What Did I Think: Everyone remembers the first time that they tried their first quaff of soy milk. It ranks right up there in memorable events along with your first car or your first sexual experience. Parents often tell their children about the day that they wandered into that dingy Chinese restaurant, saw a frothy mixer machine of slightly off-white liquid and, in a moment of sheer madness, ordered a paper cup-full that slowly disintegrated as the night wore on. Husbands will often confess late at night their *real* first time to wives. Drinking soy together can be a bonding experience for two souls, though group soy is still a lifestyle choice frowned upon by our otherwise 'permissive' society.

I recall my first soy experienced as clearly as though it was yesterday. Like many such encounters, I was experimenting with the forbidden in university. I mean everyone else was trying it... and weirder stuff, too. I mean those folks got into the hard things, like hydroponically-grown vegetables, veggie pitas and flaffles. I was in the student centre, checking out the Chinese restaurant there. I'd read letters in magazines about experiences like these in the past, but I'd never believed them until now. There it was, sitting on the counter, tempting me closer... soy milk. Like I'd heard in stories, but never imbibed. I'm not proud of what happened next but it was as unavoidable as love and marriage. I... bought a cup. And sipped.

I was spitting for neither accuracy or distance, but I think I achieved both that day. I threw out the noisome substance straight-away and never looked back. At least, not for three years until I found myself in the Bulk Barn near work, browsing the drink cabinet. There, sitting three-to-a-pack, were several small cardboard cartons of EdenSoy soy-milk. In a moment which I can only term 'madness', I grabbed it and rushed off to work.

I have to admit, this drink avoided the taste of the milk that I had tried before, in that I was able to finish the carton. There are, however, easier ways to convey the taste of vanilla to one's tongue -- surrounding raw extract in glass and chewing through it, filling one's mouth with sharp shards being one such method. It's not terrible and in fact it could very likely become an acquired taste. However, this drink doesn't seem worth the trouble, unless you have a health reason for doing so.

And drink it chilled. I tried the second box warm for a second-opinion and very nearly decided that my name was 'Ramone' and that the little pixies loved me.

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