Soylent 2.0 Comes Bottled and Ready To Drink

An anonymous reader writes: Soylent has announced today their latest product, Soylent 2.0. It comes premixed and ready to drink in recyclable bottles. Each bottle is one fifth of a scientifically balanced daily meal plan, will last up to a year unrefrigerated, and will cost you $2.42. A Soylent blog post reads in part: "Not only are its ingredients vegan, Soylent 2.0 reaches an unprecedented level of environmental sustainability with half of its fat energy coming from farm-free, algae sources. This next generation agricultural technology has the potential to reduce the ecological impact of food production by orders of magnitude, signifying a major step towards a future of abundance, a world where optimal nutrition is the new normal."

Comments

Oblicatory

[mitcheli]

I'm waiting for their Green formula.

Re:Oblicatory

[XxtraLarGe]

With all due respect, I'd rather eat Ramen and take a vitamin pill than consume the current Soylent formulations and fart all night long.

Why choose only one when you can do both?

Re:Oblicatory

[geekmux]

I'm waiting for their Green formula.

Regardless of company name, choosing to name a new oddball food product Soylent (as in Green) was the result of someone sitting in the marketing department wondering how they could possibly create more controversy than GMO has ever managed to muster...

Re:Oblicatory

[ArcadeMan]

This Soylent Green tastes funny... Oh look, the box says "May contain clowns".

Re:Oblicatory

[volkerdi]

I've had no issues with Soylent 1.4/1.5 producing the kind of room-clearing gas that earlier versions did. It's really rather disappointing.

Re:Oblicatory

[penguinoid]

I know that this is the website I visit to get all my soylent news.

Re: Oblicatory

[bjohnson]

Oh, I don't know; I was actually wondering what their business plan is once they run out of vegans to grind up and bottle...

Re:Oblicatory

[SuricouRaven]

I've seen the film. The official explanation is that the Soylent product line was named as it was originally made from soy and lentils, though it was implied that marine algae farms were also required. At the end it is revealed that the new product Soylent Green is made from reprocessed human corpses - a desperate attempt to maximize production when environmental damage has crippled agriculture, which the government tries to hide from people out of concern there will be mass panic if it becomes known how close to starvation the world is.

Re:Obligatory

[Irate Engineer]

I'm waiting for their Green formula.

I've heard it tastes like ass.

They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[bistromath007]

Congratulations, soylent, on perfecting your middle class hipster chow. Wake me when a month's supply of your gross bullshit doesn't cost half again as much as my SNAP benefits.

Re:They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Your steadfast determination to show everyone how unimpressed you are shows you're more of a hipster than you'll ever accuse anyone of being.

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[bistromath007]

*rolleyes*

I remember looking into this stuff a while ago. It was already too expensive for what it was when it was only powder, and since you can only get it online anyway, it's always been unavailable to people who could genuinely benefit from something like it.

Part of their hype... Er, stated goals, is to change the way the world thinks about food supply, reduce environmental impact, and improve the affordability of nutrition. But their crap is only cheap if you customarily go to Starbucks every morning. They have made the Tesla of food: big promises about social goals that go nowhere and just give horn-rim wearing assholes another status symbol.

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[Isarian]

I wouldn't shove them into the same category as Tesla myself. Soylent's hype was about taking something existing (liquid food) and retooling it for the masses (basically liquid food but with a different nutrient balance for the non-bedridden). If they had met their promise and actually produced a product that would reduce food costs for the masses and be accessible to the general public on basic food benefits it would have been great, but hey, like you said - hype.

Tesla/SpaceX on the other hand are developing revolutionary technologies that didn't exist previously and building a massive electric vehicle infrastructure available to all EVs as well as opening up their tech to the competition. If they tip the automotive balance over to EVs and help to produce a market of affordable electric vehicles they'll have surmounted a significant environmental and social hurdle to the benefit of the entire planet.

Re:They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[Anonymous Coward]

In this case, he's got a fair complaint. The original concept of THIS soylent was to make a cheap food to get poor people their nutrients (especially those out in "food deserts").

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[bistromath007]

Thank you for confirming that a vegan diet is fundamentally a middle class affectation that should offend anyone who actually understands global food supply problems at all.

