Carrot Juice

Brand: JA Furano

Cost: 195 yen

Found at: PIAGO La Foods

This does not look like carrot juice. This looks like radioactive waste. To say that it is neon orange is an understatement. It is over-the-top orange. It’s eye-searingly orange. It’s an orange reserved for reflective vests and traffic cones. It is not an orange that you find in nature. Completely opaque and uniform in color, this juice looks more like an ill-advised choice in house paint than a beverage. Looking at it, you worry that it might permanently dye the cup you’ve pureed it into, and also your teeth along with it. When you finally taste it, its smooth appearance yields to a very chunky juice, chocked full of carroty debitage that was invisible to the casual observer. But perhaps most bizarrely of all, it does not taste or smell like carrots. Instead, it tastes and smells just like tomato juice. In fact, after heating it in the microwave, it made a very passible tomato soup. And yet there is no tomato in it – only carrots and lemon. It’s a wild ride from start to finish – a thing that can’t possibly come from nature and somehow only comes from nature. But if you are looking for a canned tomato soup that contains no tomatoes, this is an excellent option.