Parsley Soda is a fictional carbonated beverage featured in Lemony Snicket's
children's book series "A Series of Unfortunate Events" which debuted in the 6th book of the series, which is titled "The Ersatz Elevator".
The 6th book is located in a timeless city with its culture featuring a concept known as something being 'in' or 'out'; Essentially being the concept of a trend, 'in' and 'out' describes a spectrum of popularity and replacement through a
simple lens.
Just as the
name implies, parsley soda is a parsley-flavored soda that is often found unpleasant to taste, the drink in itself is unsavory in taste in its entirety, even if the parsley is replaced with another
herb such as
basil— one would have to sugarcoat it immensely, perhaps with a sugar
bowl. Parsley soda replaced the aqueous martini as the 'in' beverage favored by the elite, or mere obsessive 'in' trend chasers.
Esmé Squalor: "
Jerome! I need you to go down to 667 Dark Avenue's P.O. box down the flight of stairs!
Jerome Squalor: Why can't you come with? Why down the flight of stairs? We have an elevator.."
Esmé Squalor: The elevator's ersatz, besides, I'm not going since you're supposed to pick up the 2 crates of parsley soda I got since frankly, I'm not interested in breaking a fingernail.
Jerome Squalor: Can I at least slide down the banister?
Esmé Squalor: No.
