There's a weird psuedo-religious aspect to it too. It's right to spend an hour cooking, and wrong to have a convenient pre-made meal, even if it's nutritionally as good or better.

Couldn't agree more.

I completely admit that Soylent is not perfect, and i am also a little worried of the (many?) aspects of nutrition that we're unaware of. But many people live on Fast Food, which scares me far far more than Soylent does.

But just because something is not perfect, does not warrant the very odd zealotry that i see for "normal" food and against Soylent (and like products).

It's honestly, flat out bizarre to me. They act like "normal" food is their favorite sports team, or a company that they have vested interest in. As if their profits will take a hit, if this new fangled Soylent thing catches on.

And i can't imagine it is for our potential health that these people are fanatical. I don't see them being so religious about many other non-healthy life habits that people have. Yet, throw in liquid food and it's a slug fest.

I just don't understand.

It's because you're deleting an entire dimension of human experience and saying it's normal. People who don't like food seem abnormal. It's like asexuality. It takes people aback to hear that a person has no sexual interest of any kind.

If you're simply explaining why you think that people have that reaction, then that's a very good assertion - appreciate the input.

If you're posing an argument, then imo, you're largely mistaken. Most (needs citation) people don't use Soylent-like products to remove a positive human experience. They remove the "human experiences" that they already struggled with, and don't want.

For example, I'm not skipping out on meals with my family and loved ones. Those are social interactions, the food is just something to prompt the social interaction.

However, when i'm alone in my house getting ready for work - I don't think these are part of this "human experience" you refer to.

I suppose you could say removing a bad human experience is still removing a human experience, but then.. why are we arguing in favor of those bad experiences?

I wouldn't call it zealotry, but probably resistance to change.

As with anything new and interesting, it's easy to insert a fictional future scenario that takes away what makes our personal lives rich and enjoyable.

I love to cook but it's all a bit sci-fi and uncomfortable to think that we'll all have our government mandated NutriSludge dispensed twice a day so we can all stop worrying about cooking and work harder.

I'm sure you do understand, but it just doesn't come across from your answer. From the perspective of people not quite as fortunate as yourself:

The quote wouldn't be "we'll all have our government mandated NutriSludge dispensed twice a day so we can all stop worrying about cooking and work harder".

It'll be, "before the government started helping, we lived off food stamps and food banks, but it was never enough. You always see those ads on TV, how growing children need their milk, and it would make me cry. My children deserved better, but I just wasn't able to provide it for them. They were always cold and getting sick. There was one winter my son couldn't go to school because it was too cold for him to leave his bed. Now that we get NutriSludge all three of them are looking healthier, I can't believe my youngest is good at sports. I've even been able to spend more time on myself, and I can work harder! I've actually been able to hold down this job. My kids even have the energy to look into part time jobs. I'm so happy the government is finally helping. I don't even like thinking about those times anymore."

for me the issue is cost, why does the 12 pack cost more than $6 + shipping? Seems like tremendous markup.

Skipping breakfast and keeping your insulin levels low for a couple more hours is probably preferable to ingesting a bunch of cheap oils and flours (soylent is only a slight upgrade to breakfast cereal, imo)

Thanks for the answer (and to everyone else that replied) - it's always good to hear the other side of the debate.

I could never imagine myself in a situation where I'd consider it so important to be constantly busy that I wouldn't be able to find the time to throw a few vegetables in a pan - but I understand different people have different priorities (and demanding jobs).

It just seems to me like this is an odd way to solve the problem, maybe because I'm extrapolating a bit and seeing it as trying to replace one of the things that makes us human; the ability to prepare and cook food.

I'd be interested to see if any research comes up as to the long term psychological effects of this sort of product. Do people who replace the varied textures and tastes of different foods (if only partially) with a liquid supplement notice any adverse effects or cravings?

Out of interest, is Soylent more interesting than offerings from companies like Graze/Naturebox?

> Out of interest, is Soylent more interesting than offerings from companies like Graze/Naturebox?

I don't have an answer for that exactly - but other healthy meal replacement products on the market that i've seen tend to be too expensive. To me, even Soylent is a bit expensive.

Because of the price, i have mostly just stuck to my own DIY Soylent. It's vastly less convenient, but in an hours worth of work, i can make a weeks worth of food - so still very convenient. Far far cheaper too (under a third the price).

I also don't feel comfortable with Soylents use of maltodextrin. This isn't an educated opinion, i just don't know enough about it - and worry about the glycemic index, since i have problems with blood sugar levels. My DIY version uses 2/3 Oats an 1/3 Masa, and i've always heard amazing things about Oats, so it makes me (emotionally) feel really good - vs concerned about Soylent. Plus, the Oats make me feel very very stable, blood sugar wise.. but who knows with placebos, i've never measured any of it.

Plus, my DIY smells like "food" to me, where as Soylent smells very foreign. I still love Soylent for road trips though - it's amazing road food.

> I'd be interested to see if any research comes up as to the long term psychological effects of this sort of product. Do people who replace the varied textures and tastes of different foods (if only partially) with a liquid supplement notice any adverse effects or cravings?

For what it's worth, on heavy (2-3 meals/day of my DIY Soylent) for a time span ranging of about 6 months (my consumption has been down recently, GF has been cooking a lot heh), my experience is:

1. A massive boost in stable thinking/reasoning. I can't recall feeling mid-day dead zones, which i often fall into without my DIY. This is partially due to Coffee consumption levels i'm sure, but DIY seemingly helped to make my mind (and body) more consistent.

2. Boredom. Without food breaks, i felt a lot of listlessness throughout the day. I felt i should be snacking, or doing something other than working - but i had no hunger to guide a snacking expedition. While i was still very productive, far more than usual, i would often stop typing for moments and go "Man.. i just feel like i should be doing something".

I imagine it had to do with missing a ritual (meal times) in my life. This was by far the weirdest thing to get used to for me.

3. I would eventually crave flavor, often salt. I'm blaming this on a lack of proper balance in my DIY mix - but i didn't adjust my mix at all. The cravings were mild, and only over a longer period of time, so by the time they hit i was usually having a normal dinner meal regardless.

4. I would often get an odd sense of needing to chew. This could have been a craving, i don't know - but my jaw/mouth would get very... unused feeling. I could potentially spend 8 hours working without really chewing once. I tried gum sometimes, but it didn't really seem to help. Hard to say what this one was about, but i put it on it's own bullet-number because it was quite regular.. although not bad enough to stop, by any means.

Overall it was very positive experience. The hardest part, by a large margin, was spending an hour a week creating the DIY powder, and then another ~15m every day preparing the next days liquid meals from the powder. Purely laziness of course - but clearly if i'm doing this, i dislike meal/food preparation ;)

Hope this was somewhat insightful.

Really interesting to hear your experiences - thanks for sharing.

Fast food makes its living off having predictable product available everywhere you go.