Soylent: a food drink for those who can't be bothered to chew

[BainsBane]

"We're accustomed to offbeat food ideas here at The Salt. But even we had to pause over recent headlines about a guy who bragged about finding a way around eating.

Rob Rhinehart's blog details his two-month experiment consuming mostly Soylent, a concoction he invented to provide all the nutrition and none of the hassle of food. It first attracted the attention of Vice, and then The Washington Post, which said that his plan just might work. Rhinehart, a 24-year-old electrical engineer in San Francisco, soon found himself inundated with queries from people interested in testing Soylent. He'd apparently hit on something that resonated with others.

But wait a minute, we wondered: What exactly is so bothersome about eating food?

"I resented the time, money and effort [that] the purchase, preparation, consumption, and clean-up of food was consuming," Rhinehart writes on the blog. His liquid solution has left him feeling sated, leaner and more focused, he writes. And in an email to The Salt, he added: "Personally, I've found separating the social and cultural enjoyment of food from food as 'fuel' has vastly improved my quality of life."

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/03/176175513/bored-with-food-an-all-liquid-diet-is-not-such-a-hot-idea?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130407

Soylet. Really? Surely I can't be the only person who thinks of Soylent Green when seeing that product name?

[Warpy]

1. I know a lot of people who dump things into a blender

because they just can't be bothered to stop and cook a can of soup and throw a chicken breast into a toaster oven.

Yeah, I think they're weird. However, there probably is a fairly decent market for this stuff.

After all, they wouldn't even have to stop to clean the blender and wash the glass.

[BainsBane]

2. I love a smoothie with protein powder

and there is a certain attraction to have all doubt removed from my required calorie content, but Soylent? What a name!

[Warpy]

3. I agree, that one needs to be thought through

unless he's a hipster trying to be ironical.

I did the smoothie thing when I woke up late and had to run to get to work. However, as a replacement for all three meals it would have gotten very old very quickly.

[FirstLight]

4. blech

One of the main reasons I could never stick to a 'slim-fast' diet was the constant shakes...I need REAL food dammitt!

What does it say about people who psychologically choose to take the enjoyment out of eating? weird.

[BainsBane]

5. I also think it freaks the stomach out

Not to have anything to digest. Interesting question about the psychology.

[jonthebru]

7. A liquid solution can definitely have something to digest.

Given the material, protein or carbohydrates, your stomach does the right thing.
The system does need bulk or fiber so that must be in the mix. I could see drinking a well created liquid and enjoying a crunchy bar of some kind along with it.

Personally speaking, I would get bored. But if an individual was conditioned right, it would probably be OK.

[unblock]

6. I couldn't chew food for about a year, after a car accident.

So this idea doesn't seem silly at all to me, in fact I wish it existed at that time.

[BainsBane]

8. it's the name more than anything than creeps me out

I've drunk my share of protein drinks.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. Unfortunate name.

I assume this guy used that name on purpose, but I have no desire to ever try it.....never ever.

But if this is what he wants to use for nutrition, or if others are sick enough to want to "eat" Soylent, I say go for it. I am sure that they will survive.

What color is this stuff???

[freshwest]

10. You can make a smoothie that's high fiber. I went with that for breakfast with an apple, then almost

nothing but large servings of fresh mixed spring greens and beans or scrambled eggs and avocadoes for oil and proteins the rest of the day.

The time and effort from cooking and cleaning was eliminated and I had more energy than ever. Shopping did not involve a cart, just a canvas or net bag for produce to carry in and out of the produce section.

I hate the cost and complexity of preparing food but I wouldn't trust any commercial product as a meal replacement as you will never know what is in it. I guess this guy is going to patent this, huh?

[tavalon]

11. No, you aren't the only person

Really, really bad product name. It could go down in a hall of fame of bad product names.

[Quantess]

12. Add spirulina and it will be green soylet.