Foreign Encounters: Could food be a thing of the past?

I'm only partially fluent in "nerd."

Therefore, I just found out that Soylent, a Kickstarter project which promises to "free your body from food," derived its name from the sci-fi movie Soylent Green.

In the movie, it's 2022 (which, now isn't that far off), and the world has turned to shit.

You've got the usually list of villains:

Overpopulation

Pollution

Poverty

Dying oceans

Depleted resources

Climate change

[Insert Al Gore speech]

Most people in this dystopian future survive on "Soylent Green" food rations, which are advertised as "high-energy plankton." As the movie unfolds, you discover that Soylent Green is actually made from -- Corpses.

Well, luckily, the Kickstarter namesake is NOT made of corpses. That's be weird.

Soylent has raised $1M to date and all the talk in nerd societies, like San Francisco.

Rob Rhinehart, the 24 year old CEO, was having a hard time eating well. Instead of taking some organic, "clean" cooking classes (also all the talk in foodie societies, like San Francisco), he decided to do what any good engineer would do.

He reverse-engineered his health.

"But by devouring textbooks and seeking mentorship from master chemists and nutritionists, and bringing his experience in electronics manufacturing (which turns out to be strangely analogous to mass-producing supplements), he had successfully reverse-engineered—at a molecular level—exactly what the human body needs out of food." - Shane Snow

Rob Rhinehart believes that he no longer needs actual food. He can sustain his body on his creation, Soylent. It's not another SlimFast or Protien Shake -- there's no additional food needed.

Plus, he's not the only one that believes it -- he's gotten positive reviews from early adapters (excerpt from website below). Personally, I found this 2-week test by Shane Snow fascinating.

More energy, better healthy and apparently folks do not miss food (which is NOT the same with "juicing"). Legit.

I'm an easily excitable person -- my speech speeds up & my hand gestures go wild when something interests me. I might as well just have a puppy tail (it'd be a "statement" piece).

Therefore, I bought a month's supply of Soylent to try out in December.

Yes - I'll blog about it.

No - I don't plan on giving up food forever.

I think it'd be a nice alternative for the days I eat poorly (i.e., take-away pizza, mid-morning Toastbox, substituting "spoons of peanut butter" for dinner). Without the help of Google and my cooking boyfriend, I'm not the best at eating "well" on a consistent basis.

So, besides never having to cook again (and being lazy), what are the benefits?

"Soylent frees you from the time and money spent shopping, cooking and cleaning, puts you in excellent health, and vastly reduces your environmental impact by eliminating much of the waste and harm coming from agriculture, livestock, and food-related trash." - Soylent website

It also answers the sustainability question: "How do we feed 7B people in the world efficiently?"

"50% of the food produced globally is wasted, and food makes for the largest component of municipal garbage. If not for this waste there would be plenty of food to adequately nourish everyone alive. 2 million people are killed annually by smoke inhalation from indoor cooking stoves alone. 70% of americans are overweight or obese. 1 in 7 people globally are malnourished, and 1 in 3 in the developing world suffer from deficiency. Countless others are living hand-to-mouth, subsistence farming, hindering economic development. Even in the developed world, agriculture is the most dangerous industry to work in by occupational injuries and illnesses, and obesity is on the rise.

By taking years to spoil, dramatically reducing cost, and easing transportation and storage, soylent could have a dramatic effect on hunger and malnutrition. Proceeds from the purchase of soylent enable us to work with aid partners and reduce hunger and environmental impact both in the United States and the developing world." - Soylent website

We have a food problem in the world. We need new solutions to solve.

But, not everyone is convinced this could be a good solution. As always, folks are throwing darts at this idea (and, maybe I will too after trying it).

Common criticisms are:

The body needs whole foods and not atomic nutrients
We shouldn't "play around" with our nutrition. Soylent could be harmful
The inventor has 0 background in health
“If food is too hard, you’re doing it wrong.”
Where is the "social" element of food?

All valid points, but I do wonder:

The body needs whole foods and not atomic nutrients.

I'm not a nutritionist, but whole foods are composed of 6 main nutrients -- carbs, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins and fiber. Can we not eat the nutrients without them coming in the form of a cow or an apple? That's a bit like producing a hamburger in a lab (recently funded by Sergey Brin)

We shouldn't "play around" with our nutrition. Soylent could be harmful

We take nutrition for granted. For example, noodles were first invented in 4000 BC and have been a food stable in countless countries; we are also now discovering "gluten allergies" and "wheat belly," which means it's not that good for us. Why do we assume foods created in the past better than foods that might be created in the future?
We play around with our nutrition everyday by eating synthetic products. I think that chemicals I can't pronounce in my cereal or soft-drinks are also harmful (see here)

The inventor has 0 background in health

Thomas Edison was a drop-out; it didn't stop him from creating the lightbulb. Our most innovative thinkers typically don't have the perfect pedigree for the invention they create.

"If food is too hard, you’re doing it wrong.”

If it were so easy, no one would starve or go to McDonalds. An "obesity epidemic would be "sci-fi."
It also takes an enormous amount of energy to get food from the field to the distributor to the store (which I learned here), which is hard on the environment.

Where is the "social" element of food?

A Soylent-like product won't phase out "good" dining experiences in any foreseeable future -- an amazing dinner with good company is one of life's pleasures. But, not all our dining experiences are good or social -- and, those could probably be replaced (remember, I eat peanut butter out of the jar).

In conclusion, I think I love the idea of Soylent because it's "different."

It's futuristic

It's bold

It's going against the grain

It's trying to solve BIG problems

And, for that, I say good luck & you have my support.