Re:They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[Isarian]

Well first I'd say that you have to have it for a few days before getting used to the taste. The closest thing I could use as an analogy is VERY thin pancake batter. Very little texture to speak of, just mostly drinks like water and is very slightly sweet. I enjoyed the taste but the liquid part of it set off my reflux :/

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[bistromath007]

And they also frequently struggle with malnutrition. Because a vegan diet that is actually complete is unquestionably harder and more expensive than a non-vegan one. It is something you can only really reliably do in a first world country, where it is therefore an infuriatingly hypocritical exercise of privilege.

Re:They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[OrangeTide]

What exactly does this stuff TASTE like?

disturbingly neutral. Like scientifically engineered inoffensive blandness.

I think if I were too busy to care about eating, it would be a useful product. Imagine the weightloss if eating became a boring chore. I might even find other things to do instead to avoid eating, like clean the house.

Re:They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[thinkwaitfast]

disturbingly neutral. Like scientifically engineered inoffensive blandness.

So English food?

Re:They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[jedidiah]

Ironically, something that looks like a cracker would probably be a much better option. That's a much more portable approach that doesn't require extra resources when eating in the field. Armies have even used this sort of concept for their field rations.

Something that requires mixing assumes infastructure and resources that may not exist.

Plus everyone knows that real Soylent looks like crackers...

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[jedidiah]

Been there. Did that. Moved on. Grew Up.

We could also feed the world by simply distributing the food that we let rot because it isn't perfect enough or to prop up commodity prices.

Haitians don't want our feed corn.

Although I could see you forcing it on yourself strangely enough.

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[Oligonicella]

No one is feeding you anything. You feed yourself. That makes you responsible, not a food supplier. I'd far rather live in a world where I watch some dumbass eat himself to death than live in one without Twinkies because some crusade removed everything dumbass could hurt himself by eating.

You suffer from that magical view of the past thing as well. Your list ("obesity, heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and many many other serious medical issues") existed prior to modern foods. We just died of other stuff first and more often.

Re:They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[Dr_Barnowl]

The guy lived on it exclusively for a few months and had regular blood tests to make sure his health was maintained.

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[phil.swansborough]

Wow, what a load of absolute crap! I've been a vegan for nearly a decade and I spend less than anyone I know, including all of my vegetarian friends, on food. Why talk about something you clearly know nothing about? And you get modded +5 insightful basically because it's an anti-vegan comment to go with the group think.

Re: They aren't revolutionizing shit.

[bingoUV]

Oil the hinge of the needle of your scale.

Bowl of snot

[TWX]

It's a single-celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs.

Re:Bowl of snot

[preaction]

... It doesn't have _Everything_ the body needs...

Re:Bowl of snot

[Anonymous Coward]

It has electrolytes, and that's what a body craves.

Now stop talking like such a fag.

I don't get it,... five a day?

[Selur]

"Each bottle is one fifth of a scientifically balanced daily meal plan, "
$2.42 per 400-calorie bottle so $12.08 a day,... cooking my self I can manage a (I hope) tastier alternative for less,...

Sorry, but I really don't get why this is interesting at all, for a short moment I thought: "Okay, may be for long term 'food' storage, then I read '"However, we counter that by the fact that the drink does not require refrigeration and also does not spoil until at least one year."

=> What is the gain in using this?

Re:I don't get it,... five a day?

[Isarian]

The idea was to have foodstuff that is easy to prepare, low-cost, and includes all of your dV of various dietary needs. One of the promises/mission statements by Rob Rhinehart was to reduce the cost of Soylent over the time - there's some consternation in the Soylent community right now because with the announcement of 2.0 they are also increasing the cost of the base powder form of Soylent with no material change to the formula - your standard price hike, quite contrary to the promise of lower costs over time.

Re:I don't get it,... five a day?

[Anonymous Coward]

=> What is the gain in using this?

Silicon Valley 1.0: Let's build something cool and make the world a better place.
Silicon Valley 2.0: FUCK YEAH DISRUPT ALL THE THINGS BECOME BILLIONAIRE!

The "benefit" of Soylent is you can make millions of dollars by convincing other wannabe-millionaires by giving them Life Hacks(tm) so they can Bro Down(tm) and Code(tm). Flavor is an impediment to Productivity(tm). Concern for presentation is an impediment to Agility(tm). Time that you spend cooking and eating food with flavor is time that could be spent Disrupting(tm).

