“There may be only one.”

The Highlander

Ketchup: Henry Heinz

Coca-Cola

McDonalds

Highlander

The scene of the crime

The adversary preparing his sword, training in his motel.

“You talk funny, where are you from?”

“Lots of different places.”

…

Ketchup: that “red stuff”

Henry John Heinz was an American entrepreneur whose business expanded into tomato ketchup, a red condiment that became iconic internationally. It went with everything, and almost every restaurant in America would carry it on every table, accompanied only by salt and pepper.

It worked on burgers, and it worked with French Fries. And so it worked with Amerixa

Henry Heinz was running his company out of Pennsylvania, and was of Palatine descent. The Palatines were Germans of the Holy Roman Principalities, also known as the “Palatine Dutch.” Many of these people had migrated to Pennsylvania.

In 1709, England found itself hosting thousands of Palatines and other Germans who were fleeing famine, war and religious persecution in their native lands. They had been displaced by French invasions and famine during the Nine Year’s War and the War of Spanish Succession. After arriving in London, many were resettled in Ireland and British America.

Towards the end of the 17th century and into the 18th, the wealthy region was repeatedly invaded by French troops during two wars. At that time the region had not yet fully recovered from the Thirty Year’s War. They imposed a scorched earth policy and continuous military requisitions, which caused widespread devastation and famine. The winter of 1708 was notably cold, resulting in further hardships. The term “Poor Palatines” referred to some 13,000 Palatines and other Germans who emigrated to England between May and November 1709, seeking refuge. Their arrival in England and the inability of the British government to integrate them led to a highly politicised debate over the merits of immigration.

The term Palatine or ‘Palatinus’ was first used in the Roman Empire for chamberlains of the Emperor (of the Holy Roman Church) due to their association to the Palatine Hill, the home where Roman Emperors lived since August Caesar (hence “palace”).

After the fall of Ancient Rome , a new feudal type of title known simply as “palatinus”, came into use. The comes palatinus (Count Palatine), assisted the Holy Roman Emperor in his judicial duties and at a later date administered many of these himself. Other counts palatine were employed on military and administrative work. Over time paladin came to refer to other high-level officials in the imperial, majestic and royal courts.

The word ‘palatine’ used in various European countries in the medieval and modern eras became ‘paladin.’ Paladin was an official rank and considered an honorary title for a man in the service of his emperor. It was a knight with additional honors, they were entitled to exercise powers normally reserved to the crown.

The Holy Roman Emperors sent the Counts palatine to various parts of his empire to act as judges and governors; the states they ruled were called Holy Roman Palatinates. There were dozens of these royal Palatinates (Pfalzen) throughout the early Empire, and the emperor would travel between them, as there was no imperial capital.

Henry J. Heinz was involved in the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. Many of his descendants are known for philanthropy and involvement in politics and public affairs. His fortune became the basis for the Heinz Foundations.

Henry John Heinz began packing foodstuffs on a small scale at Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1869. There, he founded Heinz Noble & Company with a friend, L. Clarence Noble, and started marketing bottled horseradish, soon followed by sauerkraut, vinegar, and pickles.

At the time of Heinz’s death in Pittsburgh at the age of 74, the H. J. Heinz Company had more than 20 food processing plants and owned seed farms and container factories.

He was a director in many financial institutions, and was chairman of a committee to devise ways of protecting Pittsburgh from floods.

He was buried at Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh, in the Heinz family mausoleum.

At the time, there was a growing trend of moving from the farmlands and into cities to work in factories at a time when mass food production was on the rise. A lot of industries became dependent on these factories running continuously, so when workers protested and staged a sit-in there formed a veritable mob of farmers, nut and milk producers storming their factory doors, with pitchforks, empty stomachs, and starving families.

At this time, food preservation was the issue. Much of the food would spoil, sold on the stands to the public with poor oversight: and the result was people dying from spoiled goods. The clear bottles of Henry Heinz’s ketchup brilliantly displayed the product had nothing to hide, with vital red juices freshly held inside for all to see.

It seemed like everyone at the time was desperate to come up with the great new invention, and to try and become the next America success story.

Coca-Cola

Coke was invented in the late 19th Century by John Stith Pemberton, working out of Atlanta, Georgia. In 1888, Pemberton sold Coca-Cola’s ownership rights to Asa Griggs Candler, a businessman, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance of the global soft-drink market throughout the 20th and 21st century.

The bottlers, who hold exclusive territory contracts with the company, produce the finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate, in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. A typical 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 ml) can contains 38 grams (1.3 oz) of sugar (usually in the form of high-fructose corn syrup in North America). The bottlers then sell, distribute, and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores, restaurants, and vending machines throughout the world. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains of major restaurants and foodservice distributors.

Based on Interbrand’s “best global brand” study of 2020, Coca-Cola was the world’s sixth most valuable brand. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings each day.

Sugar prices spiked in the 1970s because of Soviet demand/hoarding and possible futures contracts market manipulation. The Soviet Union was the largest producer of sugar at the time. In 1974 Coca-Cola switched over to High-Fructose corn syrup because of the elevated prices. On April 23, 1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted to change the formula of the drink with “New Coke”. Follow-up taste tests revealed most consumers preferred the taste of New Coke to both Coke and Pepsi but Coca-Cola management was unprepared for the public’s nostalgia for the old drink, leading to a backlash. The company gave in to protests and returned to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic, on July 10, 1985. “New Coke” remained available and was renamed Coke II in 1992; it was discontinued in 2002.

When launched, Coca-Cola’s two key ingredients were cocaine and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from the ‘kola’ nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola.