Brett Miller
Eng-110
9/17/18
After reading “The End of Food” written by Lizzie Widdicombe I had a lot to think about. The article is about a man named Rob Rhinehart and his two other colleagues who have produced a soylent. This is just a simple powder that you add water to which turns it into a drinkable meal with all the nutrients you need. It’s cheap and easy, and supposedly very healthy and affective. A lot are hesitant because there is no way they can replicate all of the health benefits of eating real solid food. That really isn’t the issue I have with the soylent, the issue I have is how would a 30 second drink help bring people together?
Our lives are strongly impacted by food and a lot revolves around it. Even Centuries ago food was the focal point of cultures and a variety of lifestyles. Greeks would have massive feasts to worship the gods and celebrate. Meals were used to create alliances or even peace treaties. Food is how you ask out the girl you like or to hangout with friends. Food is how you see family and are able to catch up and talk. Everything we do involves food, we can’t even last two hours to watch a movie without munching on some buttery popcorn. Food brings people together to do pretty cool things. My family in our hometown started a tradition called breakfast with santa. You would bring your kids, pay five bucks to get in and have a buffet of pancakes sausage and bacon and get to hangout with Santa. It was a fundraiser to raise money for the local community center. Food is a huge part of our american economy and the world. The amount of transactions made daily revolving food is absurd. Grocery shopping, dining out, or just grabbing a quick snack adds up to a lot of transactions. I don’t think our society revolving around food is bad or weird. We need food to survive and function, if anything we’ve made food not only help us survive but help us live. Food provides experiences that we may never forget and can even create opportunities for a lot of people.
The soylent is a different and to some a strange way to consume nutrients, vitamins and our “meals.” Most often a person will try to eat breakfast around 7:30-9:30, lunch around 12-1, and dinner in between 5:30-7:30. I know personally this almost never happens for me and I think a lot of other people would agree. A plow person in the winter might be up at 4 in the morning or all night. An accountant could be punching numbers in until midnight and either forget to eat or just choose not to. I don’t think everyone’s eating practices are the same because everyone lives different lives. On that note people shouldn’t skip meals, it isn’t healthy and without energy you can’t operate at your highest performance at anything. Soylent could provide you with that missing meal and nutrients. I think a lot of meals end up being forgotten and I know from highschool the most popular meal people skipped was breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it’s a bad start if you don’t eat it. A regulated eating schedule is more important than people realize and maybe soylent could make it easier for us to stay on track. We could have a meal in no more then two minutes in the morning. We would start the day awake and full of energy. We could sleep in more because you don’t have to wake up and make your breakfast and then have to sit down and eat it. We could work hard and make a quick cup for lunch, no more lunch break we don’t need it. A couple gulps and your back to work with a satisfied full feeling. No more late night pizza or burning the stir fry, just pour the powder in water and your dinner is done. Dinner was so quick you have time for one more episode. Even on vacation you could just pack it and no more expensive restaurants just drink and relax. You would still be “eating” everything you need to take on the day. Your health would improve and you would live a more efficient lifestyle.
