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20,000 Customers Have Pre-Ordered Over $2,000,000 of Soylent

Daniel_Stuckey writes "Less than a year ago, Rob Rhinehart published a blog post explaining how he had stopped eating food and begun living entirely on a greyish, macro-nutritious cocktail. Today, he told Motherboard that he's sold more than $2 million worth of Soylent to tens of thousands of post-food consumers worldwide—and that it's on track to ship next month. 'We have crossed $2,000,000 in revenue from over 20,000 customers, with more every day,' Rhinehart told me. 'International demand is really picking up as well.' This despite the fact that Soylent isn't technically on the market yet, and has thus far only been available to beta testers. Rhinehart's company spent much of last year tinkering with the formula—the version he tried first was deficient in sulfur, and contained since-jettisoned ingredients like cow whey. But there's been a steadily building crescendo of publicity—both positive and negative—around the project since its inception."

364 of 543 comments (clear)

  1. Somebody wasn't paying attention by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Soylent is supposed to be SOY, LENTils, and optionally plankton. Come up with a new name. Sheesh.

    1. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Are you sure about that? According to the main page FAQ (bottom)
      Is there any soy in Soylent?
      Hardly any. Please see blog.soylent.me for a preliminary ingredient list, once the formula is finalized we will be releasing the official Soylent v1.0 ingredients/nutritional breakdown.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The name "soylent" comes from Harry Harrison's 1966 book "Make Room! Make Room!" which concerns a highly overpopulated and starving society; this book was adapted to the film "Soylent Green". "Soylent" is a portmanteau of "soy" and "lentil":

      "Billy Chung managed to work the plastic container of soylent steaks up under his shirt and, when he bent half double, it wasn't easily noticeable Soylent steaks, a whole boxful, each flat and brown and big as his hand Billy ate three of the soybean and lentil steaks"

      This nitwit has borrowed the name, probably having seen the derivative film and never twigged to the fact that the word meant something.

    3. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by Fwipp · · Score: 5, Informative

      This nitwit has borrowed the name, probably having seen the derivative film and never twigged to the fact that the word meant something.

      Or, if you read the linked article, you'll see that he specifically corrects the interviewer, telling him "Actually, in the original book Make Room! Make Room! Soylent is made of soya and lentil."

    4. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by sjames · · Score: 1

      So the product soylent is not in fact a substitute food?

    5. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by luckymutt · · Score: 4, Funny

      I want Soylent Brown.. A tasty coffee/chocolate breakfast version! High in caffeine!

      I hope that's what it tastes like.

    6. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by davester666 · · Score: 3, Funny

      no, it is more like a plant-based version of concrete. You take a little bit in a bowl, add water, add some cooked peas, and a cooked sugarbeet [cut in 1/2in cubes], mix it all together and eat before it hardens.

      It winds up hardening to a solid in your stomach, and you lose weight because you can't physically eat as much. It's the cheap, home version of getting your stomach stapled.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    7. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by NoKaOi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This nitwit has borrowed the name, probably having seen the derivative film and never twigged to the fact that the word meant something.

      It's a metaphor. He's not saying it's the exact same stuff that's in the book. Maybe it's silly, but it's also catchy. If he didn't know what he was doing when he named it, then perhaps it would be reasonable to call him a nitwit, but that's clearly not the case. It's like Sex Wax surfboard wax. Did the creators really think it was actually intended to be used for sex? Of course not. They named it that because it's catchy and people buy it. It also happens to be the best wax on the market IMO.

    8. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      I want Soylent Brown.. A tasty coffee/chocolate breakfast version! High in caffeine!

      I hope that's what it tastes like.

      You wish.

    9. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by Nyder · · Score: 1

      So, he's an even bigger nitwit: knowing it already means one thing, he appropriates it to mean another.

      So he's just like the corporation's out there? Remember when Unlimited meant Unlimited? I do. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the 90's now...

      --
      Be seeing you...
    10. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by larry+bagina · · Score: 1

      Umm, I know for a fact some people use sex wax for other things. Things involving sex parts.

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    11. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Your proclivities may not have been adapted by others, you know.

    12. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by Curunir_wolf · · Score: 1

      Your period key seems to be broken.

      --
      "Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
      --- Jerry Garcia
    13. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by akpak · · Score: 1

      Good news! As I understand it, they're trying to make Soylent as "flavor neutral" as possible, so that you can add whatever flavoring you want. Including coffee and chocolate.

    14. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by digitalPhant0m · · Score: 1

      It's like Sex Wax surfboard wax. Did the creators really think it was actually intended to be used for sex?

      Damn it. I've been doing it wrong.

    15. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by JamieIanMacgregor · · Score: 1

      would this work the same? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

    16. Re:Somebody wasn't paying attention by JamieIanMacgregor · · Score: 1

      Don't you hate that moment when you suddenly realise you've been using a product incorrectly for your entire adult life?

  2. "Soylent Green is people!" by Z00L00K · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Makes me think of Soylent Green.

    --
    If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    1. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by noh8rz10 · · Score: 5, Funny

      thanks for the spoiler alert.

    2. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by noh8rz10 · · Score: 4, Funny

      wait are you saying it's made OF people?

    3. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by fyngyrz · · Score: 5, Informative

      Only in the film, which is a *terrible* adaptation of "make room, make room" by harry harrison.

      Soylent was not made of people, and furthermore was almost irrelevant to the plot (of the book... the movie hardly has a plot, it's junk) other than being cheap, somewhat nutritious, and "what you got" if you weren't rich.

      You want a truly great read, get the book. You want a horrible viewing experience, get the film.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    4. Re: "Soylent Green is people!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'm just lazy

    5. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      wait are you saying it's made OF people?

      I'm not sure. My pal Mitt told me Soylent Green is made of corporations.

    6. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by VortexCortex · · Score: 4, Funny

      Get over yourself,

      I tried that once. Turns out it's quite painful to apply the Many Worlds interpretation locally.

    7. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You want a truly great read, get the book. You want a horrible viewing experience, get the film.

      You want to make up your own mind instead of being told what to think by someone on the internet, do both.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    8. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You want a truly great read, get the book. You want a horrible viewing experience, get the film.

      You want to make up your own mind instead of being told what to think by someone on the internet, do both.

      For completeness:

      You don't care about it: do neither.

    9. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      The spoiler is: Soylent is cut with dog poop. High in nutrition, this substance is found everywhere. Dogs gobble it up like bon bons.
      All natural, this, is the secret ingredient in Solyent.

      Soylent Brown is poooooodle

    10. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by synaptik · · Score: 5, Funny

      My pal Mitt told me Soylent Green is made of corporations.

      No, that would be Torgo's Executive Powder.

      --
      HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
      NO CARRIER
    11. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by slapout · · Score: 1, Informative

      You want a horrible viewing experience, get the film.

      The fact the the "SyFy" channel is still on the air proves that some people do want a horrible viewing experience!

      --
      Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
    12. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by LoRdTAW · · Score: 1

      Its good to see that Torgo finally caught a break and moved up from being a servant to the Master.

    13. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by Mashdar · · Score: 1

      You can't read: never mind.

    14. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Makes me think of Soylent Green.

      Thank you, Chris Griffen.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    15. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by StingyJack · · Score: 1

      You want a horrible viewing experience, get the film.

      The fact the the "SyFy" channel is still on the air proves that some people do want a horrible viewing experience!

      Also, Uwe Boll is still making movies.

    16. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by Sporkinum · · Score: 1

      He delivered pizzas for a while.

      --
      "He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
    17. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      A college "friend" shouted the spoiler line as a group of us were headed to see the movie. Then she turned and asked, "You've all seen the movie, right?" Very poor order of operations.

    18. Re: "Soylent Green is people!" by fplatten · · Score: 1

      Hey, the kindle version is only $8.99! Harry Harrison died in 2012. Glad to see that an eBook which costs nothing to produce and written 47 years ago is still making money for someone. Too bad they can only make money for another 68 years. Public domain is just thievery.

    19. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by turp182 · · Score: 1

      Sol's euthanasia scene is a classic in cinema (the visuals and the music - awesome and chilling - to see the beauty of what once was, to realize what now is, and to realize that all experience is now ending (as a conscious act); and the music was incredible). The rest is standard 1970s film making, but also a decent if not good environmental film, for its time.

      Keep in mind when it was made.

      I haven't read the book, didn't even know what it was based on (obviously a loose adaptation if Soylent Green was not people). I will have to check that out.

      Did you like Logan's Run? Similar time (1976 vs Soylent's 1973) and message, both awesome in my opinion to this day.

      Some movies I have nostalgia for are terrible, an example is True Genius. Terrible 1980s filming and some of the worst acting I've ever seen.

      --
      BlameBillCosby.com
    20. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by wwphx · · Score: 1

      if you weren't rich.

      You want a truly great read, get the book. You want a horrible viewing experience, get the film.

      Totally OT, but by film club in Phoenix showed this at a member's house a year or two ago. I'm pretty sure it was on BluRay, and the guy's TV was a massive 5' screen. And it was too damn sharp. It was so bright and crisp, that it looked like a Made For TV movie, not at all the experience that I remember when I saw it on film or tape.

      --
      When you sympathize with stupidity, you start thinking like an idiot.
    21. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      it's been 40 years since that film was released

      It's nearly 50 years since the book was written, which (IMHO) is far superior to the film.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    22. Re:"Soylent Green is people!" by no1nose · · Score: 1

      Of People. By People. For People.

  3. Just stay away from the Green label by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just stay away from the Green label

    1. Re:Just stay away from the Green label by thesameguy · · Score: 1

      Indeed. You'll want to stick with Amber as long as possible.

      Because Soylent Green is PEOPLE. IT'S PEOPLE I TELL YOU!

  4. Read what ARS technica wrote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It was a 5 part series and was really interesting. Overall, they had a positive view of Soylent after you get past the first 2 days of stomach cramps

    1. Re:Read what ARS technica wrote by davester666 · · Score: 1

      That is straight out of a torture manual.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    2. Re:Read what ARS technica wrote by Barny · · Score: 1

      Just hope you never get a GI disorder, cramps will be the least painful thing you have to deal with.

      --
      ...
      /me sighs
  5. "post-food consumers" by secretvampire · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Considering that good food and cooking are some of the great pleasures in life, no thanks! I find the concept pretty depressing, actually.

    1. Re:"post-food consumers" by neonmonk · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You don't have to replace your entire diet with Soylent.

    2. Re:"post-food consumers" by secretvampire · · Score: 1

      Okay. I get kinda miffed when I waste a meal on what turns out to be shitty food. I am pretty sure this stuff would fall into that category.

    3. Re:"post-food consumers" by PapayaSF · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Indeed. I think this might work as an emergency ration, or perhaps a diet regimen, but I'm not seeing the attraction otherwise.

      It also makes me think about something I read decades ago. Supposedly a scientist extracted every known vitamin and nutrient from rat chow, and fed it to rats, leaving out the leftover "non-nutrients." Eventually the rats sickened and died. The lesson of this, as told by the nutrition types I heard it from, was that we have not identified all necessary vitamins and nutrients in foods, so it's risky to think you can make fully nutritious artificial food.

      But I just finished a 12-hour work day, so I'll leave it to someone else to track down a reference.

      --
      Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
    4. Re:"post-food consumers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Most meals are just an inconvenience.

    5. Re:"post-food consumers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You don't have to replace your entire diet with Soylent.

      So its kinda like Slim Fast.

    6. Re:"post-food consumers" by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

      Considering that good food and cooking are some of the great pleasures in life, no thanks! I find the concept pretty depressing, actually.

      I'm not sure why anybody would attempt to live on this stuff (though cooking is an arduous chore, so I suppose it does avoid that); but it seems like it has a fairly compelling use-case as an equally convenient alternative to far less benignly constructed convenience foods. Microwave TV dinners are almost as joyless and probably kill you faster.

    7. Re:"post-food consumers" by dbIII · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That lesson was learnt by the British Navy before lime juice, and by some Arctic explorers almost just over a century ago (Karluk). State of the art diets let to deficiency problems that seemingly random fresh food could fix (eg. seal blubber and offel). The state of the art have moved on a lot, many things have been identified since the Karluk and surely many things since the rat experiment, but the true test is seeing if the state of the art diet really does perform in an experiment.

    8. Re:"post-food consumers" by dryeo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Cheap food for prisons?

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    9. Re:"post-food consumers" by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think prisons already have nutriloaf, which they value for its combination of penal and nutritive(ish) qualities. The courts keep going back and forth on the 8th amendment suitability of that one...

    10. Re: "post-food consumers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a different AC who can cook quite well, and considers cooking a rather major and serious hobby with considerable cumulative time and effort investments: I agree most meals are an inconvenience. While I cook most of my dinners from scratch, quite often breakfasts and lunches are more about fitting into a schedule,often lacking time, equipment and space to make a properly cooked meal. Unless you want to precook something specific to that meal, or take a decent chunk out of your lunch time to prepare something (even though I can prepare a decent dinner in 15 minutes, that would be a large fraction of my lunch time, and the entirety of my breakfast time), you end up with either leftovers or paying someone a lot more to get something decent, quick, and healthy.

      If I had the option to replace a meal with a 5 minute drink, I would frequently exercise it for meals, because eating well is not the only pleasure in life and cooking is not my only hobby. I would rather get back to working on other interesting projects during the day, and even possibly get home earlier to have more time to concentrate on making a single nice meal, then spreading time over three meals.

      I don't view every meal that I don't cook as a wasted opportunity, because sometimes the compromise is letting me make gains elsewhere, and I'm not trying to maximize every meal at the expense of any other priority or preference. I also don't consider every glass of water I drink to be a missed opportunity to drink something more interesting or better. I don't consider every packaged program I install to be a missed opportunity to program my own, nor would I question someone else's interest or skill in programming because they choose some packaged programs over doing everything from scratch.

    11. Re: "post-food consumers" by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I can cook better than most, borderline cooking show good. Meals are still an inconvenience. I look forward to a cure for sleep, and a cure for meals.

    12. Re:"post-food consumers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So, add appropriate amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber to the mix... it would even be easy enough to give flexibility in the ratio of the two to adjust to your system and diet's needs, like many people already do with fiber products.

    13. Re:"post-food consumers" by hodagacz · · Score: 2

      In your opinion. I really don't care what stuff tastes like because I'm partially anosmic (adult onset) reducing my sense of smell and taste so everything tastes like dirt if it has any kind of strong flavors.

      Even before that I wasn't crazy about eating for flavors so it didn't bother me that much.

    14. Re:"post-food consumers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So have you never made a meal choice out of convenience because you sometimes have other priorities? Does your entire life revolve around making every meal the best possible, or do you sometimes save time or other resources to put toward other pursuits?

    15. Re:"post-food consumers" by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's the impression I got, except with a much broader range of nutrients, a full selection of calories, and no crappy artificial flavors.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    16. Re:"post-food consumers" by AK+Marc · · Score: 3, Informative

      Seems they make this from processed food, not from extracted nutrients. Calories, protein, and vitamins weren't assembled into this, but whole-food was "optimized", but still includes the slop that makes up food.

    17. Re:"post-food consumers" by Immerman · · Score: 1

      I could see the appeal of a meal or two a day this way, especially if you blended it in with some fruit or something to make it tasty. I often eat meals simply to fuel my body, a quick shake would be a lot less of an interruption, and thus leave me more time to cook later when I'm actually in the mood to sit down and enjoy my food.

      Not to mention I'd probably be getting a much healthier and more balanced diet than is often the case, no doubt my body would like that.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    18. Re:"post-food consumers" by Immerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, I wouldn't care to be one of those gambling my health on the foodless diet, but I could certainly see the appeal of using this for a meal or two a day - it's likely more nutritionally complete than anything I normally eat, even if it's missing trace stuff. Hopefully he can get the price down to something more reasonable though - I mean a few bucks a serving? I can cook up a %$#@! awesome spread for that and be eating delicious, nutritious leftovers all week to defray the prep time.

