Fanta was invented in wartime Germany from the leftovers of leftovers
When war cut Coca-Cola's German bottler off from its syrup, the local boss Max Keith improvised. Using sugar beet, whey and apple pulp, ingredients he later called the leftovers of leftovers, he created a new soft drink. A salesman named it after Keith urged his team to use their imagination, Fantasie in German: Fanta.
An American trade embargo and a British naval blockade had already made syrup imports impossible, and once Germany declared war on the United States in 1941, the German plant lost contact with Coca-Cola headquarters entirely. Keith's substitute sold remarkably well, reaching 3 million cases in 1943. Many bottles were never drunk at all; with sugar strictly rationed, households poured Fanta into soups and stews for sweetness.
Keith also looked after Coca-Cola's Dutch plant in Amsterdam, which faced the same shortages, and lent it the Fanta brand. The Dutch version had its own recipe built around elderberries. After the war the Coca-Cola Company took back the German factory, the formula, the trademark and the profits earned during the conflict. Production of the original drink stopped in 1949.
The Fanta people know today was born in Naples. In 1955, responding to new Pepsi drinks, a local bottler relaunched the name with a recipe made from local oranges, and the familiar ridged bottle dates from that period. Coca-Cola bought the brand in 1960 and pushed it hard across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Everywhere except the United States, orange Fanta still contains real orange juice.
America itself was an afterthought. Coca-Cola held the drink back there until the 1960s, worried it would eat into its flagship cola, and sales stayed limited after the 1980s because its sister brand Minute Maid offered similar sodas. A national push came only in 2001, driven by the drink's popularity among the growing Hispanic population. The brand now comes in more than 200 flavours worldwide.
Source: Fanta
