Brett Miller
ENG110 (H6)
9 October 2018
Food, More than Meats the eye
After reading “The End of Food” written by Lizzie Widdicombe I had a lot to think about. The article is about a very intelligent man named Rob Rhinehart and his two clever colleagues who have worked together for many years. There original goal was to make a new inexpensive plan for cell- phone towers. They eventually realized that their project was falling apart. As more and more financial burdens smacked them in the face they began figuring out ways to lower the cost of the way they lived. One of these major factors, was food. Rhinehart tried to find quick and cheap ways to sustain his body. He tried a wide variety of protein shakes and other forms of meal substitutes. None of them ever satisfied him so he eventually started experimenting with different mixtures himself. After trial and error and trial and error he discovered what he was looking for. This is when soylent was produced. 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. Certain people 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, the way food does? Soylent could benefit a lot of people but also take away all that a meal has to offer. I don’t think the efficiency of soylent is worth the experiences that a sit down meal can provide.
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, celebrate, 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 helps that center carry on the tradition of being a safe place for kids of the community to hang out. Every sports team at my highschool would have team dinners. We would play games, talk, laugh and bond but we only would go because of the good food. My favorite meal essay talks a lot about how important a single meal can be and how much more it can stand for. 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 money going back and forth. 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. For instance, you could have an interview in a small coffee shop or meet an investor in a diner.
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. Not 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. You could have a meal in no more than two minutes in the morning. We would start the day awake and full of energy. You 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. You could work hard and make a quick cup for lunch, now you’re more efficiently full. A couple gulps and you’re 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 to get started on some of the weekend chores. 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. I know so far in college I have not had time for some meals and while also playing football that energy is necessary. A cheap and easy access meal could dramatically change the world. Programs could ship the product to countries and places who starve and are as fortunate or have access to food like we do. It could be a substitute for nutrients in hospitals. Tim Gore the head of food and policy and climate change explains how it could even help with the accelerating change of the climate. It could minimize the amount of farms and the amount of cattle within them. Cows produce methane which is a greenhouse gas and cows cause fifteen percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. There is a lot of positives with this soylent and all the possibilities it could accomplish.
The only negative I really see with the soylent is the lack of human interaction it would provide because there is no sit down and eat with a drink. It reminds me of cell phones and how we use them. Cell phones have millions of positives and it’s exceptional how much we’ve accomplished with them. In some cases though my generation has been described at screenagers, which means we are so fed up in phones that we don’t engage with others. So many aspects of our everyday lives influence us to not talk to others face to face. My father is on his phone twenty four seven for his job and the only time we talk is at dinner. I know that eating with the football team or other people I have met or know has made us closer and made me some good friends that I never knew I would even connect with. That was because of the dinning hall and the forum and all the places I have to actually sit down and eat. The soylent might not encourage people to meet others or engage in conversation with others because you don’t have too. Rhineharts vision seems to be true and sincere. Soylent could help millions of people and maybe someday change the world. I don’t think it would fully replace meals either because some food is just to good. I believe in Rhinehart and his ideas and I believe that soylent is unique and worth giving a try. I know I would put it to use and get a lot of benefit from it. Some people just need that quick replenishment to keep them healthy and ready to take on whatever is thrown their way. Soylent could be a good thing and I would definitely consider getting involved with it. It just isn’t worth sacrificing the amazing memories meals can bring us. As Lizzie Widdicombe puts it “Soylent isn’t coming for our Sunday potlucks. It’s coming for our frozen quesadillas.”