      I could also see this being a valuable asset for food-assistance programs of all kinds - dry, stable, almost flavorless powder that could be used as either a shake or an ingredient, and provides the most complete nutrition science can recommend? Where's the down side?

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    19. Re:"post-food consumers" by zazzel · · Score: 1, Troll

      Then I don't have to replace ANY meal with it. If "soylent" is just a combination of nutrients and Joules (or calories, for the backward food crowd), then why would I waste my time with it? My average diet of varied, tasty meals is more than enough to keep me happy and healthy. I enjoy eating and cooking!

      Maybe Wal-Mart will happily sell it (In their non-food section?). Whole Foods probably won't.

      It is still inconceivable to me how anyone would forgo the pleasures of good food, given the fact that we don't have much time on earth to enjoy it anyway.

    20. Re:"post-food consumers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      (or calories, for the backward food crowd)

      might as well stop complaining. food calories are here to stay. and there's a good reason to use a different unit to be clear about
      how the energy is measured. it's not really the available energy. from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_energy

      Conventional food energy is based on heats of combustion in a bomb calorimeter and corrections that take into consideration the efficiency of digestion and absorption and the production of urea and other substances in the urine.

    21. Re:"post-food consumers" by nukenerd · · Score: 1
      Neonmonk wrote :-

      You don't have to replace your entire diet with Soylent.

      Of course you don't. But then it ceases to be news, it's just another food alongside others.

      But this is newsworthy because this guy is replacing his entire diet diet with this stuff, and recommending others do so too. That's serious (and scary).

    22. Re:"post-food consumers" by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      I do too. That said I can see a situation where it'd be useful to have something that's easy to prepare lying around for those days you just don't have the time and energy to prepare something reasonable and carrying round needs-to-be-kept-frozen needs-a-microwave food isn't an option.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    23. Re: "post-food consumers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Bullshit. 2 eggs on a tortilla wrap with salsa, a glass of water, medicine and checked the blackberry in about 5 1/2 minutes this morning. Hell, you can throw yogurt and fruit in a blender and get a smoothie in less than 2 minutes, including rinsing the blender. Toast and jam? Terribly hard to make; no longer than a cup of coffee. How long does it take to put together a reasonably healthy sandwich? You don't have to wait for the dough to rise. People do that for you. Apparently, you can't cook well; you can cook fancy. In fact, there are all sorts of things you can just toss in a crock pot and magically turn into breakfast, taste good and are nutritious.

    24. Re:"post-food consumers" by citizenr · · Score: 1

      Considering that good food and cooking are some of the great pleasures in life

      Said every fat man on earth.

      --
      Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
    25. Re:"post-food consumers" by stranger_to_himself · · Score: 1

      So, add appropriate amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber to the mix... it would even be easy enough to give flexibility in the ratio of the two to adjust to your system and diet's needs, like many people already do with fiber products.

      There's also now evidence that the action of chewing is important for maintaining cerebral blood flow. I guess you could also add a stick of chewing gum but the point is that the human body is a very complex system and its not obvious what the consequences of trying to replace the function of one part of it are. The whole process of eating probably has other important effects that we don't understand.

    26. Re:"post-food consumers" by neilo_1701D · · Score: 1

      Supposedly a scientist extracted every known vitamin and nutrient from rat chow, and fed it to rats, leaving out the leftover "non-nutrients." Eventually the rats sickened and died. The lesson of this, as told by the nutrition types I heard it from, was that we have not identified all necessary vitamins and nutrients in foods, so it's risky to think you can make fully nutritious artificial food.

      You've just identified the problem with multivitamin pills: The vitamins might be there, but all the other essential proteins, fats and acids that allow our bodies to process the vitamin aren't. So the vitamin is excreted. A good example is spinach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinach): although iron rich, the body can't readily get at the iron unless additional oxalic acid is present - say a serving or potatoes or pumpkin - to overcome the oxalate in the spinach. That's why we need to eat different vegetables together, so they can help release the essential nutrients.

    27. Re:"post-food consumers" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It would be useful for people who have trouble regulating their food intake. Due to various medical issues some times I forget to eat or eat too little, and sometimes I eat too much. The solution is carefully measured and balanced meals on a regular schedule, but that requires a lot of planning and effort. If there was a pill I could take once or twice a day that gave me everything I needed to live and kept me from feeling hungry that would be perfect.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    28. Re:"post-food consumers" by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Well, if it's actually nutritious, cheaper than other foods, and palatable, then I don't see any problem with this. We don't all have the time to prepare good meals for every meal. Sometimes we just want something healthy that we can prepare quickly. If it's healthier, cheaper, and tastes as good as instant oatmeal, it could be a good breakfast option. That doesn't mean I'd never want to eat prime rib ever again, but maybe I could afford to eat it more often if I could cover my basic nutrition with something like this. Currently, the only options are preparing a good tasting healthy meal, which often takes time, or eating pre-processed microwave dinners which aren't very healthy at all.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    29. Re:"post-food consumers" by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      Only if you treat them as such. I used to think the same, until I started to take time for and pay attention to every meal. It's worth it.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    30. Re:"post-food consumers" by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      If you forget to eat now, what's to stop you from forgetting to take your "food pill?"

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    31. Re:"post-food consumers" by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It's easier if you just need to take one or two a day, at set times.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    32. Re: "post-food consumers" by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

      I look forward to a cure for sleep, and a cure for meals.

      While I realize that some find the activity quite enjoyable, like a little oasis of peace from the usual busy day, I for one would add "a cure for having to go potty" to that list.

    33. Re:"post-food consumers" by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That lesson was learnt by the British Navy before lime juice, and by some Arctic explorers almost just over a century ago (Karluk). State of the art diets let to deficiency problems that seemingly random fresh food could fix (eg. seal blubber and offel).

      I don't know much about seal blubber (though I believe it, like many animal fats, has decent concentrations of important fatty acids), but the idea that offal would solve nutrition problems isn't weird at all. I'd hardly call it "random fresh food."

      Organ meats have high concentrations of lots of nutrients, since that's where a lot of specialized chemical stuff happens inside an animal. It's not surprising at all that -- particularly for mammals and things related to humans -- eating organ meats would provide a number of useful things that we need but which aren't found in decent concentrations elsewhere.

      Ask anyone from many traditional cultures around the world -- organ meats are often considered delicacies. For some reason in the past century or so, Americans and other Western cultures have started to develop an aversion to offal, but that's a recent and somewhat stupid development.

      Admittedly, the tastes and smells of organs can often be a little more unusual than your average steak. But with a little experience (and particularly with good recipes), they are quite delicious. We consume lots of things that taste weird or even bad the first time we encounter them (bitter foods like black coffee and beer come to mind), but because some of these foods have effects from consumption that are "useful" or at least desirable to us (coffee gives us "energy," beer gets us drunk), we get accustomed to flavors that are not often appealing at first.

      Many traditional cultures still view offal in the same way: it may seem a little unusual, but the nutrition is more than worth the initial "eww!" experience.

      More importantly, kids are exposed to these things at a young age (they are often even preferentially given to kids, because of their nutrition), so it doesn't seem "random," much less "weird" or "gross."

    34. Re:"post-food consumers" by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      It's easier if you just need to take one or two a day, at set times.

      Like eating lunch at noon and dinner around 7:30? That's pretty much my day, foodwise.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    35. Re:"post-food consumers" by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Considering that good food and cooking are some of the great pleasures in life, no thanks! I find the concept pretty depressing, actually.

      Ahh.. So you "live to eat", lucky you. "Eat to Live" folks are the target market for this product.

      Personally, I switch between "Eat to program" and "program to eat" depending on my mood and my interest in the current project myself..

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    36. Re:"post-food consumers" by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Most meals are just an inconvenience.

      So you are a "eat to live" type. This product is for you.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    37. Re:"post-food consumers" by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      You are absolutely right - there is almost no way they will get everything included, much less balanced out right. That said, I like that they are willing to throw their bodies at this stuff to see what happens... just like the British Navy, we'll probably learn something. Who knows? If enough people volunteer their health maybe they'll someday succeed. The difference between the Royal Navy - or the government in the Soylent story "Make Room, Make Room" - and this guy is that he isn't forcing anyone into his experiment.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    38. Re:"post-food consumers" by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      Buy a couple of acres of woodlands and some ammo :)

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    39. Re:"post-food consumers" by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      This isn't about a dietary recommendation so much as a supposed complete dietary replacement. Big difference. I can recommend you eat fresh citrus, I wouldn't recommend you subsist on it.

    40. Re:"post-food consumers" by Pope · · Score: 1

      A reminder: the first version of Soylent this guy made up and tried to live on for a week or so had NO iron. So he's not all that smart.

      --
      It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
    41. Re:"post-food consumers" by Sechr+Nibw · · Score: 1

      It's not intended as a diet plan, though that could be achieved through stricter (personal) regulation of how much you ingest. However, it does have a broader range of nutrients and calories, meaning that you can have a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a shake for dinner, instead of a sensible dinner. SlimFast aims at just replacing two meals a day. However, SlimFast is about $7 for 14 shakes (14 meal replacements), Soylent is $65 for "one week", 21 meals, though you scale the meal to how hungry you are, supposedly. Still, SlimFast is a bit cheaper, but it's been on the market for a lot longer, able to subsidize development and all.

    42. Re:"post-food consumers" by kilfarsnar · · Score: 1

      Considering that good food and cooking are some of the great pleasures in life, no thanks! I find the concept pretty depressing, actually.

      To each their own. I generally find eating to be an inconvenience. If I could just drink a shake instead of eating, it would be great for most meals. I'd still go out with friends, or for special occasions. But drinking this stuff rather than cooking at home would be great, assuming it really provides proper nutrition.

      --
      "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
    43. Re: "post-food consumers" by beerdragoon · · Score: 1

      I can also cook better than most and I love cooking. I also enjoy eating what I cook. What I hate doing is cleaning up after I cook.

    44. Re:"post-food consumers" by wiredlogic · · Score: 2

      I bet it's full of "chemicals" too. Probably loaded with DHMO.

      --
      I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
    45. Re:"post-food consumers" by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Long enough for what?

      As an individual I would propose that so long as you can maintain a nutrient-rich diet, it doesn't actually matter if your body somehow discards the ability to store nutrients for longer timeframes.

      And as a species on evolutionary timeframes, well if *everyone* did it that could be an issue if civilization collapses, but unless the ability to store nutrients well comes at some notable cost it's unlikely to rapidly disappear, it will only be that those individuals afflicted with such a mutation won't be winnowed from the population. You could even argue that with modern medicine they are unlikely to get winnowed out anyway.

      Also, it's worth noting that our diet is already far different than it was 200 or 2000 years ago, much less 20,000. You'd better believe that's having an effect on our species regardless - do you really think a "scientifically balanced diet" is going to do anything substantially worse?

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    46. Re: "post-food consumers" by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      I look forward to a cure for sleep.

      And miss out on my active dream life? Not me.

    47. Re:"post-food consumers" by BoberFett · · Score: 1

      It's hard to keep a well stocked refrigerator of food in your cubicle or vehicle, but keeping some pills or packets of powder ready in your desk drawer or glove box is pretty simple. I do the same with "breakfast bars" or whatever you want to call them.

    48. Re:"post-food consumers" by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      It's hard to keep a well stocked refrigerator of food in your cubicle or vehicle, but keeping some pills or packets of powder ready in your desk drawer or glove box is pretty simple. I do the same with "breakfast bars" or whatever you want to call them.

      Sounds like a good addition for the bug-out bag, assuming a sufficient calorie-per-gram ratio.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    49. Re:"post-food consumers" by jakimfett · · Score: 1

      You didn't read up on it, did you.

      --
      Bits of code, random ramblings: jakimfett.com
    50. Re: "post-food consumers" by halexists · · Score: 1

      I think you get that as an added benefit to the Soylent diet -- it's a 2 for 1.

      (That's a pun, because you're eating a liquid based diet without much refuse, so you exchange 2... for 1...)

    51. Re: "post-food consumers" by CycleMan · · Score: 1

      I for one would add "a cure for having to go potty" to that list.

      Yes. Cure/speed the bodily excretions, nose-blowing included. And add a fix for showering/grooming. Would like a Dyson device that I could walk thru once a day and get fully clean in 15 seconds. I spend the time cleaning myself, and I think cleanliness is valuable, but I would like to save the time and spend it on sleep, or something enjoyable of my choosing.

    52. Re:"post-food consumers" by wulfhere · · Score: 1

      You know how many people DHMO kills every year? Won't someone think of the children?

      --
      -- Sent from a computer.
    53. Re: "post-food consumers" by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      I look forward to a cure for sleep, and a cure for meals.

      While I realize that some find the activity quite enjoyable, like a little oasis of peace from the usual busy day, I for one would add "a cure for having to go potty" to that list.

      We have that cure already: death.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    54. Re:"post-food consumers" by The+Snowman · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I wouldn't care to be one of those gambling my health on the foodless diet...

      I did it for a few weeks with good results. Lost weight, increased energy, felt better overall. More information.

      --
      24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
    55. Re:"post-food consumers" by Immerman · · Score: 1

      A few weeks is unlikely to be gambling your health. Hell, you can live on McFood for that long without serious issues. But making the shift for months or years? That's when I'd bet we start discovering more needed micro-nutrients as well as the exact pitfalls of failing to ingest roughage and a good mix of microbial life. Hey, our cells are outnumbered 10:1 in our own bodies by microbes, mostly benign or symbiotic. You really want to bet that our health isn't influenced by the immigrant population?

      Should make for the subject of some vary interesting research projects - If I had any intention of getting off food I'd want to be partaking in such a study, regularly monitored by people specifically looking for any changes in a large population subjecting themselves to soylent.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    56. Re:"post-food consumers" by dryeo · · Score: 1

      That's sad but not surprising.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    57. Re:"post-food consumers" by Evtim · · Score: 1

      Excellent post!

      The only 3 times I have been sick from eating too much the food was: cherries, brain and liver. Man, those things are tasty. I don't dare tell you how I find such products in the Netherlands for the fear some random euro bureaucrat will decide "to do something about it". Truly, not only the westerners have issue [or so they think] with smell and eww factor, they have been told that it is potentially unhealthy to eat those organs.

      Sure it is dangerous - if you feed all kind of chemistry crap to the sheep don't give me their liver!!! Again, something good and useful is about to be taken from us in the name of [probably] profit [is there any other motive left in this society?]

    58. Re:"post-food consumers" by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I do too. That said I can see a situation where it'd be useful to have something that's easy to prepare lying around for those days you just don't have the time and energy to prepare something reasonable and carrying round needs-to-be-kept-frozen needs-a-microwave food isn't an option.

      Although, I believe the combination of population pressure, and loss of useable land will eventually have most humans eating some sort of greenish substance, no way can I imagine doing it voluntarily.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    59. Re: "post-food consumers" by doccus · · Score: 1

      Well, if we all get clean enough, then Soylent *can* eventually be "made out of people". But ids that the "green", or the "yellow"?

    60. Re:"post-food consumers" by Immerman · · Score: 1

      $10 will get you the ingredients for a whole pan of tasty, easy-to-make bachelor lasagne, call it nine generous slices at $1.11 each. Salad and garlic bread can be had for less than that. Call it $2 for the lot, and it blows the socks off a couple McQuarter-pounders and fries. Casseroles of all kinds can be made for the same or less, and often with even less effort. Crockpots are your friends - dried beans, rice, barley, etc are valuable dietary staples, and absorb the deliciousness leached into the broth from all the meat and vegetables they've been stewing with. Buy simple foods instead of things with an ingredient list and you'd be surprised just how far your dollar stretches.

      Oh, and if you eat a lot of bread, buy a bread machine. I know, seems all yuppie and silly, but those things pay for themselves in no time, and you'll gain a whole new appreciation for how bad sliced bread is. Five pounds of whole wheat flour, a cup of sugar, and three tablespoons of salt and you've got bread mix for months. 2C mix, 1C egg+water, 1-2T oil, 1-2t yeast - takes under a minute to load the bread machine and walk away.

