Erianna James
Professor Jesse Miller
English 110 H-5
27 September 2019
Is Soylent the new meal?
Does food give us hopes and nightmares? Is food a burden and useful? There are numerous answers to this question depending on who it is asked to. When most people were younger, their parents would make them breakfast, lunch, and dinner so it was not a problem trying to find time to eat but as we get older it is harder to find time to eat. In the article, “The End of Food” by Lizzie Widdicombe she talks about her and Rhinehart’s point of view about food. Rhinehart believes that food is a burden and a hassle. He talks about this mixture of important things we need that food gives people like vitamins all put together in liquid form. This mixture is called Soylent and it could possibly be beneficial to people because it could replace food. He created Soylent so he would not have to eat again because he thinks the only thing that is important about food is the nutrients we get from it. I agree that soylent could be beneficial but there are non beneficial things that could come from drinking Soylent. Widdicombe believes that there is more to food than nutrients. She believes that food time like breakfasts, lunches, and dinners help us with time and emotion. I agree with Widdicombe and Rhinehart because food is sometimes a burden but I believe Soylent could not achieve the fulfillment that food gives people.
One reason I agree with both sides is the college experience. For some college students going to get food is a waste of time and they skip important meals to catch up on homework, go
to work, or other things. Other college students would say food makes their entire day and they would do anything to get some food. Since most college students live on campus, some people live too far from the cafe or going to get food is going to take too long so it is not worth it. In My Favorite Meal essay I talk about how I do not enjoy the food they serve at my cafe. I am a picky eater and mostly grew up on Caribbean food. Rhinehart made Soylent as a replacement for food and I too have replaced my meals with a substitute, but in a less extreme way. When I do not like the food in the dining hall I ask my friends to get me ham in a cup and it fills me up and satisfies me throughout the day because I can get to class or do homework before classes and eat to spare time. The ham is deli ham they serve in the dining hall and a plastic cup from the dining hall too. Ham in a cup and Soylent are different yet the same idea because Soylent is the nutrients in a bottle and ham in a cup is basically protein in a cup instead of going out to get food. One concept that is bad about this idea is missing out on social interactions. When I am eating in my dorm all my friends are with each other in the dining hall talking about their day and I miss out on the conversation or meeting new people. Like Widdicombe expresses, eating food throughout the day helps with social interactions and making and meeting new friends. I do feel like I miss a lot when I’m eating in my dorm because most people, especially in school, talk about their day and drama during lunch and dinnertime. When Widdicombe talked to Rhinehart, one thing she talked about was how he looked and how he acted, “Topics such as pop culture and gossip don’t come up much with him, and he seems unmoved by consumer culture in any form” (Widdicombe, 4). Widdicombe noticed that Rhinehart lived a very minimalistic lifestyle. After Rhinehart mostly lived on soylent for a year, he did not seem too interested in the outside world. He seemed like he did not have a problem with how he was living.
Another reason is time management. Rhinehart’s idea helps save time throughout the day because Soylent is a meal on the go. Widdicombe talked about her experience trying soylent for the first time, “If you’re in a groove at your computer, and feel a hunger pang, you don’t have to stop for lunch. Your energy levels stay consistent” (Widdicombe, 14). She talks about how much energy she has throughout the day without stopping to eat. High school, middle school, and elementary students go home to a nice cooked meals so that saves them time. They also have a timed lunch or breaks so they get a chance to eat throughout their classes. College is very different from any schooling people go through because it is basically where people become adults so you have to learn how and when to manage time to do important things throughout the day. I can relate to her experience because when I make food in my dorm instead of going to the dining hall and I can work done while waiting for my food to heat up, I can eat and do work and I do not have to wait until any of my friends are done eating. The amount of time my friends and I take in the dining hall is almost over an hour which could be used to be getting things done and being productive. However on the other hand Widdicombe brings up important thoughts, “You begin to realize how much of your day revolves around food. Meals provide punctuation to our lives” (Widdicombe, 14). The quote talks about how meals help time our day out. In order to get everything people give themselves a certain amount of time to eat throughout the day at different hours. I understand that because people map out their day and give themselves time to eat and it does help figure out what is happening throughout the day. Meals help plan out because people plan around them to help incorporate it into the day.
The last reason is what type of food people eat. In all schooling systems they are required to serve lunch but college is a little different. In College, they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner which makes sense because everyone has classes at different times. Some people do not like the food schools serve because people eat variations of food depending on their health and what they like. Some people are allergic to certain things in foods like gluten, so they have to eat gluten-free. One advantage Soylent brings is that everyone is different like some people are vegan or vegetarians but that won’t matter when you drink Soylent. One negative thing is that everyone enjoys different taste but with soylent, it will always be the same taste. Taste is one way a meal is memorable and enjoyable. In My Favorite Meal essay I talk about my favorite meal which is curry goat and white rice because how it makes me feel and what memories it brings up for me. Soylent won’t be memorable and it would just be like eating the same thing everyday.
In conclusion, I agree with Rhinehart and Widdicombe about soylent. Soylent is beneficial and non beneficial for many reasons. If people wanted to eat food when they had time and drank Soylent when they did not then Soylent could be very useful in the world. I believe that food and Soylent could be in our everyday diets in the future. Although Soylent does not have the same characteristics that food does and it could not bring the same fulfillment food does to our life, it can be helpful in many other ways.
Works Cited
Lizzie Widdicombe, “The End of Food” The New Yorker March 5, 2014