You have time for eating something as pedestrian as food, and you further demand that your food have flavor? If you aren't spending every waking minute on your Startup(tm), you're obviously not Passionate(tm) about it. Bro, do you even Lyft(tm)?

Re:I don't get it,... five a day?

[pr0t0]

I don't think it's really meant to be a complete food replacement for most people. I make my own based off of what I saw on the DIY Soylent page. Mine's a bit more nutritionally complete than most DIY stuff, is a little cheaper, and is fewer calories than actual Soylent. It also contains no soy or oats (which can cause gas). I only consume it for breakfast and lunch, Monday through Friday. I really love it though. It's quick, easy, low cost, filling, and nutritionally complete. How much molybdenum do you get? How about Selenium? Enough?

My only worry is absorption. It's all well and good to say that I am putting the National Institute of Health's RDI of each vitamin, mineral, and macronutrient; but I don't really know if I'm absorbing all of that. Still, I feel great, I'm losing weight, and my bloodwork is good.

My guess is the bottled product is part of a long-term strategy to eventually push to sell the product in grocery stores. It will be meant for grab-and-go eating that some people will pay a higher price for given the convenience. Soylent will wholesale it to the stores who will then mark it back up to a price that Soylent can say people are already comfortable paying.

Re:I don't get it,... five a day?

[93 Escort Wagon]

i can buy a pound of hamburger, one tomato, one onion, head of lettuce, loaf of bread, for about 20 bucks, and cook four hamburgers, and feed four people and it will taste a heck of a lot better, thats about 5 bucks each a day, a lot better than a liquid diet too

But that's not nutritionally complete.

You need to add bacon and cheddar cheese.

Who wants to drink pureed vegans?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> Not only are its ingredients vegan

Who the f*** wants to drink pureed vegans?

If I'm going to get my liquid cannibal on, I want the taste of real hamburger-fed 'muricans!

Re:Who wants to drink pureed vegans?

[Nidi62]

>> Not only are its ingredients vegan

Who the f*** wants to drink pureed vegans?

If I'm going to get my liquid cannibal on, I want the taste of real hamburger-fed 'muricans!

Too fatty. Besides, vegans are grass-fed. Gives better flavor than grain-fed.

Not A Slashvert for the Competition...!

[Hardness]

I forgot about Soylent. I read the headline and thought, "Wow, Soylent News' new business model is pretty interesting!"

"...Wait, why is this on Slashdot..?" //reads more carefully:

"Oh."

Re:Obligatory

[drinkypoo]

I've heard it tastes like ass.

You're thinking of Soylent Brown.

"farm-free, algae sources"

[Nutria]

What's wrong with farmed algae?

Re:"farm-free, algae sources"

[Anonymous Coward]

It's easier if you catch it in the wild than try to get it to go through all those turnstiles to be slaughtered.

Re:"farm-free, algae sources"

[gaudior]

Well, there's not much wrong with free-range, locally-sourced algae, but the real problems come from the container-bred, factory-farmed algae.

Re:"farm-free, algae sources"

[Junta]

farmed algae is inhumane. Constrained to live in limited vats I eat only free range algae. They get to exercise you see.

At $363/month per person, not sustainable

[EmagGeek]

How are urban hipsters supposed to come up with $363/month PER PERSON, in addition to the rent on their industrial loft, $15/day coffee habits, and fixed-gear bicycles?

Re:At $363/month per person, not sustainable

[gaudior]

Patreon.

A world where optimal nutrition is the new normal?

[lbmouse]

A world with out medium rare prime rib and good quality cheeses is no world for lbmouse. When does the next rocket leave?

Space Food Sticks v2.0

[smoothnorman]

"let'see everyone who was alive in the 1960s is dead now, right? so it's time again to sucker them into the 'Bachelor Chow' 'Meal in a Pill' scam" : "non-frozen balance energy snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of carbohydrate, fat and protein" (yep "rod form", that's exactly missing here)

Re:Obligatory

[ThatsNotPudding]

I've heard it tastes like ass.

Dunno, but from what I've read, it will *sound* and *smell* as such.

That's Crazy Expensive

[drinkypoo]

Ensure is 1/3 of a daily meal plan and costs $1.19/unit. In order to be successful, a new product has to be cheaper and better. If your definition includes sustainability then it might be "better", but at literally twice the price of the entrenched competition, it's got to be twice as good. But it's little more than half the food value... So it's got to taste almost four times as good as Ensure to be compelling. Guess what?