      Most important thing if you have a palette acclimated to fast food/prepackaged stuff - herbs and spices. Lots of them. No, more than that. I shouldn't be able to *see* the meat/casserole/etc. though the crust of herbs on top. There you go. It'll be delicious, trust me. Personal favorites include basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, and dill weed. They combine well with each other in most any combination and ratios you like. Garlic and onion powder. Black pepper and salt. Crushed red chile peppers if you like a little zing (not chili powder, that's blended with a bunch of other stuff that brings a distinct Texas-style chili flavor that nobody wants on their roast chicken)

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    61. Re:"post-food consumers" by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Wow, seriously? I thought the southwest was about as bad as it got for fresh veggies. I guess not. How about cabbage? Always one of my staples - dirt cheap, keeps forever, and can be quite tasty if you're clever.

      Love that no-knead bread, though I've yet to find a recipe that doesn't make a huge mess. And it's nowhere near as convenient - I can start the bread machine and leave on errands knowing that I'll have a fresh loaf of unburnt bread when I get home without further intervention. Or better still I can leave out the egg and put it on a timer to be woken up by the smell of fresh bread baking. (Ah, the finer things in life) Plus it seems largely immune even to the curse of those unfortunate souls who can burn water.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    62. Re:"post-food consumers" by brando56894 · · Score: 1

      If you have enough time/energy/money to constantly eat good food/cook nice, healthy meals then good for you. Some one us can't/don't want to. I'm 28, I live by myself, and I live paycheck to paycheck. When I come home from work at 8 PM I don't want to spend 15-40 minutes cooking up something, also I'm a picky eater so that limits the "easy" meals that most people mention. A few days ago I went shopping for the first time in about 1.5 months and all I could afford to spend was about $75. Soylent is $3 a meal and gives you all the nutrients that you would need, it would most likely be healthier than any meal I could make myself since I'm not a great cook.

    63. Re:"post-food consumers" by brando56894 · · Score: 1

      Slim Fast is also disgusting. Beta testers of Soylent said isn't wasn't that tasty, but Rob has refined the taste and it's supposed to be "taste neutral" so you can flavor it yourself if you like. If I were to constantly drink any commercial "meal replacement" it would be Muscle Milk, I used to drink that stuff all the time in college either in the morning or during Adderall studying binges where I didn't want to stop studying to eat, or simply because I had no appetite to eat solid food but needed nutrition.

  6. Bachelor chow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    In the interview, it is also called bachelor chow. I think that would be a much better name. It's a convenient food alternative, instead of a dystopian horror story.

    1. Re:Bachelor chow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      First the Death Clock is stolen from Futurama (Metalocalypse). Now Bachelor Chow? Why did they cancel the show if everyone is getting so much influence from it?

  7. But How Does It Taste? by Greyfox · · Score: 5, Funny
    "It varies from person to person..."

    Yes, I stole that from Futurama

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:But How Does It Taste? by fodder69 · · Score: 1

      Eh, I'll wait until Bachelor Chow hits the market.

    2. Re:But How Does It Taste? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Soylent Corporations are People!

      ~ &* .;h`#` NO CARRIER

  8. Guy is a loon by RobinEggs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Go read his blog post about the "results" he experienced. He's giving the full-blown "I now have the body of a 12 year old and my brain increased in efficiency 400%" kind of crap under "qualitative". It's great to feel better after you start eating better, but unless his prior diet was >50% animal product and too much of it for his calorie needs, I'm calling bullshit.

    Under quantitative, apparently his blood work improved quite a bit. Yeah, your blood work tends to improve when you eat a simple vegan diet, and that's all soylent contains. Vegan ingredients with a 2 oz mix of fish and vegetable oil per day.

    I guess it's nice to have a supremely convenient and very healthy diet that makes you feel better, but he's laying it on pretty fucking thick. Not to mention you could create a diet of the same health benefits with maybe 15 raw ingredients. You could just put the shit in a blender if you wanted...

    1. Re:Guy is a loon by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      "I now have the body of a 12 year old

      I'm not sure that's an improvement over what I have now, and I'm balding.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:Guy is a loon by KingOfBLASH · · Score: 1

      It's called marketing for a reason. Nobody comes up with a new diet that you pay $$$$ for the food and says it makes them feel like crap.

    3. Re:Guy is a loon by purpledinoz · · Score: 1

      The placebo effect can be very strong. But I think it's a really interesting experiment. I can't believe this mix of powders doesn't already exist as a product. I can see this being a great meal replacement every so often, or maybe even as a breakfast routine. There have been many instances while traveling, where I wished I had a cheap healthy option to eat at the airport. It would be awesome to have some powder I can mix up and drink to hold me over until the next meal. Also, it might be also a great option to have in the plane itself, since it won't make you poop.

    4. Re:Guy is a loon by zwei2stein · · Score: 1

      You do NOT want to fiddle with white powder on airport, nor do you want to carry a bit of it on you when travelling.

      --
      -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
    5. Re:Guy is a loon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I agree 100%. I ordered a week's supply fairly soon after the crowdfunding campaign started, so I'm certainly someone who wants to see it succeed, but I've thought from the beginning that he's making the whole thing sound much crazier than it needs to by never shutting up about how he lives purely on Soylent, and now feels nigh-super-human as a result.

    6. Re:Guy is a loon by GNious · · Score: 1

      I've brought meal-replacement/-augment powders with me on travels, usually in a large plastic jar, usually off-white coloured powders.
      On XRays it looks like liquids, so always take it out of your carry-on (don't put it in your checked-in luggage).

      Best experience yet was in Poland, where an officer opened the jar and sniffed it - I had to bite down on my lip to keep from laughing out loud from the look on his face (it smells...bad'ish), though I'm sure he noticed I found it amusing. He proceeded to ask me to taste it, to indicate that it was indeed edible, which I did.

    7. Re:Guy is a loon by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

      I now have the body of a 12 year old

      That's not cool. Let the parents have some closure.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    8. Re:Guy is a loon by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Yeah Awaits sales pitch from Dr Gillian McKeith http://www.badscience.net/cate...

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    9. Re:Guy is a loon by shikaisi · · Score: 1

      "I now have the body of a 12 year old ...

      Well he shoud give it back.

      --
      No left turn unstoned.
    10. Re:Guy is a loon by RivenAleem · · Score: 2

      I read that as "The body of a 12-year old" as being one of the ingredients.

    11. Re:Guy is a loon by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Go read his blog post about the "results" he experienced. He's giving the full-blown "I now have the body of a 12 year old and my brain increased in efficiency 400%" kind of crap under "qualitative". It's great to feel better after you start eating better, but unless his prior diet was >50% animal product and too much of it for his calorie needs, I'm calling bullshit.

      Yeah, maybe for an AB, but not for an O. If I don't eat meat I feel like crap. If I eat nothing but meat I feel amazing, bounce out of bed the next day and take a perfect shit. This whole idea that one diet fits all is idiocy by and for idiots.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re: Guy is a loon by shiruba3094 · · Score: 1

      The idea that your diet should be affected by your blood type is more silly. Basically speaking, meat is bad for you. Then again, how your body reacts to food has a lot to do with what you are used to eating.

    13. Re:Guy is a loon by citizenr · · Score: 1

      Go read his blog post about the "results" he experienced. He's giving the full-blown "I now have the body of a 12 year old

      Well, have you seen his picture? He does look like a 12 year old boy from the neck down.

      --
      Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
    14. Re:Guy is a loon by rmstar · · Score: 1

      Here is a good takedown: http://www.priceplow.com/blog/... . From the link:

      We find it unnerving (but not surprising) that somebody with zero background in health, fitness, or nutrition is leading a cadre of lemmings to near-certain long-term trouble.

    15. Re:Guy is a loon by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 2

      Agreed, and it occurs to me that he might be manic from some kind of nutrient deficiency.

      It could also just be that he was fat and lost the weight. That does feel like a super-power until you get used to the new normal.

    16. Re: Guy is a loon by geekoid · · Score: 1

      no, too much meat is bad for you. Meat is a good source of protein and fats. Really, you need about 5 z. a day.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    17. Re:Guy is a loon by geekoid · · Score: 1

      "Yeah, maybe for an AB, but not for an O."
      sigh. That's complete bull crap.
      http://www.skepdic.com/bloodty...

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    18. Re:Guy is a loon by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      I never had a happy youth.

      Had one or two miserable ones, though.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  9. Re:Space Food by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did that years ago. Much less drama in your life that way, and way cheaper.

  10. Perfect for conspiracy theorists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Conspiracy theorists and alternative medicine freaks are a lucrative market, there was no way this could have failed.

  11. Yeah... by The_Star_Child · · Score: 1

    No thanks.

  12. Just had a meal by vikingpower · · Score: 5, Insightful
    1) French onion soup with croûtons and cheese

    2) Steak ( bloody ) in green pepper sauce, no potatoes or whatever side dish

    3) "Mohr im Hemd" ( Austrian chocolate dessert )

    accompanied by Rhine wine. How does that compare to slurping some soylent ? The table conversation ? The joy of eating ? I simply don't get it, what the fun of soylent could be. Must be me.

    --
    Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
    1. Re:Just had a meal by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 1

      I certainly don't see the fun of soylent; but I bet the amount of shopping and prep work is a lot lower, which can be a perk.

    2. Re:Just had a meal by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Informative

      The point is, you don't have to spend time cooking and cleaning, don't have to worry whether you're getting the right nutrients, and you can spend time focusing on things you enjoy more. Most people aren't eating Mohr im Hemd every day, and a lot of us are eating mediocre, self-cooked stuff.

      This isn't for the special occasion, nice, weekend meals; this is for the every-day-grind food.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re:Just had a meal by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      it has the nutritional value of drinking a cup of fat

      Which actually has high nutritional value (depending on the type of fat).

      Fat is a necessary and important macro-nutrient, the problems come when you eat too much of it at the exclusion of other nutrients.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    4. Re:Just had a meal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Here, we got you an annual supply of Soylent to drink so you don't have to worry about packing lunches or preparing any meals at all. You're welcome. Now get back to work, slav.. I mean.. valued employee!

    5. Re:Just had a meal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's fast to take, you don't need to spent upward to an hour to cook, so it's great if you're busy.

      It makes things like "proper" meal into special occasion, you get to enjoy that proper food even more as well with a richer taste due to you not consuming anything of the sort for a while.

      This is mostly aimed for single people for now I guess. Though quite frankly, we don't speak at the table here, it's considered impolite.

    6. Re:Just had a meal by mysidia · · Score: 1

      This isn't for the special occasion, nice, weekend meals; this is for the every-day-grind food.

      So go to McDonald's every day and order a McSoylent, instead of the daily Big Mac and friesr? :)

    7. Re:Just had a meal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Is there anything more enjoyable than tasty food? (except maybe sex, for me is a tie)

    8. Re:Just had a meal by hodagacz · · Score: 1

      It is you.

    9. Re:Just had a meal by hey! · · Score: 1

      My supper was red beans (cooked with tomato, onion, pepper, garlic, spices, hot sauce and ham stock) with rice, and hummus with vegetable spears. The hummus was store bought and the beans were canned, so the meal took me about 20 minutes to cook.

      I had no dessert, instead I had an ounce or so of calvados (French brandy made from cider).

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    10. Re:Just had a meal by Trepidity · · Score: 1

      Yeah but you could already do that if you wanted to. Meal-replacement liquid diets aren't exactly a new thing; your local supermarket or CVS probably sells Ensure.

    11. Re:Just had a meal by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Ensure isn't something you can eat all the time though, soon you'll feel kind of lousy (don't ask me how I know).

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re:Just had a meal by RR · · Score: 1

      This isn't for the special occasion, nice, weekend meals; this is for the every-day-grind food.

      So go to McDonald's every day and order a McSoylent, instead of the daily Big Mac and friesr? :)

      Given McDonald's corporate history, I wouldn't count on it to provide a healthy McSoylent, instead of the over-flavored slop that they usually sell. Soylent is supposed to be the convenience without the coronary heart disease.

      --
      Have a nice time.
    13. Re:Just had a meal by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      I cook my own curries. Make up a base sauce with your favourite mix of spices, onions, and tinned tomato, and freeze it in individual portions. Unfreeze, heat, and add meat and / or extras for different curries: Cream and a little extra diced chilli for masala; Cream, sugar, and coconut for korma; Fresh quartered tomatoes and tomato puree for bhuna; Bell peppers and a little cream for jalfrezi. Granted they won't be authentic or as good as fresh-cooked to recipe, but they're sufficiently different to be interesting and won't take a couple of hours of prep and marinade to make.

      The whole lot is ready in the time it takes to boil the rice.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    14. Re:Just had a meal by c · · Score: 1

      How does that compare to slurping some soylent ?

      People are weird. Really, really weird.

      I've known people who consider eating little more than a chore of cramming calories into their gut, and would probably go for something like this at least two meals of the day.

      I've also known people who prefer heavily processed foods because of a sense that there's more consistent quality control. Seriously. One guy flat out said he preferred to go to McDonalds where he knew the staff couldn't mess with his burger than eat the shawarma the guy at the Lebanese restaurant a few doors down makes every day, because "who knows what he might be doing behind that counter? What if he's not washing his hands?"

      --
      Log in or piss off.
    15. Re:Just had a meal by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      I've known people who consider eating little more than a chore of cramming calories into their gut, and would probably go for something like this at least two meals of the day.

      Have they never met bacon?

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    16. Re:Just had a meal by Mashdar · · Score: 2

      You're missing the point that many people are incapable of generating tasty food and cannot afford to purchase pre-made food on a daily basis. Besides which, GGP's meal sounds like a fucking heart attack waiting to happen.

    17. Re:Just had a meal by c · · Score: 1

      Have they never met bacon?

      Which part of "People are weird. Really, really weird." did you miss?

      --
      Log in or piss off.
    18. Re:Just had a meal by Cl1mh4224rd · · Score: 1

      The table conversation ?

      I'm convinced that meal-time conversation only exists to cover up the disgusting sounds people make while eating. Besides, not having to spend time eating frees everyone up for a longer and less distracted conversation in a more comfortable environment.

      The joy of eating ?

      I'll admit that I enjoy tasty food to an extent, but personally, if I didn't have to eat, I wouldn't.

      --
      People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
    19. Re:Just had a meal by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Have they never met bacon?

      Which part of "People are weird. Really, really weird." did you miss?

      Perhaps I should rephrase:

      Are they weird because they've never met bacon, or are they weird because they don't like bacon?

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    20. Re:Just had a meal by akpak · · Score: 1

      That sounds great... For dinner, when you have the time to enjoy it. I doubt too many people have that kind of luxury of time for breakfast or lunch. I don't think anyone's seriously considering making Soylent their only "food." But as a meal replacement, it beats the hell out of things like SlimFast for taste and nutritional value.

    21. Re:Just had a meal by Valdrax · · Score: 1

      How does that compare to slurping some soylent ? The table conversation ? The joy of eating ? I simply don't get it, what the fun of soylent could be. Must be me.

      That sounds delicious and either time-consuming or expensive (possibly both). Soylent is neither time-consuming nor expensive, and many of us simply don't have time to cook or money to eat out, much less time to socialize over every single meal, including breakfast and lunch.

      I enjoy food when I get the chance to enjoy it. Most meals, though, are exercises in getting sufficient nutrition to live within my budget without making me late to work or making me have to stay longer. I plan to use Soylent to replace non-dinner meals, so that I can spend more of my life on things I enjoy. Heck, if Soylent frees up enough time, I may actually get a chance to cook *more* in the evenings instead of just shoveling down pre-processed crap because I'm busy.

      Also, there's the nutrition angle. Soylent may not be as good as a whole, prepared meal, but it's a hell of a lot better than what I eat for breakfast (nothing most days) and lunch (whatever restaurants I can get in and out of in under 15 minutes).

      --
      If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
    22. Re:Just had a meal by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      This whole "every day grind" people keep talking about" is nonsense I refuse to take part in. I would rather be homeless than participate in such "employment". If you're a slave set yourself free. The system is set up so you must indenture yourself.

