The brand Lester's Fixins is specialised in carbonated drinks with a (100% artificial) flavouring of popular American foods, such as buffalo wings, pumpkin pie, Ranch Dressing barbecue sauce, sweetcorn, or bacon!

Hardly a surprise in this country, where the much-prized smoky bacon flavour is also used in milkshakes and desserts. Recently, the Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz disclosed his own very personal method for cooking bacon in a campaign video:

And yet another carbonated drink! Dragibus fans probably already know Jelly Bellies, multi-coloured sweets in the form of small beans with natural fruit flavourings and with sometimes surprising tastes, such as island punch or chocolate pudding. It was the favourite forbidden pleasure of Ronald Reagan, who started eating them to help him stop smoking and always had a bowl of them available in the Oval Office and on Air Force one during his two terms in office.

Guaranteed gelatine and preservative - free (packed with corn syrup and artificial colourings, but then you can't have it all) these sugar bullets now come in liquid form. 

Born in Nebraska in 1927, this powdered dilutable drink (even mixed with wine, for adventurous types) owes its success not only to its flashy colours and its very low price, but also to its mascot, who is ubiquitous in all the brand's advertising campaigns: a smiling jug baptised Kool-Aid Man.

Its shock effect is not limited to its taste: it is sometimes used for in the most unexpected ways…as hair or wool dye!

Egg yolks beaten with sugar, then mixed with very hot cream and milk and seasoned with cinnamon or nutmeg. With all due respect to Sheldon in Big Bang Theory, eggnog is THE traditional Christmas drink. A rich, creamy, comforting cocktail, ideal for warming the mind and body, or to combat a cold or fatigue.

The alcohol version was all the rage among English aristocrats before being imported to colonial America in the eighteenth century, where rum (or grog in slang) replaced liqueurs such as the overly expensive sherry or brandy. The term "eggnog" is a contraction of "egg and grog". Today Americans mostly prefer the cold alcohol-free version.

Contradicting its name, the extremely popular root beer contains not one drop of alcohol! Invented by a pharmacist, like Coca-Cola, the brown carbonated drink, made from plant extracts (vanilla, sarsaparilla, liquorice, sassafras, nutmeg, etc.) tastes like chewing gum and medicine, rather disconcerting for the unaccustomed palate.

Prized for its refreshing taste, root beer is also used to make another strange American specialty: the float. One or two scoops of ice cream are placed in a glass, and then soda is gently poured on top (gently because the mix of fizz and ice cream provokes a chemical reaction which forms foam which can easily spill over…). You can even add the topping of your choice or Chantilly cream. As usual, it's a calorie bomb!