No Food, No Life
Have you ever considered a world that lacks food? A world that does not include hot, home cooked meals, sweet treats, or spicy snacks? Instead all foods would be replaced by a drink that contains all the nutrients you need to survive. Rob Rhinehart made this concept a reality by creating Soylent in December of 2012. Lizzie Widdicombe, a journalist for the New Yorker, researched Soylent and reported out on her findings in “The End of Food”. Widdicombe begins her essay by introducing the idea of Soylent and how the concept came to Rhinehart. Throughout her essay she discusses some of the benefits and drawbacks involved with Soylent. Widdicombe also reports on her interview with Rhinehart and gives some insight into his lifestyle and speaks of her own personal experience with consuming Soylent. She ends off with the concept of the Soylent dream where hopes and nightmares mingle, causing readers to finish with a questioning of the ideas that were just presented to them. I disagree with Rhinehart’s concept of Soylent, while I do believe that society does need to reconsider what foods they consume, I think he went about this the wrong way. I believe he should have presented it as an option for people who want to subject themselves to a life without food, not present it as something that will completely take over our future, no matter our preference.
Rhinehart viewed food as a burden while it is actually a blessing; so many people don’t have access to proper sustenance and are starving, but he acts as if food is below him and simply rejected what he was lucky enough to have access to. He also claims it is “the time and the hassle” that makes him discouraged about food, but it is a much needed break in the day so people are not overworked and it provides social interaction that is much needed for human beings as we are social creatures. I do partially understand where he is coming from as a new college student, I am so busy and I don’t live near the dining hall or any place that serves food on campus, so the hassle is apparent for me at times and I will end up skipping meals. However, it must be taken into consideration that they are other factors at play other than time and hassle, I am an extremely selective eater and don’t like many foods, most of which are served daily at the dining hall. This heavily impacts my decision to skip meals on the days that I do since I am unaware if there will even be anything for me to eat. Instead I prefer to keep healthy, delicious snacks and meals in my dorm room to provide me with the nutrients I need for the day.
Rhinehart claimed that “most of people’s meals are forgotten” and while people often forget about what they had for lunch a few days ago, that is mainly because it is unnecessary to remember when you could be using brain power to learn something else that is interesting and useful. There is no benefit to remembering what you ate on which day and at what time unless it holds significance to you. That being said, meals are anticipated and enjoyed by most people. Anyone can recognize this by walking into a school or workplace. If you ask a group of people what they are looking forward to in their day at work or school, more often than not, people will respond with something involving lunch or their lunch break. Meals are something people look forward to, not look back upon. Rhinehart does not acknowledge that there are two sides to this coin, and rather believes that people do not have sentiment about their food. The excitement and gratification of meals would be gone in a world of Soylent. Widdicombe states, “Meals provide punctuation to our lives: we’re constantly recovering from them, anticipating them, riding the emotional ups and downs of a good or a bad sandwich. With a bottle of Soylent on your desk, time stretches before you, featureless and a little sad.”(Widdicombe 14). Widdicombe went on to explain that she did not know what to do with herself during the time that used to be taken up by eating. Her usual break in the day from work was gone, but she still needed some time off, leading to a trip to get a coffee. The time that was supposed to be ‘saved’ in Widdicombe’s day by not having to bother with meals was still lost due to the need that humans have for time of mental rest. Instead, the lack of routine just caused confusion and wasted time in her day. Therefore, I personally find that it is better to forget meals because they are all different and it is useless information, than always knowing what you consumed in the past and will consume in the future because it is the same boring substance repeatedly.
Another concern I have with the concept of Soylent is that doctors are hesitant to approve Soylent as a complete replacement for food since you would lose benefits of natural foods and you would merely be surviving, not truly living. While Soylent could be used to help solve hunger issues in impoverished area, we would be condemning them to consume “pancake batter” and subjecting them to the potential health risks that even doctors are worried about. Widdicombe discusses the benefits of real food when saying, “The debate, for the most part, revolves around substances found in real food, especially phytochemicals, which come from plants. Such compounds are not known to be essential for survival, but, in epidemiological studies, they appear to provide important health benefits.”(Widdicombe 9). She goes on to explain that certain phytochemicals help in lowering risk of specific types of cancers and in lowering the rate of diabetes. While she does not specify what kind of diabetes, both of these diseases are extremely serious and ravage the world today. Soylent may appear to give you the perfect health but there are many possible unknown side effects, one of these being possible increased risk of diseases such as cancer and diabetes. The initial negative side effects of switching to Soylent leads me to the conclusion that the body instantly wants to reject the substance and that there could be future consequences.
The inventor of Soylent not only lives minimalistically in regards to food, he also lives a completely minimalistic lifestyle. His home is barren of personal items and he wears the same outfits everyday, not even bothering to wash them, until they are old and can be donated. Therefore, I assume that the minimalistic eating style and living style are correlated. Personally, I don’t want my future or the future of generations to come to have a life such as his. I wish to travel, experience other cultures (a big part of which is food), and live the best life of which I am capable. There are so many interesting opportunities out in the world that are just waiting to be taken advantage of. The lifestyle that coordinates with Soylent does not provide this kind of adventure. Rhinehart also believes that “things are worthless” which as a very sentimental person, causes genuine concern in me. While I am not a materialistic person, I do believe there is a value in many things. Back home, I have a box that holds items that I hold dear to me. In this box, photos, movie tickets, letters, a bunny made out of beads, a miniature Phillies hat, and many more things can be found. In addition, I also always wear the same ring and necklace, and not just because they are pretty or valuable. These items may not have physical worth, but each item holds a memory in itself. The beaded bunny was made for me by a friend over 7 years ago and when I look at the slightly disformed rabbit I am reminded of her and all the memories we shared together. The Phillies hat is from my first ever baseball game that my aunt and cousin brought me to when I was fourteen years old. As for the ring and necklace, one is a family heirloom from Ireland that has been passed down through the generations that I will pass down to my daughter one day, and the other was a gift from a friend during a painfully low time in my life that came with a note that held a very important message that I still think of everyday. Objects don’t have to be the only things that hold memories, foods can too. As I stated in my favorite meal essay, my Uncle Felipe’s guacamole means much more to me than a delicious snack,
“It reminds me of the summer of 2018 when Felipe handed his guacamole recipe down to me. We spent over an hour together in the kitchen of my cabin, him teaching me every detail about making the perfect guacamole. The way to cut each ingredient to be the perfect size, exactly how much to mix it so it is perfectly blended but not mashed together, and how to instinctively tell what needed adjusting in the dish was all passed down to me that day.”
Humans are not simple, relationships are not simple, emotions are not simple, the Earth is not simple, so why should we live a simple life? The simple answer is, we shouldn’t. Live life with meaning, passion, and sensations. With all the small and large things that create you and your personality, because without it, we are all the same.
It is easy to see how Soylent could negatively affect our society between the loss of culture and the health risks that are possibly correlated with Soylent. Food provides gratification and comfort to people all over the world everyday and it should not be taken away or replaced. Between the fact that Rhinehart disregards both the natural anticipation of meals and the potential health risks of his product, it is safe to assume that Rhinehart is a man of the past. I find it to be hazardous to entrust the future of mankind to someone who only takes interest in the past. However, the world of food could use revamping. The food that people are consuming and the nutrients that are in that food should be considered more heavily than what is currently the typical measure of heath, calories. We need to consider what will actually provide us with the best possible health while also taking into account human satisfaction.