      The 'every day grind' in discussion here is eating, cooking, and cleaning. You can try to set yourself free, but you'll either get very hungry or have paper plates.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    23. Re:Just had a meal by c · · Score: 1

      Are they weird because they've never met bacon, or are they weird because they don't like bacon?

      Most likely because they don't like bacon enough, but trying to understand the motives of anti-bacon people is futile. I mean, can you believe that there are people who don't eat bacon simply because they heard that some dude in the sky tells them they're not allowed to eat it? Madness. And don't even get me started on vegetarians and other health nuts...

      --
      Log in or piss off.
    24. Re:Just had a meal by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      I mean, can you believe that there are people who don't eat bacon simply because they heard that some dude in the sky tells them they're not allowed to eat it? Madness.

      Right?? What gets me is when they try to explain their rationale:

      "Pigs are filthy creatures."

      What, you don't wash your food before you eat it? WTF man? Besides, the dirt is on the outside; bacon comes from the inside!

      And don't even get me started on vegetarians and other health nuts...

      I started on a vegan once... couldn't finish. Like the free bread at an Italian joint, you tend to fill up on them pretty quick.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  13. Ambers are people too by davidwr · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Amber? are people too.

    Do you know what else came in green and amber? 1970s/1980s monochrome computer monitors. Yes, I'm a nerd. But this is Slashdot, so you already knew that.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  14. Soylent Grey is really _____ ! by bussdriver · · Score: 1

    It's not green, so it doesn't have people in it yet. So what secret will we discover is the ingredient in Soylent Grey?

    1. Re:Soylent Grey is really _____ ! by Jeremi · · Score: 2

      It's not green, so it doesn't have people in it yet.

      I'm pretty sure the people-based version would taste better.

      So what secret will we discover is the ingredient in Soylent Grey?

      I'm not sure, but I think this is the stuff they were eating aboard ship in 'The Matrix'.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re:Soylent Grey is really _____ ! by shortscruffydave · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's not green, so it doesn't have people in it yet. So what secret will we discover is the ingredient in Soylent Grey?

      Old people

    3. Re:Soylent Grey is really _____ ! by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Probably tastes like bacon, since most people are pigs.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  15. Re:Space Food by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 2

    Food isn't supposed to cause that much drama.

    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
  16. Here's a question... why? by FuzzNugget · · Score: 2

    Why would you never want to eat food again? I enjoy food. Taste is a sensation essential to enjoying life. Our bodies are made to naturally consume nutrients in the form of *food*, not powder.

    You know why you get stomach cramps for a few days with this stuff? Because it's basically the same idea behind feeding tubes for patients who are unable to process food. I can tell you from personal experience that it's pretty miserable.

    I can understand the use of this stuff for a malnourished population or maybe a field military operation where supplies are rationed and space is tight, but as some fashionable movement to create the "post-food man"? Why would you do that to yourself and deny yourself the essential pleasure of eating?

    1. Re:Here's a question... why? by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 1

      "Why would you do that to yourself and deny yourself the essential pleasure of eating?"

      Not everyone is a foodie. Me, for instance. I consider eating to be a hassle and something that just gets in the way of other more interesting things. If I could do away sleeping as well, all the better.

      Having said that I doubt I could do this 100% of the time.

      --
      http://www.rootstrikers.org/
    2. Re:Here's a question... why? by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 1

      Why would you never want to eat food again?

      Because I don't care about food, never did, and I have a handful of minor medical issues which might be fixed by eating soylent?

      Because Soylent costs about half as much as regular food?

      Because drinking Soylent takes 5 min, while making and eating a meal (best case scenario) takes a half an our of preparation and fifteen minutes of cleanup?

      Because Soylent requires no time spent shopping, and no refrigeration needed, while the alternative takes a 2-hour trip to the supermarket each week?

      Is it so hard to believe that some people think that these benefits outweigh the alternatives?

    3. Re:Here's a question... why? by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Why would you never want to eat food again? I enjoy food.

      This is a false dilemma......this isn't a replacement for delicious food, it's a replacement for crappy food you cook yourself when you don't have time. It doesn't prevent you from eating delicious food whenever you can (and want) to get it.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    4. Re:Here's a question... why? by physicsphairy · · Score: 1

      Food which provides all nutrients homogeneously is apparently used as punishment in prisons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...

      However, while it doesn't exactly sound enticing to me, I could actually see eating Soylent. I love to cook, but I've had a pretty demanding academic curriculum which not only makes cooking difficult, but sometimes it's hard even to remember to eat anything besides snacks. The days and work just kind of blend together. Also, I've taken up bodybuilding, and the recommended diet winds up being difficult and fairly monotonous anyway. I wind up eating an awful lot of chicken breast with some kind of vegetable side.

      If I could just munch on some soylent during the week and treat myself to a full and delicious meal on the weekend, that would not be a bad arrangement.

    5. Re:Here's a question... why? by Eskarel · · Score: 2

      You think you don't care about food, but when you've had nothing but tasteless sludge for a month or so you'll most likely realize that you actually do care about food. You care about texture, you care about taste, you care about the things that the act of eating does to your body. Maybe not a lot, but at least a little.

    6. Re:Here's a question... why? by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 1

      You think you don't care about food, but when you've had nothing but tasteless sludge for a month or so you'll most likely realize that you actually do care about food. You care about texture, you care about taste, you care about the things that the act of eating does to your body. Maybe not a lot, but at least a little.

      Wow, you know more about me than I do.

      Here's some info: not only don't I care about food, I don't even *taste* food except in extremely broad categories. Mashed potatoes and veggies and non-beef meat all taste the same to me, I can only distinguish between them by texture (and other attributes, such as "crunchy"). All coffee tastes the same, all wines of specific classes taste the same, and I can't tell the difference between most beers, or between liqueurs.

      Not only do I dream in black & white, I *remember* things in black & white. I can recognize colors when I see them, but it doesn't go into memory. If I don't mentally label things with their colors as a separate fact, as in "John owns a blue car", I'll have no recollection of what color something is.

      Tell me again what I'll be missing in a month. It sounds interesting.

    7. Re:Here's a question... why? by ApplePy · · Score: 1

      That is all so... sad.

      Everything runs on energy, us included, and we have to fuel up. It's not optional. It's going to take up a certain amount of our time.

      I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to substitute real food for fast food, let alone this liquid-diet nonsense.

      Hell, we really have adjusted misery down, haven't we? Once, it took ALL of our time to stay fed. Now the occasional trip to the store and a bit of chopping and cooking are too much for some lazy twats. Get a grip.

      Why not just hook up an IV for nutrients, a catheter, a bedpan, and your virtual reality goggles... and just become a being of pure experiencing? Maybe you could upload your brain, a la "Lawnmower Man" so the real humans around you won't have to listen to how terrible life is for you any more. Won't it be great to not be inconvenienced by breathing and the occasional bladder-voiding?

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    8. Re:Here's a question... why? by Kuroji · · Score: 1

      Don't discount the psychological factors. Besides, in jail/prison, people are deprived of most stimulation that the public in general takes for granted. Meal time is one of the few sources of stimulation that is harder to take away.

      Also, that crap isn't smoothly blended. It's chunks of crap compressed into a loaf and baked, it's like taking your average dinner and throwing it into a blender for maybe ten seconds. At least soylent actually is homogeneous. You can't honestly tell me that you think it's an appetizing idea to take a chicken breast, biscuit, and a couple of veggie sides, then blend it and bake it.

    9. Re:Here's a question... why? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      If I don't mentally label things with their colors as a separate fact, as in "John owns a blue car", I'll have no recollection of what color something is.

      I can verify this. John owns a red car.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    10. Re:Here's a question... why? by rhazz · · Score: 1

      Exactly this. I eat the same meal for breakfast every day (bowl of Shreddies). I do enjoy it, but mostly because it is my morning ritual. Beyond that, I find eating is a chore. I vary my intake for dinners to ensure I'm getting a diverse set of nutrients (plus a vitamin supplement), but I find it all rather tasteless and it is just something I do to stay healthy. If I am already not enjoying eating a meal, it might as well be made more convenient by eating it as a slurry of nutrients in a convenient package.

      Why would you never want to again? I enjoy .

      FTFY. Different strokes for different folks, obviously.

    11. Re:Here's a question... why? by rhazz · · Score: 1
      ugh, didn't notice bracket contents were stripped:

      Why would you never want to [random_activity] again? I enjoy [random activity].

      FTFY. Different strokes for different folks, obviously.

    12. Re:Here's a question... why? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Man, wouldn't it be awesome to get rid of sleep?

      As for food, meal replacment drink already exist; so you could be doing that right now.

      I like food; meaning I get quite the dopamine rush from good food.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    13. Re:Here's a question... why? by akpak · · Score: 1

      You've missed the part where it doesn't have to be tasteless. It's tasteless baseline so you *can* add your own flavoring. Fruit, honey, whatever you want. Blend it with ice cream if you want to.

    14. Re:Here's a question... why? by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      Then what precisely is the point of it?

    15. Re:Here's a question... why? by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      If OP is not lying through his teeth he 100% has a medical issue. He's talking about having one of his core senses basically not functioning at all, that's a medical issue.

    16. Re:Here's a question... why? by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      Even if what you're saying is true, then for one texture, for another actually using your jaw muscles. Not having the reasonably severe gastro intestinal problems that are associated with tube feeding.

      On another note, if you really are completely unable to use one of your five senses I'd suggest you see a doctor about it, it could be a symptom of something serious and even if it's not you might enjoy life a little more if you got it fixed.

    17. Re:Here's a question... why? by JThundley · · Score: 1

      Newsflash: Not everyone likes the same things you do. I don't care for eating and I can't cook. Sure there's a lot of food that tastes good, but I could live without. To me, eating is like peeing: it's something I have to do to stay alive. If I was offered the choice to never have to eat or piss again, I'd take it. I'd love to drink the same thing every day and get the perfect mix of what my body needs. I also get much more pleasure from other activities, which I would have more time for. I just hope that Soylent really is as perfect as it's creator says it is.

    18. Re:Here's a question... why? by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      It's not about not being able to drink plain water, it's about how insane you'd go if you ate nothing but plain water for the rest of your life.

      On top of that, once you've taken all this crap, processed it and dried it into a powder, shipped it across the country and then left it in your cupboard for a while, does it still have all those nutrients? Are they delivered in a more effective manner than vitamin pills(which are largely useless)? How do you ensure you're not getting too much of something? The guy in question even seems to have health problems associated with it, ones which seem to match the ones associated with tube feeding in general.

      TL;DR; Even if it works, a longer life at what cost? There's evidence that castration will vastly increase your lifespan too, but I'm not lining up.

  17. body of a 12 year old??? Re:Guy is a loon by davidwr · · Score: 1

    I now have the body of a 12 year old

    So his voice is about to crack, he's skinny, and no woman would dare date him for fear of going to prison? What adult wants that?

    Yeah, 12 was kind of fun when the bullies weren't around, but even if I had a magic wand I wouldn't want to revisit that age again, at least not for more than a few days.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:body of a 12 year old??? Re:Guy is a loon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      if he is a geek then dating is not something he is going to experience any time soon.

    2. Re:body of a 12 year old??? Re:Guy is a loon by larry+bagina · · Score: 1

      And the penis of a 12-year-old. That part is fairly believable if there are too many phyto-estrogens which are known to shrink your junk.

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  18. Possibly good for you by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 2

    There's the remote possibility that eating soylent might be good for you.

    If you look into nutrition studies, you find lots of little anecdote studies (meaning: one-off scientific studies) that look like a small piece of a larger puzzle. Beef and chicken contain antibiotics which can trigger mild allergic reactions, glutin (from wheat) is a mild poison made by the plant to discourage predators, bread is now made with Bromine instead of Iodine (which the body needs)...

    There's just a zillion different ways in which our diet is non-optimal, and a zillion little ailments with no known cause.

    (Vitamins typically use Magnesium Oxide as a supplement - but this form isn't bio-available. Is Fibromyalgia caused by low Magnesium?)

    A diet consisting of a everything you need without all the additives might just cure some of these diseases; though, I wonder whether lack of roughage will cause problems.

    Still, it might be an interesting impromptu experiment. The effects of eating Soylent will be something to watch.

    1. Re:Possibly good for you by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      And eating heavily processed sludge will be better for you?

      You can't distribute this sort of stuff without preserving it in some way and whatever way you do it is going to either add things to it or take things away(freezing or cooking), etc.

    2. Re:Possibly good for you by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 2

      And eating heavily processed sludge will be better for you?

      You think you could wait until we get some evidence before you frame it as "sludge"?

      We are supposed to be scientists, aren't we?

    3. Re:Possibly good for you by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      And what exactly else would it be? It's an artificial nutrient cocktail which essentially means that in it's native state it pretty much has to be a brown slurry. They could potentially bake that brown slurry into some form of loaf, or add some form of stabilizing agent to give it texture, they could bleach it, but in it's native form it will be sludge, because sludge is actually made up of the same stuff this is.

    4. Re:Possibly good for you by x0ra · · Score: 1

      The Motherboard experiment was just enough for me. http://motherboard.vice.com/en... If the product wasn't ready, don't have a reporter test it for a month, report rats, below hygiene standard preparation, and mold all over some package...

    5. Re:Possibly good for you by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      The problem with anecdotes is there's no control group to compare against. The problem with diverse anecdotes is you end up with no data from which to draw conclusions. Yes there's a million small anecdotes. There's also some very nasty chemistry in the things we eat (think cyanide in Apple seeds). None the less historically humans are a standout species capable of drawing nutrition from the widest array of possible foods conceivable.

      As a species we've adapted from eating cold meat to warm meat, we've eaten fauna and flora from all over the world. We eat big fat woolly animals, and we eat hard insects with exoskeletons. We eat things that spend much of their life in the air, and things that never leave the oceans. Sometimes we eat things that other animals secrete, and other times we eat unformed animal babies still in a shell.

      The diet in China is very different to the diet of western Europe yet when travelling from one place to the other the body easily adjusts to it's new source of nutrition. While there's a zillion ways that diets are non-optimal I would wager that unless you do something to the extreme you will live quite a healthy life eating small amounts of toxins.

    6. Re:Possibly good for you by yakumo.unr · · Score: 1

      Isn't roughage considered highly important to combat cancer, esp prostate cancer?

    7. Re:Possibly good for you by Nyder · · Score: 1

      And eating heavily processed sludge will be better for you?

      You think you could wait until we get some evidence before you frame it as "sludge"?

      We are supposed to be scientists, aren't we?

      While I'm sure there are scientists here at slashdot, we are more programming/computer geeks then probably anything else. I would guess we have more shills here then real scientist also. So I'm thinking you don't realize what website you are posting on...

      --
      Be seeing you...
    8. Re:Possibly good for you by Mashdar · · Score: 1

      Gluten is plant protein, not a poison. That's like calling your bones a poison because some animals can't eat them. Besides which, the vast majority of people have very good wheat tolerance. Gluten is just the new food boogeyman, like glutimate was in decades past. (If you were alergic to glutimate you would be dead.)

    9. Re:Possibly good for you by geekoid · · Score: 1

      " Beef and chicken contain antibiotics which can trigger mild allergic reactions"
      nope.

      " glutin (from wheat) is a mild poison "
      Nope.

      ", bread is now made with Bromine"
      A) Properly cook bread has no Bromine left i it
      B) an adult human would need to eat, at a min.. 15 kilos a day.
      C) Iodine is still found in breads

      "There's just a zillion different ways in which our diet is non-optimal,"
      Do you know what numbers are?

      "zillion little ailments with no known cause"
      Do you men nonspecific symptoms? Cause people have general aches and pains all the time.

      "A diet consisting of a everything you need without all the additives might just cure some of these diseases"
      haha, no. First you made up the disease connection; Second that statement is overly broad, to the point of meaningless; Third - that vast majority of vitamin supplementation does nothing.