Re:That's Crazy Expensive

[ExekielS]

You are kidding, right? If anything, that isn't enough. It has over 230 carbs in the present recipe, when a healthy range is 50-150. Anything higher starts to cause insulin resistance high blood triglycerides, high blood sugar, and numerous problems throughout the body. If anything, more of the carbs need to be removed and replaced with fat. They had more protein initially, but lowered the amount because it was causing very smelly farts because people eat so little protein generally, but it should still be higher to keep up with those who live more active lifestyles. The only reason I'm not already on soylent is because of it's extremely high carb levels. At least they brought it down from over 300 carbs per day, but they still have a long way to go.

Screw Soylent!

[ArcadeMan]

It doesn't even have ELECTROLYTES!

Re:Sustainable?

[drinkypoo]

Because plant sources of fat are not environmentally sustainable?

Not as modern agriculture is practiced.

Everything

[FreeUser]

What's wrong with farmed algae?

It's not people.

Re:Obligatory

[LordSkippy]

Actually, the taste varies from person to person.

Re:Obligatory

[Applehu Akbar]

Obviously, the vegans it's made from. This is revenge of the best kind - environmentally sensitive vengeance.

Soylent , I would suggest following this up with a solid, sweetened product, in a variety of flavors, called Just Desserts

Actually, an old recipe

[PPH]

Handed down from visiting aliens in a book titled "To Serve Man".

Re:Too expensive

[pjt33]

Maybe you think food in Spain is cheap as well, but I don't know how I'd manage to spend 11€ on food in one day unless I go to a restaurant. And I cook for one, so I don't get much by way of economies of scale.

Nonsense

[dlenmn]

Because a vegan diet that is actually complete is unquestionably harder and more expensive than a non-vegan one.

I'm not a vegan (or a vegetarian), but that's total nonsense. Just because some people make it "harder" (whatever that means) or more expensive doesn't mean it inherently is. Back up you claim. WHY is a vegan diet intrinsically "harder" and more expensive?

Rice and beans make a cheap, complete protein. There are all sorts of vegetable oils for fats (no need for extra virgin olive oil), or eat some peanuts (or real nuts if you want to splurge). You get your carbs from grain/bread/etc. If you can't stand veggies for vitamins, then pop a vitamin pill.

Those are some basics; fill in the blanks on your own.

And they also frequently struggle with malnutrition.

And? Poor people are malnourished because they can't afford to eat. News at 11.

Re:Nonsense

[jedidiah]

Just the necessary clue to eat your greens with some fat puts even the "low fat" non vegan dietary fad into the "too hard to be sustainable" category. Anything that requires the consumer to have any sort of clue is doomed to increase the general malnutrition level of the population.

It doesn't even have to be a diet for rich political extremists.

People write entire books about this kind of problem.

The heuristic "eat a little bit of everything in moderation" is a much more viable approach.

Viable diets exist within an entire cultural framework that takes the guesswork and research out of not hurting yourself. Anything else is just another variation on fad diets we were told to avoid in our youth.

Re:I'm waiting for the

[thinkwaitfast]

Soylent is people.

Happy now?

Errr... no. This isn't more nutritious.

[sirwired]

People live off of Ensure, Boost, Nutren, et al., as their sole source of calories for years on end and don't seem to develop nutritional deficiencies. Maybe Soylent is more "natural" (whatever that means), but the established alternatives (which, in addition to being sold by people that know what they are doing, are cheaper) have a proven track record. At best, Soylent meets basic requirements, but frankly I have my doubts, given how they (last time I checked) STILL didn't have an actual nutritionist checking on the micronutrients.

(Nutren, which although drinkable and flavored, is specifically advertised as being feeding-tube compatible... people have lived for decades off the stuff.)

And, as you point out, the Soylent people keep making major changes to the formula, demonstrating that they still don't really have any idea what they are doing. They should have started with an established nutritional drink and worked to develop an "open source" equivalent. Starting from scratch out of utter ignorance was the exact wrong approach.

Recipe for Vegan Pie

[Irate Engineer]

Soylent , I would suggest following this up with a solid, sweetened product, in a variety of flavors, called Just Desserts

This reminds me of the recipe for Vegan Pie. Step 1: Peel, core, and slice one vegan....

Re:Obligatory

[Soylent Beige]

Hello!