Japan and Iran both have excellent snacking cultures that exist on opposite sides of the global snack spectrum. As the Japanese are naturally inclined towards mass production and hi-tech innovation, their snacks come in a variety of easily consumed formats that range from complex potato chip flavours (fried mayonnaise, raw egg, etc) to biscuity microsnacks like Pocky and Pretz. The Persians, with a resourced-based economy and underdeveloped snack import infrastructure, tend to favour healthier and more natural snack forms like sangak w/ tahini humous, peeled walnuts and unripe plums.

But one similarity both cultures possess is a love of milky soft drinks. In Japan, they drink Calpis, which is what you would get if you mixed skim milk with 7-Up, only the citrus has been replaced with a distinct chalky aftertaste that reminds one of that dusty ol’ bowl of hard candy grandma used to keep on her end table next to the her collection of discount fabergé eggs.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran, they go for Doogh: a sugarless mix of club soda and yogurt that makes for the perfect summertime cooldown. Yeah I know what you’re thinking - gross! - and it is. It’s quite possibly the most disgusting thing you’ll ever gargle down your gullet, but that’s irrelevant, because in the world of carbonated lactose-based beverages, it still ranks pretty high.

So if you’ve tired of the same old glass of plain-jane whitebread milk and want to jazz it up a little bit of ethnic spontaneity, head on down to your local Persian market or Japanese convenience store and check out one of these exciting, calcium-filled soda-pop-esque beverages.