      You can buy meal replacement drinks right now. Tasty ones. Soylent is a product created to suck money from psuedo intellectuals that jump from thing to thing so they look smart.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    10. Re:Possibly good for you by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Sludge: "thick, soft, wet mud or a similar viscous mixture of liquid and solid components, "

      Also, I've read your posts. If you are a scientist either work on your critical thinking skills, or do something else.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    11. Re:Possibly good for you by akpak · · Score: 1

      "Is Fibromyalgia caused by low Magnesium?"

      No, it isn't. Magnesium supplements can sometimes help, because it's meant to help muscles.

      They recently discovered that Fibromyalgia stems from problems with the body's ability to regulate its temperature: http://communities.washingtont...

    12. Re:Possibly good for you by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      And I presume you don't eat it as a powder? You add water and create what? Sludge.

    13. Re:Possibly good for you by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 1

      No, Capsaicin is good for your prostate..

      --


      He tried to kill me with a forklift!
    14. Re:Possibly good for you by brando56894 · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing you would consider Ovaltine, NesQuik, Tang and any other powered drink that you add water too, "sludge"?

    15. Re:Possibly good for you by brando56894 · · Score: 1

      Or you could go off of the few other tests that bloggers did and not base your opinion of it off of one source?

  19. You May Never Have to Eat Again by MrKaos · · Score: 1

    but you'll sure as shit have to shit again.

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  20. The problem I have with this is that I don't think by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    we really understand nutrition well enough to hack it. We keep learning that things we'd overlooked were significant -- phytochemicals, resistant starch, and a practically un-ending parade of classes of fats.

    Still, we *are* being nutritionally hacked by food companies all the time, so I suppose this can hardly be worse. But the food companies have a specific goal in mind -- to get us to eat more of their product while making that product cheap as possible. I don't think we're at the point where someone can look at a nutrition textbook and design a healthy synthetic diet.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  21. Awesome! by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I encourage all the "healthy People" and all of the "diet gurus" and all of the Activists to jump on this bandwagon.

    The ones jumping off the "eat stuff" bandwagon will help me get cheaper foods to support my PETA habit... (People Eating Tasty Animals)

    To toss a stab at the "oh god it takes so much effort to make food" whiner.

    Open a crock pot, drop a slab of beef in it, open a jar of pepperoncinis and dump the contents in, turn on, walk away for a few hours, then consume. It takes less than a few minutes to prepare, and you won't get sick from mixing powders together.

    --
    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
    1. Re:Awesome! by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Wish this were true but unfortunately the prices will likely go up for beef and meat.

      Uh, citation?

      You can save yourself a handful of bucks by skipping the grocery store (or as I like to call it, the middleman) and get your meats straight from the nearest slaughterhouse.

      Not only is it normally cheaper - last week I bought about a pound of some of the most awesome bacon I've ever tasted for $3-4 less than what a half-pound of that mass-farmed fatty bullshit they sell at the store costs - but you also get the pleasure of knowing exactly where your food comes from, if you're anything like me and care about such things.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    2. Re:Awesome! by Ksevio · · Score: 1

      Whoa I have to plan my eating HOURS ahead? Who has the time for that?

    3. Re:Awesome! by geekoid · · Score: 1

      yeah, for the vast majority of people the nearest slaughter house is 100's of miles away.

      I know where the stuff I buy a the grocery store comes from.

      I'm not sure why you can't figure it out. Maybe you're just stupid? It's not for me to say, maybe you are just pretending to be stupid.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:Awesome! by SleazyRidr · · Score: 1

      How would that happen? If people go from beef to soylent, then there's less market for the beef, so prices will fall. There'll never be enough people using their crock-pots to affect the price of meat.

    5. Re:Awesome! by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      yeah, for the vast majority of people the nearest slaughter house is 100's of miles away.

      Well, thanks for being the voice of the entire human population. How'd you end up with that position, anyway? Kill the guy that had it before, or just made it up on the spot?

      I know where the stuff I buy a the grocery store comes from.

      Do you? Or are you trusting that the same people who put "natural flavor" on the ingredients label, as if that actually tells you what that flavor is, are being completely honest with you when they say it was grown by organic ass farmers in Indopersia?

      I'm not sure why you can't figure it out. Maybe you're just stupid? It's not for me to say, maybe you are just pretending to be stupid.

      When I go to the slaughterhouse, I get to meet my meat. And the dude that "makes" it. You might not find that to be important, but I do.

      Also, I can express my opinion without feeling a compulsion to try and marginalize the opinions of people I've decided to disagree with, because I'm not a fucking 8-year-old.

      Does your mommy know what you do on the computer when she's not around?

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    6. Re:Awesome! by akpak · · Score: 1
      The nearest slaughterhouse to me is roughly four thousand miles away. Next platitude?

      Do you eat anything but meat? I note your crock pot recipe has no starch, fiber, or plant nutrients of any kind.

      If your whole diet is "eat meat lol," then... Well... I don't know what to tell you.

    7. Re:Awesome! by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      The nearest slaughterhouse to me is roughly four thousand miles away. Next platitude?

      Sucks to be you?

      Where do you live, that the nearest animal processing facility is farther away than the distance from New York to Los Angeles? The ISS?

      Do you eat anything but meat?

      Did I ever say I didn't?

      "Next platitude," as you might snark?

      I note your crock pot recipe has no starch, fiber, or plant nutrients of any kind.

      OK, dude, that doesn't even make sense.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  22. Nasty shit which sounds like Nutraloaf by mendax · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Nutraloaf is this shit that some jails and prisons feed to their inmates who are in solitary confinement for punishment purposes. It sounds very nasty, not unlike this Soylent shit.

    --
    It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
  23. juicers by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'd like to toss out a healthy and tasty way of getting nutrients - I have a juicer that I use to juice up two medium tomatoes, a green pepper, a couple of carrots , and a beet.

    I add a bit of vinegar and some salt.

    It's tasty and has the carotene for the eyes, the beet contains nitrates so it's good for the circulatory system, and you've got all the good stuff from tomato and green veg.

    Adding kale is a boost as well.

    A lot more work goes into cleaning the juicer but I've had an improvement in eyesight and general health feel that may be psychosomatic, but could care less since I do feel better..

    --
    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
    1. Re:juicers by Eskarel · · Score: 2

      You are aware that the "carrots help you see in the dark" thing was a lie the Brits told to try to cover the fact that they had radar? As far as I'm aware there's zero evidence whatsoever that carrots or any nutrient in them does a damned thing for your eyes.

    2. Re:juicers by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Somebody above turned me on to the idea of making smoothies in batches and freezing them as single servings - just move one into the refrigerator the night before and you're good to go. Seems like an excellent idea on several fronts, clean up time being one of the big ones.

      I've heard that the carrots-for-the-eyes thing is mostly urban legend based on World War disinformation campaigns to mask actual night-vision research. Mostly, because a deficiency is in fact bad for the eyes, but you don't need much, and an excess doesn't have any benefits.

      Jump on my sword while you can, evil... *I* won't be as gentle!

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    3. Re:juicers by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      I've heard that the carrots-for-the-eyes thing is mostly urban legend based on World War disinformation campaigns to mask actual night-vision research.

      Radar. But I think I heard that on the same QI episode where they discussed how they used men who'd had cataracts removed to spot UV morse code lamps.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    4. Re:juicers by adolf · · Score: 1

      As far as I'm aware there's zero evidence whatsoever that carrots or any nutrient in them does a damned thing for your eyes.

      So if we eat zero nutrients, we'll have perfect vision forever?

    5. Re:juicers by Warbothong · · Score: 1

      You are aware that the "carrots help you see in the dark" thing was a lie the Brits told to try to cover the fact that they had radar? As far as I'm aware there's zero evidence whatsoever that carrots or any nutrient in them does a damned thing for your eyes.

      Carrots don't help you see in the dark, but they can prevent you going blind

      http://www.blindness.org/index...
      http://www.goldenrice.org/Cont...

    6. Re:juicers by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Informative

      but could care less since I do feel better

      How much less could you care? You sound enthusiastic about the food, but not about cleaning the juicer. But you seem to have SOME cares about that, since you could care less. Can you clarify?

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    7. Re:juicers by Nyder · · Score: 3, Funny

      You are aware that the "carrots help you see in the dark" thing was a lie the Brits told to try to cover the fact that they had radar? As far as I'm aware there's zero evidence whatsoever that carrots or any nutrient in them does a damned thing for your eyes.

      Carrots don't help you see in the dark, but they can prevent you going blind

      http://www.blindness.org/index...
      http://www.goldenrice.org/Cont...

      That's why I masturbate using carrots. Don't want to go blind!

      --
      Be seeing you...
    8. Re:juicers by SBFCOblivion · · Score: 2

      How many rabbits have you seen with glasses?

    9. Re:juicers by Mashdar · · Score: 1

      Extreme vitamin A deficiency can impair vision, but you would have a lot of other problems too. And anyone who eats meat already gets enough vitamin A. (On the up side, you cannot get vitamin A toxicity from carrots, and B-Carotene is selectively converted as needed. If you ate the liver of a carnivore you would become very sick from vitamin A overdose.)

    10. Re:juicers by Mashdar · · Score: 1

      Consuming large volumes of juice (from any sugar-containing source, including most vegetables) is a great way to strain your pancreas. By emulsifying your beats and carrots, you make the sugars in them easily absorbed by the gut. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G...

      As an occasional meal, juicing is fine, but going on a long-term "juice diet" sounds like a disaster.

    11. Re:juicers by XnavxeMiyyep · · Score: 1

      But then you might have to clean whatever you store the smoothies in. There's no escape!

      --
      I put the 't' in electrical engineering.
    12. Re:juicers by Eskarel · · Score: 1

      You'll probably maintain the vision you have until you die of malnutrition, give or take a few hallucinations.

  24. Variety ! by dargaud · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't care if you can live off his stuff; I want VARIETY from my food (and many other things in life as well). I cannot imagine having to eat the same thing every day, I'd much rather be already dead.

    --
    Non-Linux Penguins ?
    1. Re:Variety ! by MattskEE · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I cannot imagine having to eat the same thing every day,

      Funnily enough nobody is forcing you. You are clearly not the target for this product, but so far about 20,000 other people are.

      I am one of the pre-orderers of Soylent. Why? I enjoy tasty and varied food but I don't always have the time or money to eat the way I'd like to eat, so I end up spending more money than I'd like on restaurants/takeout or eating really unhealthy food like Cup Noodles. Soylent appears to be a relatively affordable way to get a fast and nutritious meal replacement. While I try it out I will probably replace lunch and/or dinner with Soylent since for me these tend to be the most inconvenient meals. Other pre-orderers seem to view it differently and see food as more of a hastle that Soylent will help them avoid, but to each their own.

      You might ask why Soylent and not an existing meal replacement drink? *shrug* For me at least it's really down to supporting Rob's stated vision for the project. I haven't done detailed research on how or if Soylent is different from existing products but I do know that his goal is different and going for total food replacement is probably a higher standard than instant breakfast drinks or diet drinks, which may mean something or nothing. I just ordered one of the lower tiers to try it out and if I like it I'll buy more, assuming the product continues to be produced.

    2. Re:Variety ! by Immerman · · Score: 1

      Sounds like there's not actually that much to be bored of - a tall glass of thick water a few times a day? You could mix and down that in under a minute and get on with adding variety to other aspects of your life. Actually sounds like a pretty good deal to me, at least for those times when I'm only eating because I need to. No more rushed or tedious meals, just down a quick shake and reallocate the time you save to nice leisurely meals when you're in the mood to really enjoy them.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    3. Re:Variety ! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      Food is an inconvenience. I'd be happy to never eat again. The top super-power of Superman's I used to envy was that (in some incarnations) he didn't need to eat. But eating the same tasteless slop every day is a close second.

    4. Re:Variety ! by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Thanks for telling the rest of us how WRONG we are. You think educated people would understand that there are all sorts of opinions out there, none of them are wrong. I for one consider preparation and consuming of food to be a joyless chore. The problem comes when I don't eat right and endanger my health. Put 200 boxes of this stuff in my kitchen and I can eat it along with regular meals and stay healthy.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    5. Re:Variety ! by dwpro · · Score: 1

      Many(most?) supermarkets in the US have a surprisingly decent selection of produce. Unfortunately, far too few of us actually go into the produce section but instead opt for the pre-packaged foods or don't make it into the supermarket at all. It really is hard to convince some folks that cooking is worth the preparation time.

      --
      Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
    6. Re:Variety ! by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      You might ask why Soylent and not an existing meal replacement drink?

      ... Because your family has a strong tradition of volunteering as guinea pigs?

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    7. Re:Variety ! by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      I've probably eaten better food than you have. How many hats have you eaten at? If you don't know what I mean by a hat, then the answer is probably zero. Just because I don't care to eat doesn't mean I've never eaten good. Where do you live where the markets drive you to over-eating? I've probably been there and eaten at the places you think would "cure" me.

    8. Re:Variety ! by akpak · · Score: 1

      The main way it's different than other meal replacements is that Soylent is formulated to be more "complete" nutrition. Existing replacements usually have far too much of some things (like sugar or chemical sugar substitutes), and not enough of others (fiber, etc). Stuff like Ensure and SlimFast were never meant to be used long term.

      Another difference is that Soylent is "open source" to a degree. Since you know the basic formula, you can then go on to change it for your specific needs. It's also meant to be as "taste neutral" as possible, to allow you to choose your flavoring for it, which reduces getting sick of the same chocolate crap every day.

      I'm looking forward to trying it. I think that a Soylent shake and a quick nap will recharge me for work in the afternoon better than spending my whole lunch break acquiring/preparing/eating lunch.

    9. Re:Variety ! by greg1104 · · Score: 1

      If you want to compare Soylent to its true competition, look at meal replacement products from real medical research firms, not diet products. I like Alpha ENF, the vanilla flavor mixed with orange juice. If you like the EFA angle of Soylent's products, it's easy enough to pick up a bottle of that and squirt some in too.

    10. Re:Variety ! by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Cold beans straight from the can taste gross. Moreover they're not anything close to a balanced meal.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  25. No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... where's FDA ?

    I mean, FDA (the Food and Drug Administration for the uninitiated) is supposed to have been tasked to oversee the safety over ***FOOD***.

    This guy is selling his Soylent brand ***FOOD*** to 20,000 people to the tune of $ 2 Million, isn't it time FDA takes some samples and have them tested for safety ?

    I am never for BIG GOVERNMENT, but there are times the government does need to step in to assure the safety of the food people buy and eat - especially when this guy use the word "Soylent" as his brand of food, which originally means Soy and Lentil, when his food doesn't even contain Soy.

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Immerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wouldn't imagine that the FDA would have much to say, beyond the usual cleanliness checks, etc. that any food company faces. After all doesn't pretty much everything in his concoction qualify as a ingredient or food additive? Hell, it's probably a lot closer to real food than a Twinkie.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    2. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Anonymous+Cowled · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wouldn't imagine that the FDA would have much to say, beyond the usual cleanliness checks, etc. that any food company faces.

      I dunno - if they find that he's grinding up people to make his "food", they might be pretty pissed.

    3. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by aitikin · · Score: 3, Informative

      As I recall, it's not food in the eyes of the FDA. It's a dietary supplement. Muchlike Slimfast shakes don't fall under the same privy of the FDA as, say, that box of Kraft Mac & Cheese. As such, there's different regulations.

      Note, I'm not extremely knowledgeable about that topic, I merely am recollecting off of what I read in my research last time this topic came up on /.

      --
      "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
    4. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Where was the FDA when Canada began exporting machine oil made from rape seed and began selling it as healthy cooking oil?
      Where was the FDA when..., well... just walk down the aisle of ANY grocery store and look at the garbage that will cause health problems.
      The FDA is only there so the government can make business deals to import whatever crap other countries reject and collect their Judas money for their own personal gain. They are only there to protect you if food OUTRIGHT is toxic, spoiled or hasnt been part of a payola scheme.

