V8!

.

I have a confession to make: I'm an addict.
A V8 addict.

I drink at least one can of the salty vegetable goodness every day. Some days, I have two cans. Some days, I have two cans and a drinking glass filled from the bottle of "high fiber" stuff I keep in the fridge. The weird thing is that I hate tomatoes. Hate them. With a passion. I don't like fresh tomatoes, baked tomatoes, cooked tomatoes, diced tomatoes, or pureed tomatoes. In fact, pretty much the only thing containing more than 60% tomato that I enjoy is ketchup, and even then - only in small doses. I thought I hated everything with tomatoes. Then I met V8. We'd known about each other for a while: I'd seen the bottle sitting in the fridge after grocery shopping and sometimes I'd catch my Mum with a glass during lunchtime. I studied it. It was thicker than drinks should be, and that weird red color, and obviously made from dreaded tomatoes, and had some ridiculous number of vegetable servings per glass (that can only mean that it tastes gross, right!?). I just knew I'd never try it. Ever.

Then, away at college and without easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables, I started looking for ways to increase my vitamin intake without taking sixteen pills a day. I wanted some sort of drink that I could grab as part of breakfast or a quick lunch addition. At the Giant Eagle (aka "Jynt Iggle") I noticed V8 Fusion. It was in a cute little bottle, and a funky purple-y color, and had pictures of grapes and apples on the front! AND it was two servings of vegetables per glass! Everything I always dreamed of. I bought a bottle, tried it, liked the taste, and drank it constantly from then on. Fast forward three years and I'm in my year-old house with a big kid job and I'm feeling sluggish and tired again. I think, 'Maybe I'm missing vegetable servings?' It's a possibility! So, I go looking at the supermarket - Hannaford - for my lovely V8 Fusion. I find it, buy a bottle, take it home, have a taste and... EW. It's gross. It's sticky sweet and reminds me of those sugary syrup-and-water drinks in the plastic bottles with the faces molded into the material. You know the ones:

yep. there it is.

Blech. I couldn't even finish one glass. What was I to do? I loved drinking my vegetables and although I owned a blender, I preferred using it for milk/frozen strawberry/yogurt smoothies. Deeeelicous. I wanted something that came in a bottle, pre-made, full of vitamins and veggie goodness, and tasted okay. Back to the grocery store I went, hoping that there would be something better out there. Then I saw it - a bottle of "high fiber" V8 juice. The regular kind of V8, tomatoes and all. I was all, 'Hey, why not? I'm an adult now, technically, and if that's what adults drink then maybe that's what I want.' I bought it.  I brought it home. I stuck it in the fridge and STARED at it for the next three days...and finally worked up the courage to pour a half glass. First sip? Not exactly fantastic. It was thick, just like I thought. It wasn't grainy, really, but it wasn't smooth. But weirdest of all; although it was faintly tomato-ey, it was in a filling toasted-cheese-and-soup sort of way. I kinda liked it. I wasn't in love, but it would do for now.

After a week or so of my daily V8 regimen I started feeling better. I had been fighting a cold for a few weeks and it finally cleared up. I had been so tired every day, even after 8 or 10 hours of sleep - suddenly I had more energy. I wasn't superwoman, but I felt more human. That was the beginning of the addiction... Now I drink V8 as my everyday normal choice of beverage. I still hate tomatoes in everything else and still refer to them as "poison", but I honestly don't mind them in the V8. So. Moral of the story? Drink V8 juice. It's not so bad.