    5. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by S.O.B. · · Score: 4, Informative

      Where was the FDA when Canada began exporting machine oil made from rape seed and began selling it as healthy cooking oil?

      More commonly known as canola oil it is made from a variety of rape seed that was selectively cultivated to have less aftertaste, lower saturated fat and acceptable levels of erucic acid.

      It is perfectly safe for human consumption and is the third most common vegetable oil used for cooking.

      --
      Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
    6. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by csnydermvpsoft · · Score: 1

      As long as the people are properly tagged from the farm, they won't be too concerned.

    7. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by rhazz · · Score: 1

      To be fair, the early food-marketed versions of canola oil were arguably unhealthy and its sale was the result of people whose livelihoods depended on selling the product when it was no longer needed in vast quantities for machine oil (i.e after the war).

      Today's versions actually are pretty healthy, but I bet the original product wasn't any more harmful than today's usual fare at MacDonald's. :P

    8. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Informative

      I buy rapeseed oil preferentially. My daughter has peanut allergies, so it is a decent alternative to peanut oil for high-heat.

      Almonds are poisonous in "natural" form, as well. People get hung up on the funniest stuff.

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    9. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by severn2j · · Score: 1

      I think the existence of McDonalds shows that FDA approval is optional.

    10. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Nimey · · Score: 2

      His point is WHARRGARBL GOVERNMENT ALWAYS BAD. Don't try to reason with him or give facts.

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    11. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Jarik+C-Bol · · Score: 1

      As far as I can tell, they are getting around that by simply supplying the 'ingredients'. They simply order various packages of powdered ingredients, put them in a box (in separate packages), and mail that to you. They are not manufacturing anything in house, they are simply selling you a kit to make your own grey goop out of. If I wanted, I could go on amazon and order all the same shit, and make it myself. They are simply selling the convenience of getting it all at once, in one box.

      --
      I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
    12. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by nmb3000 · · Score: 1

      His point is WHARRGARBL GOVERNMENT ALWAYS BAD

      Was that a Murlock, or the venerable President Nixon? :)

      --
      "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
      /)
    13. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Lord+Lemur · · Score: 1

      Nah, it's in the Patriot Act, it's cool.

    14. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by coinreturn · · Score: 1

      As I recall, it's not food in the eyes of the FDA. It's a dietary supplement. Muchlike Slimfast shakes don't fall under the same privy of the FDA as, say, that box of Kraft Mac & Cheese. As such, there's different regulations.

      Note, I'm not extremely knowledgeable about that topic, I merely am recollecting off of what I read in my research last time this topic came up on /.

      Are you calling Kraft Mac & Cheese food?

    15. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by MTEK · · Score: 1

      And only free-range. Not that nasty stuff from prisons.

    16. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by akpak · · Score: 1

      It's not "food" actually. They're marketing it as a "nutritional supplement" which has almost no regulation.

    17. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Rich0 · · Score: 1

      Depends on whether his ingredients are all "generally recognized as safe." If so, then the FDA isn't going to care, as long as the manufacturing conditions are sanitary/etc.

      I mean, do you really want the FDA regulating recipe books?

    18. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Immerman · · Score: 1

      He shouldn't have any more trouble passing than a frozen TV dinner, at least not in any reasonable world. Provided of course that he's not claiming any magical health benefits, just complete nutrition.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    19. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by almostadnsguy · · Score: 1

      I do not.

    20. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by Zynder · · Score: 1

      I'd suppose it could be a Murloc Nixon. "I'm not a cook!"

    21. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by synapse7 · · Score: 1

      There are FDA approved foods not approved by other countries, so what is the concern, there isn't enough dye?

    22. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by quantaman · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't imagine that the FDA would have much to say, beyond the usual cleanliness checks, etc. that any food company faces. After all doesn't pretty much everything in his concoction qualify as a ingredient or food additive? Hell, it's probably a lot closer to real food than a Twinkie.

      Well I read an account from one of the beta testers who got some mouldy product so cleanliness might be an issue.

      But even besides cleanliness, very few foods items make the claim that not only is it healthy to live off them exclusively, but that you should. I don't know what other meal replacements like Ensure go through for approval but I think something making that strong a claim should have some more work to justify it. I really would be concerned that some geeks ending up with serious health issues by going a little to far with the Soylent.

      Even with the established mean replacements like Ensure I'm skeptical about the healthiness. They have shelves of the stuff at the hospice where my dad is staying, I guess the nurses are smart enough not to drink it but many of the patients do. And I can tell you, the time I've been here not a single nurse has died but the patients are dropping off like crazy!!

      --
      I stole this Sig
    23. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by The+Snowman · · Score: 1

      This guy is selling his Soylent brand ***FOOD*** to 20,000 people to the tune of $ 2 Million, isn't it time FDA takes some samples and have them tested for safety ?

      It is produced in an FDA-approved processing facility using FDA-approved ingredients and processes. The product itself does not need to be tested any more than any other random food product needs to be. If you read his web site you would know this.

      FDA is more concerned with perishable foods such as raw meat, vegetables, and processes. Since the facility and its machines are already approved, Soylent gets a basic glance over its ingredients and processes and the final product is not tested. You would actually be surprised how much food is not tested. For example, General Mills has its ingredients and facilities inspected and approved, but the FDA is not in the business of eating random cereals to make sure they are safe.

      --
      24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
    24. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by The+Snowman · · Score: 1

      I buy rapeseed oil preferentially. My daughter has peanut allergies, so it is a decent alternative to peanut oil for high-heat.

      Grapeseed oil is also good. Cheaper than rapeseed, very neutral taste, and a high smoke point near that of peanut oil.

      --
      24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
    25. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by MightyYar · · Score: 1

      I'd use that, but I haven't seen it cheaper than canola oil. I think soy oil has an even hotter smoke point, but there's something funny about it. Safflower oil is the gold standard, but it is pricey. Avocado oil is good, too - but the taste is weird (and I like avocados).

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    26. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by cavebison · · Score: 1

      > I am never for BIG GOVERNMENT, but there are times the government does need to step in to assure the safety of the food people buy and eat

      Really? What's wrong exactly with industry self-regulation and/or privatising food safety testing?

      Otherwise, why stop with the government telling us what to eat? They already contaminate drinking water with fluoride and spend your Socialist Tax dollar repairing roads you'll never use. Soon they'll make marrying your dog legal and if that don't make Jesus appear to sort them out, well I just don't know.

    27. Re:No matter it's Soylent or Soylent Green ... by JamieIanMacgregor · · Score: 1

      wasn't there a story here a while back about his first warehouse being infested with rats and mould? I guess that's where some of the nutrients come from... quick google reveals this: http://motherboard.vice.com/bl...

  26. Pre-ordering food? by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This "pre-ordering" thing has gotten out of hand when someone takes $2 million in pre-orders for a food product. Even worse, their current payment policy:

    "When is my card charged?
    Since we have already reached our fundraising goal, your card will be charged immediately."

    Since they promised shipment in "early 2014", and it's early 2014, If they don't start shipping in volume within days, they're going to run into trouble with the FTC's Mail Order Rule. (The Mail Order Rule can be summarized as "ship within 30 days of promised delivery date or offer a refund; after 60 days, send a refund unless the customer explicitly gives you more time in writing").

    1. Re:Pre-ordering food? by IrquiM · · Score: 1

      They agreed to the more time in writing when they paid for it. Also - it's still early 2014 a month or two from now.

      --
      This is blinging
    2. Re:Pre-ordering food? by adolf · · Score: 1

      "Early 2014" is rather more vague than "January 1, 2014."

      Being pedantic (or the opposite of pedantic, depending on how you view this), a year might have three parts: A beginning, a middle, and an end. (Early, middle, late.)

      Since a year's 12 are evenly divisible by three, then we're left with a simple integer: 4.

      So that means, to me, that they'd better ship sometime in April at latest.

  27. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by Laxori666 · · Score: 1

    What I wonder is - how exactly is this different from something like Ensure, which you can live on drinking nothing but?

  28. So you can have more time for that other F-thing? by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 1

    But there are other bodily pleasures you can enjoy besides Food, and it also begins with the letter F. So I'm alll for a "post-food" diet if that would really make me feel younger and, uhm, sexier. As for this particular man's claims, I'm sticking to my fish and veggies.

  29. Fibre etc.? by AxeTheMax · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From the article

    I poop a lot less

    That should be something to worry about. What I've read doesn't say much about fibre, but our digestive systems have developed not only to deal with directly useful food to absorb, but also to process such 'indigestibles', and to deal with all the variation we get in a normal diet. Without this work there is every likelihood that long term harm to the guts will result. We already know that this happens to factory farmed animals fed on processed food rather than their normal diet.

    1. Re:Fibre etc.? by HnT · · Score: 1

      You are referring to an article he wrote about an "old version" of his mix. Several issues have been fixed in the mean time, fiber was one of those things, lack of sulfur was the other. Those are the two I am aware of but it seems there were additional tweaks. TFA essentially links to an old entry.

      --
      "Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." - Mark Twain
    2. Re:Fibre etc.? by coolsnowmen · · Score: 1

      Healthy poop periods range from 2 per day to 1 per 2days. So, as long as you are in that range, a shift might not be a realy problem.

  30. Re:I already do that by Immerman · · Score: 1

    Hmm, Thanks for the idea. I never thought of freezing smoothies - I could maybe work with that...

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  31. Our grandparents generation & the no-fiber die by Chakka! · · Score: 1

    They ate soft foods with no fiber and they got Diverticulitis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

  32. Not even close by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Soylent actually includes dietary fiber and ingredients. It is a full food substitute, including all of the necessary things for every part of the body, including the digestive tract. Suspicious about it come largely from a lack of knowledge on the product and its development. There are valid criticisms, but they are highly specific and interesting, not so mundane as this.

    1. Re:Not even close by Jarik+C-Bol · · Score: 1

      I agree, he picked the worst name possible. Just because of the trope attached, it turns a lot of people off because the first thing their brain does after reading the word 'soylent' is scream in Charlton Hestons voice ' IS PEOPLE!". Not a good marketing scheme.

      --
      I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
    2. Re:Not even close by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Soylent actually includes dietary fiber and ingredients. It is a full food substitute, including all of the necessary things for every part of the body, including the digestive tract.

      So it has crunch, and all the various textures that archaic food has?

      Suspicious about it come largely from a lack of knowledge on the product and its development.

      So it's sort of like Windows 8? If you don't like it, it's because you don't know enough about it?

      There are valid criticisms, but they are highly specific and interesting, not so mundane as this.

      I must wonder, what is a person's issue is the want to stop eating? As one of the primal drives of life, eating is right up there with the drive to reproduce. And yes, part of the drive is the enjoyment of the act.

      And there are some people with no sex drive, and have no enjoyment derived from it. Sex, if at all engaged in, is solely for reproduction. And given my experiences with people who have crohn's disease, and take Remicade, which smokes their sense of taste and smell, and they have to be prodded to eat, this is more likely the case.

      Perhaps these people have that issue. I enjoy the variety of tastes and textures. Nothing like the occasional desssert of pearl tapioca fun food, little flavorful ball bearings rolling around in your mouth. Or a nice steak. Or crunchy potato chips or celery. Or smoked cheese or sausage.

      And as a person who put in a full career with lots of hundred hour weeks, I really do not buy the idea that preparing that egg for breakfast, or enjoying a nice dinner after a long workday is depriving me of something. I managed to work hard and enjoy good food at the same time. In fact, the good food helped as a relaxant. What was I going to do with that small time slot anyhow?

      In the end, I think that just as some people have a malfunctioning sex drive - with no desire to engage in it, some people see food as only a way to fend off starvation. Probably neither of those groups should tout their situation as superior.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:Not even close by chromas · · Score: 1

      So it has crunch...it's sort of like Windows 8?

      That should be the new marketing slogan—"Windows 8 has crunch!"

    4. Re:Not even close by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      some people see food as only a way to fend off starvation.

      Or maybe it is not a binary thing, and people's preference and interest in food falls on a continuum, much like desires for any other thing in life.

      Of course. I'd never try to argue that.

      That said, there are days where I have an hour for lunch, and if I had a choice between 5 minute of eating and 55 minutes of strolling around a near by park versus 20 or more minutes of eating followed by a shorter stroll, I would go with the former.

      For myself, when offered that choice, I would just skip the meal, and enjoy the walk for a full 60 minutes.

      People with a narrow, hard line preference shouldn't call it superior, but people can exclaim their discovery of new options that give people flexibility to better meet individual preferences.

      I don't quite buy it. Looking at the fluid in question, it looks like something that might be useful to ward off starvation. But the concept of subsisting on something that is always the same texture, always the same taste, and always drunk, it is hard to imagine a person who enjoys eating, enjoying living on that.

      If this is such a wonderful thing, perhaps it might be a replacement for the MRE's (Meals Read to Eat in case you are not from the US) that the military feeds soldiers in the field. They have a surprisingly large variety of foods, ethnic and vegetarian meals included. These were created to provide a hot meal and replaced C-Rations and MCI rations, which were more like survival food

      The food provided is surprisingly good for something that comes packed in a plastic bag. I've eaten them on work field trips, and would eat them again.

      This is considered an important morale issue. Because most people demand taste texture, and variety in their food. A lot of time, effort, and money has gone into providing such things. Probably for a reason.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  33. It has FLAVOR! by Powercntrl · · Score: 1

    First the Death Clock is stolen from Futurama (Metalocalypse). Now Bachelor Chow? Why did they cancel the show if everyone is getting so much influence from it?

    If you believe the billboards in the show, Bachelor Chow was improved at some point with flavor. This is more like the stuff in The Matrix.

    Okay, in reality, there's probably some old obscure sci-fi book that came up with this idea waaaaaay before it was ever in a movie or TV show.

    --

    ---
    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
    1. Re:It has FLAVOR! by f()rK()_Bomb · · Score: 1

      The Machine Stops, 1909, E. M. Forster: http://archive.ncsa.illinois.e...

      That has food that is just called food and comes in tubes. It also effectively describes the modern world. Its amazingly prescient. Definitely worth reading.

      --
      "The space elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing." - Arthur C. Clarke ~1980
  34. Copyright by TheP4st · · Score: 1


    I believe that the estate of author Harry Harrison will have a good case against Rhinehart over the use of the name Soylent. For those not in the know, Harrison was the author of the book which Soylent Green is loosely based on, Make Room! Make Room! Whether there should be grounds for such a case based on a work that's 48 years old is of course highly debatable.

    1. Own rights to Make Room! Make Room!
    2. Wait for Soylent to become a huge commercial success.
    3. Call in army of Lawyers.
    4. Profit!

    --
    "I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
    1. Re:Copyright by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      I assume also that someone probably has the film rights and, let's face it, this thing wouldn't be called Soylent if not for the film.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  35. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by Lisias · · Score: 1

    Still, we *are* being nutritionally hacked by food companies all the time, so I suppose this can hardly be worse. But the food companies have a specific goal in mind -- to get us to eat more of their product while making that product cheap as possible. /quote>

    Sorry. but you're wrong. The food companies's goal is to make as much as money as they can. Making their products cheap is one way to get it while they can't manage some kind of lockdown, as Monsanto is trying to do.

    A Company is a Company. Give them some edge (as, per example, Microsoft get for themselves) and see what they do.

    --
    Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org
  36. As someone who's drinking it right now... by NoKaOi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been drinking my homemade "soylent" (with a lowercase 's', because it's not his brand) most weekdays for about 2 months now. In fact, I'm drinking it right now, literally. Actually not literally, I set it down to type. I adapted it from various recipes I found online, all started by the ideas of the creator of Soylent. I'm also a competitive athlete, so I tweaked things quite a bit, particularly the macronutrients. So, as the (seemingly) only commenter who actually has experience with it, I'll point out a few things:

    1. To those whining about lack of fiber...it has plenty of fiber (33.45 grams to be exact). More than that little bit of shredded lettuce in a Big Mac extra value meal. In fact, my bowel movements seem more regular on soylent than when I eat regular food.

    2. I eat better on it than without it. Meaning: Okay, what if my recipe isn't perfect? What if I'm missing something? Well compare that to what I would otherwise normally eat on a weekday...maybe some toast for breakfast, a microwave chicken burrito for lunch, and a reasonably healthy but probably too large meal for dinner to make up for the slice of toast I had for breakfast. Then I have to try to work those meals around my workouts, which probably means downing some extra calories. Some days I ate well, some days not.

    3. It's a timesaver. This is related to #2. If I wanted to take several hours to create the healthiest most ideal meals every day, then perhaps it would come out healthier than soylent. But let's face it, that just doesn't happen. I've tried that in the past, and it always falls by the wayside. I'd rather be out having fun...obviously if cooking was your version of play (e.g. it's your favorite hobby) then this isn't for you. I can hold my own pretty well in the kitchen and have always enjoyed making delicious meals once and a while, but 90% of the time it just seems like work.

    4. I eat at better times. I spend 10 minutes in the morning mixing it up. Then it's right there, available to me anytime, all I have to do is go to the fridge and poor it into a glass, or take it with me in a water bottle, so I can eat at ideal times that are the healthiest, meaning my caloric distribution throughout is even and/or at proper times around my workouts, rather than having too few calories in the morning and too many late at night like most people do. Otherwise, I end up being too busy for awhile, then by the time it's my next meal I end up either just throwing something in the microwave and/or eating too much all at once, or I go too long before or after a workout without eating, or I eat right before a workout and my stomach isn't happy...you get the idea.

    5. I never feel too hungry. I don't crave junk like I do otherwise. If I do have a thought like, "gee, some chips sound good," I don't feel compelled to eat them because I don't feel hungry, plus I know I can eat them on the weekend if I still want them.

    6. I chose to eat normal on the weekends because that's when it becomes a social thing. Also, by knowing I'm going to eat other foods on the weekend it keeps me from craving junk, and also if I am missing something from my soylent recipe that only exists in regular food, then I'll still get some.

    1. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      My problem is that I can't digest soy. Whether it's too much TVP in a burrito or whatever, when soy enters my system, it comes out the other end as an aerosol.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      " I'm also a competitive athlete..."

      Boom, you're out of the pool. You react different to foods, and you have a fairly different set of needs than those of us who aren't. You're also willing to endure weird-ass food regimens to support your training. I've been there (former triathlete); it's okay, but it really doesn't mirror most of the population. When I was training I didn't crave junk food, and even now when I'm on a regular athletic schedule I select "better" food because my body automatically desires the added value. When I take a break, just give me the salt and sugar to pop a quick high and I'll be on my way.

      Here's the thing: you might be able to create a perfect meal-replacement shake - lots of people have tried, many have succeeded. But, really, the guy who developed it is a bit obsessive, and immensely over the top in his marketing. 400% boost in brain power? WTF is that? Can't argue with the time savings, of course - but that would be true of every meal replacement. I've got a box of meal replacement bars in the cabinet; they're not perfect, but I pop one a day, not be hungry before the next meal, and it takes 2 minutes to complete.

      I've tried liquid diet replacement in the past; it doesn't work for me. The act of chewing and swallowing is "linked" to a meal, and drinking a meal leaves me feeling empty, even if I have the nutrients and calories to get to through the day. It's the reason I switched to bars in the first place. Is Soylent for everybody? No, but just as there are a thousand meal replacements out there that people swear by, this will join the crowd.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    3. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by geekoid · · Score: 1

      ".. weird-ass food regimens to support your training"

      most of which don't actually do anything to help.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    4. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by geekoid · · Score: 1

      ", I'm drinking it right now, literally. Actually not literally, I set it down to type. "
      why did you write that? you do know you could have just correct it, right?

      ". I'm also a competitive athlete"
      which mean you are more likely to buy into thing that fit your athletic training narrative. Just like those idiot athletes that wear a power band.
      This less you input less valuable.

      "If I wanted to take several hours to create the healthiest most ideal meals every day"
      If it takes you several hours, you are either stupid or.. nope, just stupid.

      " if I am missing something from my soylent recipe that only exists in regular food, then I'll still get some."
      assuming what you are missing (if anything ) is in the food you eat on weekends.

      Drink it, buy it already made, I don't care. Just stop deluding yourself. or keep deluding yourself, but don't write posts that are basically a big excuse to justify your behavior.

      How about you get data? what do your blood tests say?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    5. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by paazin · · Score: 1

      1. To those whining about lack of fiber...it has plenty of fiber (33.45 grams to be exact). More than that little bit of shredded lettuce in a Big Mac extra value meal. In fact, my bowel movements seem more regular on soylent than when I eat regular food.

      This is the crux of the problem -- by the physical process of reducing it to the form of a sludge, you destroy the structure of the food and much of the insoluble fibre. Perhaps it anecdotally sustains you but likely you would get different nutritional benefit if you simply ate the constituent ingredients separately.

    6. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by NoKaOi · · Score: 1

      why did you write that?

      Because I felt like it.

      ". I'm also a competitive athlete"
      which mean you are more likely to buy into thing that fit your athletic training narrative. Just like those idiot athletes that wear a power band.
      This less you input less valuable.

      That's some pretty broad assumptions you're making, just like those idiots who assume a power band provides them magical benefits because some marketing crap said so. You assume that just because I have a physical hobby that I am stupid? Well, before I got my degree in CS and became a lead software developer I was a real scientist for several years, so unlike you (I'm making an assumption here) I do actually understand what science actually is and so I can evaluate studies better than you.

      "If I wanted to take several hours to create the healthiest most ideal meals every day"
      If it takes you several hours, you are either stupid or.. nope, just stupid.

      I'm not comparing it to the time most be spend making a reasonably healthy meal. I'm comparing to the time somebody would have to spend to make ideal meals and eat them at ideal times. Meaning exactly everything you need with nothing extra. How many people actually do that? The fact that you skipped over the 2nd part of the sentence you quoted means you are either stupid or.. nope, just stupid. Heck, even if you purchase ready-made or microwave most of your meals, how much time out of your day do you spend on food and eating?

      " if I am missing something from my soylent recipe that only exists in regular food, then I'll still get some."
      assuming what you are missing (if anything ) is in the food you eat on weekends.

      While that is a good point, I'm also assuming that if it's missing in the food I would eat on the weekends, then it's also missing from the food I would have eaten if I wasn't drinking the soylent. The whole point of this was to provide a comparison.

    7. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by NoKaOi · · Score: 1

      by the physical process of reducing it to the form of a sludge, you destroy the structure of the food and much of the insoluble fibre.

      Citation needed. No, really, if you have evidence of this, preferable a scientifically valid peer-reviewed study, I'd like to see it. I have found numerous sources showing that fiber from real-food sources...fruits, vegetables, and whole grains...are more beneficial than fiber supplementation, but the conclusions always state that it's because the real-food sources contain other needed micronutrients. In the case of soylent, part of the point is that you're already including exactly the right amounts of those nutrients, so those studies are not applicable to your point.

    8. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by NoKaOi · · Score: 1

      No, but just as there are a thousand meal replacements out there that people swear by, this will join the crowd.

      That may be true from a marketing perspective, but I've yet to find another meal-replacement that is as complete as [s|S]oylent. The problem is they make sacrifices for marketability and/or manufacturability. They want it to taste decent and be in a form-factor that will be appealing on the shelves. The bars that you eat are probably great to have once or even twice a day, but probably aren't complete enough to sustain you properly if that's all you ate for an entire day or longer. The soylent concept is that it is complete, at the sacrifice of having to drink full glasses of stuff that isn't particularly appealing, which is exactly why it truly isn't for everybody, for many people eating is just as much their recreation as biking, running, and swimming were for you. I hated it for the first 2.5 days, drinking a tasteless beverage with an unappealing texture, yuck. But then about half way through the third day I got used to it and ceased caring about the texture.

    9. Re:As someone who's drinking it right now... by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      Hi, thanks for your post.

      I don't see the sources of some nutrients the Soylent guy, with capital S, uses. I understand when he explains why he hasn't given the source for elemental / ionic nutrients, he could have provided the source for protein at least? Some (other) people have said his diet is vegan, but need to know what protein he is using. Are you vegetarian / vegan / otherwise restricted in your diet?

      Do you feel your jaws get enough exercise? Never tried such liquid diets myself, but I am immensely interested in what people feel about their jaws after a long period of liquid diets. Even if weekends are exceptions.

      About fibre - there are completely different functions of soluble and insoluble fibre. Soylent guy doesn't make it clear which kind he uses. What do you think about this? Depending on other ingredients of your food, maybe soluble fibre is less important for you and you do with only insoluble?

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
  37. Re:Space Food by Barny · · Score: 1

    It can if you have diabetes or a GI disease.

    --
    ...
    /me sighs
  38. Missing the point by glitch0 · · Score: 2

    Most of these comments are missing the point of Soylent and also the target customer.

    I like eating home cooked food. I like time. These two goals are at odds with each other, because making home cooked food takes lots of time.

    Some nights, I just don't feel like cooking or I don't have time to cook. I just want something quick to satisfy my hunger. I would probably end up eating fast food, which is terrible for me nutritionally.

    Soylent is for those nights for me. When I don't feel like cooking and I just want to feel full. It would be nice to have something filling but also healthy, and that's where Soylent comes in vs just getting fast food.

    I imagine that most people who preordered Soylent are similar to me in this sense. Very few people plan to stop eating altogether and subsist solely on Soylent.

    It's not about replacing food, so please, get over that idea.

    If you've ever come home from work, and hacked away at a project until the wee hours of the night, and thought "damn, I'm so hungry, but finishing what I'm working on is more exciting than eating right now. I wish I could just make my hunger go away so I could focus on what I want to work on." then you might be able to understand my desire for something like Soylent.

    --
    -Glitch "We all know Linux is great...it does infinite loops in 5 seconds." - Linus Torvalds
    1. Re:Missing the point by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      For the owner of the company, it is. Go grab a meal replacement bar and a glass of water if you want to skip. The idea behind Soylent is, in fact, to leave regular food behind. Any soft-pedaling you see in their literature is the marketing and legal team trying to make the owner's concept seem less crazy.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    2. Re:Missing the point by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Soylent is for those nights for me. When I don't feel like cooking and I just want to feel full. It would be nice to have something filling but also healthy, and that's where Soylent comes in vs just getting fast food.

      Throw a steak under the broiler or a chicken breast on the grill, and while that's cooking make a salad. 15 minutes and you have a quick, easy meal that is filling, tastes good, and is healthy.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    3. Re:Missing the point by geekoid · · Score: 1

      Except you can already buy meal replacement drinks. Soylent seems to be a horrible nasty version of something that exists.

      It's like buying a crappy car someone built who also thinks no one else has ever built a car.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  39. ARS's Lee Hutchinson lived on it for a week... by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 1

    Over 6 months ago. I followed it but didn't see it changing my diet anytime soon.
    Before: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets...
    After: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets...

  40. People kibble by FridayBob · · Score: 1
    The last time this subject came up I was quite enthusiastic about it and shared my thoughts about it with a number of people, including my sister who happens to be a veterinarian. Here's what she had to say about it:

    It has its merits. For dogs. Or cats. It's usually referred to by us vets as "dry food" or "kibble". The pitfalls:

    • Dog and cat foods turned out to be not-so-balanced throughout the early years, causing food related diseases. The more famous of these being crystalluria (blocked cats) and taurine deficiency (dilated cardiomyopathy in cats). Most are better these days, the average dog or cat food being better balanced than the average TV dinner.
    • Bogus ingredients. The Chinese are great at adding things that look like proteins but aren't. In fact, they can be very harmful. They've already proven they don't care about human babies, and they make most of the fake medicines around. So: why wouldn't they sell cheaper soylent green, and why wouldn't you end up buying it? The current kidney failure mysteries connected to dog and cat foods are (the ones we've figured out, at least) related to Chinese ingredients. Beware of Soyrent Gleen!!!

    This is the first people kibble produced, and if fed as a sole diet, it will probably turn out to have similar problems. Interesting problems, no doubt, but problems nevertheless.

    On the brighter side it might have more merits in the lab: precisely controlling student diets while experimenting on them. (Glad I'm not a student in need of funds anymore. :-) )

    Otherwise, there is no magic to it. No surprise when eating it. Only tastes different when stale or you have a cold. Sounds utterly soulless. Even the best cookies don't make a good diet. In short: Yuck.

  41. intrigued by Tom · · Score: 1

    I'm still intrigued by this one. Curious.

    Not that I would want to live on it. I quite enjoy a good meal. However, there are also many days where I am absorbed in work or horribly busy or just not in the mood and meals are a necessity that I try to get done with as quickly as possible. Stuff like this would be perfect for those days and if it is what it claims to be, give me the peace of mind that I'm still eating nutritionally well.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  42. Re:So you can have more time for that other F-thin by shikaisi · · Score: 1

    Not a statistically significant sample, but in my experience, women who care about and enjoy food are the ones who also enjoy sex. The ones who can't be bothered to cook are also lousy in bed.

    --
    No left turn unstoned.
  43. @Hey! - Re:Just had a meal by nukenerd · · Score: 1
    Hey! wrote :

    My supper was red beans .... with rice, and hummus

    With all the talk here about Soylent Green, I read that last item as "humans".

    Anyway, your post gets today's Smugness award. It was a near thing, but your closing line clinched it.

  44. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by Altrag · · Score: 1

    I don't think we really understand nutrition well enough to hack it.

    And we never will if people like this guy weren't willing to experiment. Somebody's always got to be first.

  45. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by risom · · Score: 2

    Soylent has better marketing, that's it.

  46. More time for D&D and reading Star Wars novels by eatvegetables · · Score: 1

    ''' Rob found himself resenting the inordinate amount time it takes to fry an egg in the morning and decided something had to be done. Simplifying food as "nutrients required by the body to function" (which sounds totally bulimic, I know, but I promise it's not), Rob has come up with an odourless, beige cocktail that he calls Soylent. '''

    I can relate. I also resent the the inordinate amount of time is takes to bathe every day, pick out something to wear, or talk to a girl. Over a 20 year period, the average time a strong and virile young man like myself and Rob are at their mental and physical peak, eliminating egg frying and all these other hassles can liberate up to five years worth of extra time for more worthy pursuits such as playing D&D. Toss in the benefits have making some serious bucks and getting to drink a beige, odorless yet tasty beverage twelve times per day, well...damn. Sign my ass ...err stomach up!

  47. They need to dye it green by sproketboy · · Score: 1

    yummy

  48. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    I don't think we're at the point where someone can look at a nutrition textbook and design a healthy synthetic diet.

    And we never will be. There's variation between humans, so that sort of thing will always require close monitoring. Look at what Astronauts go through for an example.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  49. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by dwpro · · Score: 1

    Indeed. The further we go the more complicated we find the information including synthesis between chemical reactions and differences based on a host of factors, not the least of which is our large variance in gut microbes. Not to mention the fact that if you aren't chewing/ripping your food, you're not exercising your jaws, which might affect your facial musculature/skeletal development, which might affect your breathing patterns, which might introduce more bacteria, which...

    --
    Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
  50. I don't get it; this is a solved problem by sirwired · · Score: 2

    I don't understand this. At all. Complete "solid food replacements" have been around since forever. As in, actual nutrition companies that have some clue what they are doing have sold this stuff for people with chewing problems, and for use with feeding tubes, for decades. Some of it even tastes pretty good and has a texture that won't make you gag.

    Why the big hubbub about a complete amateur developing a nearly-unpalatable copy of what's already been done? Oh, I forgot! Crowdsourcing! Open Source! If the guy took BitCoins as payment, the Slashdot trifecta would be complete.

    1. Re:I don't get it; this is a solved problem by Githaron · · Score: 1

      Actually... He does optionally take BitCoins as payment.

    2. Re:I don't get it; this is a solved problem by JThundley · · Score: 1

      I imagine it's not as cheap.

    3. Re:I don't get it; this is a solved problem by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      He says it is "delicious". Though I'm not sure if everyone will find it delicious. In what sense do you say nearly-unpalatable ?

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
  51. Genesis of the greys. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And so it continues. As humanity seeks to further distance itself from having any joy in life by turning every activity into boring routine efficiency. Future historians will look back at this event as being one of the key moments which saw humanity turn into the greys.

  52. Counter-argument by alter-memo · · Score: 1

    I personally like this counter-argument, lots of real data:

    http://www.priceplow.com/blog/...

  53. You can buy this (in a non-nasty form) today by sirwired · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Go to your local drugstore. Go to the "Nutrition" isle. Purchase Ensure, Boost, Slim-Fast, or one of the store-brand generics. It has a smooth texture (unlike Soylent), a palatable tasted (unlike Soylent), and was developed by people that have some clue what they are doing (unlike Soylent.) If that's not enough calories for you, ask the Pharmacist to order Nutren or a similar product.

    These are professionally-developed products that have been in use for years and years. The high-test stuff, such as Nutren, is used for people with feeding tubes (but it is flavored and can be drunk) and they live off this stuff for decades.

    1. Re:You can buy this (in a non-nasty form) today by Tom · · Score: 1

      Thanks. I actually didn't know that, I've never seen these as food-replacements, but as dietary or complementary products. I'll check out what the equivalents available over here in Europe are.

      --
      Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    2. Re:You can buy this (in a non-nasty form) today by brando56894 · · Score: 1

      And you want to know how they make it have a smooth texture and make it palatable? They add synthetic chemicals, artificial flavorings and a bunch of sugar.

    3. Re:You can buy this (in a non-nasty form) today by sirwired · · Score: 1

      Soylent is hardly bereft of synthetic chemicals and artificial flavorings.

  54. Prostate cancer? No. by sirwired · · Score: 1

    Your prostate, which produces the stuff sperm swims around in, does not care how much roughage you get.

    You are thinking of the colon; an organ which, cancer or no, always is very concerned about proper roughage.

  55. BP-5 by Jesus_666 · · Score: 2

    There is a simlar product on the market: BP-5. It's intended as short-term emergency food and pretty much does what Soylent does minus some calories and fine-tuning. Actually, Soylent might have a chance of competing with BP-5 if it can boast a similar shelf life but superior nutritional value.

    If you want to buy BP-5 and can't buy it there's a similar product (virtually identical except in taste and packaging according to the German Wikipedia) called NRG-5 which might be easier to obtain.

    --
    USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  56. Way ahead of you by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    I've been living on a reddish-orange, macronutritious substance since 1994.

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sHwc...

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  57. Last Minute Reveal of Sucralose by DrewBeavis · · Score: 2

    They may have obtained $2 million in pre-orders, but just last week they revealed that the shipping version will contain Sucralose, an artificial sweetener. If they can't figure out a way to manage the PR issues besides just saying "You people are ignorant, sucralose is fine," then Soylent may not last long. Regardless of the pros or cons of artificial sweeteners, you have to give the customer what they want and not what they don't.

  58. Someone - something - is missing by Ronin+Developer · · Score: 1

    Perhaps, it still needs a few Prions for nervous system development?

    Anybody else read the book, "Kampus" (1977, James Edwin Gunn) about how people were making special pills that enhanced knowledge...setting was a university (Berkley, I think). In one scene, the guy drank his favorite professor's brain through a straw light a smoothy and absorbed the sum of his knowledge.

    Wonder if they can make it taste like a McDonalds shake?

  59. "Scared of competition"... err.. no. by sirwired · · Score: 1

    My argument against Soylent is that it is developed by somebody who is not a nutritionist by either experience or training. If a Nutrition PhD student developed this stuff, I'd consider it. If it wasn't nasty glop, I'd consider it (although I'd certainly hesitate to try and live off of it.)

    But there's no assurance at all it works as designed, and it's nasty besides. What does it have going for it?

    And no, I have nothing whatsoever to do with the nutrition industry; my Slashdot posting history should be proof enough of that.

    1. Re:"Scared of competition"... err.. no. by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      My argument against Soylent is that it is developed by somebody who is not a nutritionist by either experience or training. If a Nutrition PhD student developed this stuff, I'd consider it. If it wasn't nasty glop, I'd consider it (although I'd certainly hesitate to try and live off of it.)

      When it comes to things that could poison me, I'm totally on board with that ideology.

      However, I can't help but keep in mind that the aeroplane was invented in a shed by a couple of bicycle repairmen.

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  60. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by hey! · · Score: 1

    Well, it's hard to say, because TFA doesn't say anything about the ingredients in this guy's concoction.

    Ensure's first ingredient is table sugar, which is not so hot. It won't kill you, in the *short run*.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  61. Yep, they are indeed "meal-replacements" by sirwired · · Score: 1

    I don't know how they are marketed in Europe, but here in the US, they are sold (and labeled) as "meal-replacement" drinks. They have their own section in the store, separate from the ordinary beverages. In addition, they are developed by either drug companies or special "nutritional" divisions of larger firms. Sure, I'd be hesitant to drink an "all-in-one" developed by, say, Coke. But I think something developed by, say, Nestle Nutritionals, which develops their consumer-marketed products right alongside the ones designed specifically for medical use, should be okay.

    (As a fascinating side-note, the logo for Nestle Nutritionals is a mommy bird feeding a baby bird. Given how birds feed their young (by essentially vomiting pre-chewed food), I'm not sure that was the best choice.)

    1. Re:Yep, they are indeed "meal-replacements" by muridae · · Score: 1

      Some are meal replacements (like high protein and fiber ones) while others are meal supplements. Check the calories and protein and all the rest, if it's not about 30% of the DV then it isn't a 'meal'. I've lived off a few of them for a few days (intestinal surgery sucks: liquid only for a few days, clear liquid for 2 days with the nastiest antibiotics...) but I really don't recommend it. I suppose that with the right gelatin & oil based multivitamin you could get by on them. But it's cheaper, if you don't worry about sodium, to grab a $0.99 microwaveable meat+starch+vegi frozen food (pot pie, sandwich, pizza, whatever) and then use the meal replacement shakes as a supplement to round out what the other food doesn't get you.

  62. This is a dumb idea by larry+bagina · · Score: 1
    For multiple reasons. But consider this:

    Remember melamine? Somebody discovered that you can water down your milk, add some melamine, and profit. So melamine milk goes in baby formula and dog food.

    Let's say you have a dog or a baby. You buy a bag of dog food/baby formula, and that's all they eat for a month or two, until you run out and buy the next bag. And if it's got melamine, now you have a dead dog. Or a dead baby.

    Variety is the spice of life, folks. If you eat nothing but soylent, you will die. I can't live with that.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    1. Re:This is a dumb idea by geekoid · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for soylent, but there are product you drink and can survive on, and people do.
      There are people who can not eat due to medical reasons.

      Yes poeple in an unregulated market added melamine to milk..in China.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  63. YOu can already buy stuff to drink by geekoid · · Score: 1

    and not need to eat. There are people who can't eat and survive on just a drink.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  64. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by Mashdar · · Score: 1

    Anything liquid is either going to be incomplete or hell on your pancreas. Fiber and starches are important. A glance at Ensure reveals 50g of sugar per cup. That's more than twice what's in Coke...

  65. Re:Space Food by MightyYar · · Score: 1

    Yeah, I got married and had kids as well. Welcome to the club.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  66. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by geekoid · · Score: 1

    except for the fact that we have. You can buy meal replacements right now, and there are product for people who can not eat.

    Astronauts are a horrible example. They have restrictions for reasons no person on earth(literally) will ever have.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  67. Vegan Fish Oil.. wtf... by Medievalist · · Score: 1

    . Yeah, your blood work tends to improve when you eat a simple vegan diet, and that's all soylent contains.

    Because fish are just extremely fast moving vegetables? And commercially obtained calcium is never made from crushed bones?

    A real vegan diet would kill a lot of people; some of us physically require animal-derived nutrition. Which is unsurprising, given our dental structure.

    And the vegan ethical/moral argument appears to be bankrupt too. A mindful omnivore, who eats grass-fed beef, kills far fewer animals than a vegan who eats tofu.

    Veganism aside, though, I have to agree with you that he's laying the pseudo-scientific health claims on with a trowel.

  68. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    except for the fact that we have. You can buy meal replacements right now

    Yeah. Ever tried to live on those for long? You won't enjoy it, and not just because of the "flavor".

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  69. Re:The problem I have with this is that I don't th by Laxori666 · · Score: 1

    Where do you see that? According to their site, one bottle has 41g of carbs, only 18g of which are sugar (for the dark chocolate one).

  70. What deserves the added scrutiny? by Valdrax · · Score: 1

    Everything in Soylent is GRAS (generally recognized as safe). The ingredient list is easy to find online, and all the company is really doing is paying someone to mix ingredients ordered from other suppliers which are already approved as safe in food. They aren't doing anything in house themselves beyond testing the recipe.

    What exactly do you expect the FDA to find which would merit additional scrutiny beyond that which is already present at all their suppliers and at their mixer & packer?

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  71. What's for dinner, Brain? by whitroth · · Score: 1

    The same thing as lunch, breakfast, and yesterday's dinner, Pinky, soylent.
    Can we have it fried tonight, Brain?
    Sorry, Pinky, we don't have any oil, just soylent, soylent, soylent....
    #insert Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police.chorus

                          mark "and now for something completely different"

  72. DIY Soylent isn't much cheaper by sirwired · · Score: 1

    Yes, I suppose if you go with the bottom-dollar "Poor Man's Recipe", you can save some dough (not enough for me, personally, to choke that down, though.)

    I imagine most people would start with the "Beginners's Recipe". It costs $6.59 for 1697 calories. (257 kcal/$). This is right off of the "SoylentMaker" website.

    Surprise! Nestle Nutren 2.0, containing everything a human needs, with a taste, texture, and nutrient content that doesn't have any bugs to work out, is 500 calories for $2.15, (232 kcal/$) shipped right off of Amazon. (And I imagine local suppliers that don't have to mail crates of liquid would have it for less.)

    If I'm replacing my meal with a liquid, I'll let somebody that knows what they are doing take that task off my hands for a 10% upcharge, thank you very much.

  73. But, but... by CCarrot · · Score: 1

    ...is it green?

    --
    "I love animals! Some are cute, others are tasty, what's not to like?" - Betsy Schroeder, Jeopardy contestant
  74. Re:@Hey! - Re:Just had a meal by hey! · · Score: 1

    Well, I'd drink beer if it came in 8oz bottles. I like alcohol but suffer from alcohol flush syndrome. One standard size drink is just a little too much for me, so I buy a 750ml bottle of liquor and it lasts me about a month.

    I also grew up in a restaurant family, so good food is second nature to me. I don't see it as anything to be ashamed of.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  75. Soylent is a real time saver. by drainbramage · · Score: 1

    Soylent is a real time saver.
    You can warm it up and pour it right into the toilet.

    --
    No brain, no pain.
  76. As Charlton Heson said by LowerTheBar · · Score: 1

    "It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them! " I can't believe that this is the name they chose for this product! I thought this was a joke because of the name...has anyone here seen the movie Soylent Green?

  77. Aversion to offal rises with industrialization? by zooblethorpe · · Score: 1

    For some reason in the past century or so, Americans and other Western cultures have started to develop an aversion to offal, but that's a recent and somewhat stupid development.

    I wonder if that timing is indicative -- I wonder if the Western aversion to organ meets is at all related to the ways in which 1) organ meats typically contain higher concentrations of environmental poisons, and 2) the number and dangerousness of environmental poisons has increased substantially since we started learning how to make more of them.

    Cheers,

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."
  78. Missed the point by a MILE by dbIII · · Score: 1

    random fresh food

    I'm talking about the early 20th century and before here. I'm also talking about the situation where the Inuit servants were in good health living off what the expedition doctor did not consider part of an ideal diet while expedition members were dying from strange effects of deficiency while having plenty to eat. It turns out that you can't just live off steak, even seal steak.
    The "ideal diet" was not seen to include organ meats by some respected scientists.
    However at the same time other expeditions were less fussy and eating the whole seal (or whatever) and science was slowly beginning to prove that eating liver really is good for you. Mawson had heard that so saved the dog liver for his sicker companions. For years it was suspected that they overdosed on vitamin A but nobody has been able to find anything close to fatal levels in dog livers (of any breed) since. There's been speculation about parasites and other things, but when it comes down to it people who are seriously ill in polar conditions pulling heavy sledges around are at high risk of loss of life from just about anything that makes them sicker.

  79. Why they have different caloric values by sirwired · · Score: 1

    The different versions of Nutren have different caloric values, all purporting to provide a full day's nutrition with four cans, because they are targeted towards different populations. As in, a person confined to a hospital bed that can't do anything but drink can have their full day's requirements provided with four cans of 1.0. Somebody who's medical problem means they have a feeding tube, but are otherwise normal individuals, would have four cans of 2.0 dumped down their tube every day.

  80. Re:There are many, many vital micronutrients by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 1

    You're out of your mind if you think alcoholism isn't common in Italy and Spain..

    --


    He tried to kill me with a forklift!
  81. You'd be wrong. by sirwired · · Score: 1

    Nestle Nutren is actually cheaper than Soylent. You can order Nestle Nutren 2.0 for about $2/can off of Amazon, and four cans (500 kcal) will power you for a day.

    1. Re:You'd be wrong. by JThundley · · Score: 1

      Thanks for proving me wrong, I might try this out!

  82. Other reviews have disagreed by sirwired · · Score: 1

    When your recipe talks about adding a small amount of vanillin to "disguise the fishy taste of some of the ingredients", I don't think taste is at the top of your priority list.

    And none of the reviews of the stuff have had great things to say about the texture.

    1. Re:Other reviews have disagreed by bingoUV · · Score: 1

      Thanks. The only details I saw were a vague list of sources of nutrients. Where did you see this recipe?

      --
      Bingo Dictionary - Pragmatist, n. A myopic idealist.
    2. Re:Other reviews have disagreed by sirwired · · Score: 1

      It's right there on the blog for the official commercial Soylent product: http://blog.soylent.me/ It has a full list of ingredients, along with quantities.

  83. He had little to do with the formulation by sirwired · · Score: 1

    Maybe you should inform yourself about the role of people in a product before you give them credit for something.

    The inventor of Soylent is most definitely NOT a nutritionist. None of the people on the executive team are nutritionists.

    The guy with the big long list of titles you mentioned? The only mention of him on the web page stated confirmed that the macronutrient ratios were of a certain value, and can form the macronutient base for a non-deficient diet. That's it. Notably, it didn't say he did any analysis for adequate micronutrients, bioavailibility, or any of the other things you need to know if you want to claim to sell a complete replacement for solid food.

  84. Re:My Soylent Story by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

    We have a community kitchen that is a disaster area to walk into, and are not allowed to do any cooking in our rooms other then in a microwave. So unless I want to be living off of Swanson boxes, I have two options for food.

    Third option : man up (or woman up, if that's your thing) and sort out the kitchen. If the other students using your kitchen area (for which you are paying as part of your fees) are disgusting slobs, then the university authorities had better have a policy that requires them to adhere to certain reasonable minimum standards, and some enforcement protocol.

    When I was in halls - 1 year out of 4 at university - people could be expelled from the university for misbehaviour like that. More often, they'd come back from half term or full term break to find that they didn't have a place in halls any more. (Everyone had to move out of their rooms during every vacation - the rooms were rented out for the conference and vacation business. There were storage lockers for rent.)

    The rules are there precisely to prevent this sort of problem. It's up to you to use the rules though.

    Ach, it's an AC ; waste of electrons.

    --
    Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  85. Re:Wait, what? by Immerman · · Score: 1

    Actually, I think they're covered by the Drug part of FDA. Just try to eat just one.

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  86. Re:So you can have more time for that other F-thin by brando56894 · · Score: 1

    My girlfriend can't cook worth a damn, enjoys food, and is awesome in bed.

  87. Re:So you can have more time for that other F-thin by brando56894 · · Score: 1

    Farting?