What’s

What’s
Soylent? According to the 1973 sci-fi film Soylent Green
it’s a highly nutritional food substitute. The movie depicts a
dystopian future where food is scarce and rationing is rife. People
are given a green wafer which contains everything a human needs to
live. The catch is that these green wafers are in fact made from
human bodies.

In 2015 (and reality), Soylent is a highly nutritional food substitute made
from, well, chemicals and for the past week it is the only thing I
have eaten. The company advises that this isn’t the normal way to
enjoy Soylent, not from a health perspective, just from sanity’s
point of view. To prove it’s safe, Rob Rhinehart, the inventor of
Soylent, has lived almost exclusively on it for the past two years.
He also assures me that the name of the meal-replacement is simply
a nod to the sci-fi epic.

The Los Angeles-based startup has just closed a $20 million,
Andreessen-led funding round. Its vision is simple: offer an
alternative to food and the alleged burdens that come with
preparing it. I thought I would give it a go seeing as I despise
food preparation, could do with consuming more nutrients and wanted
to come to my own conclusion about all this hype.

Day 1

It’s cold. I’m hungry. I’m tired, typically hungrier than usual
on a Monday morning. I’ve had a pitcher of Soylent ‘resting’
overnight in the fridge and a pint sized vessel which will be used
to consume three meals containing everything I could possibly need
for a balanced diet. Woo. I knew this was a good idea.

It tastes OK. Imagine a Starbucks Frappuccino. Now take away
that taste and texture completely and replace it with raw cake
batter. It has a hint of vanilla that helps it go down. Twelve
hours later and three meals down, I feel fine. Have I been dreaming
of food? No. Am I full? Yes. This will be a piece of cake…

Day 2

Apparently Soylent gives people the ability to jump out of bed
in the morning with a new lease of life. This is not the case,
certainly after Day 1 at least. The thought of Soylent for
breakfast makes me want to wretch. Not so much the taste, but the
consistency.

Day 3

I feel pretty awkward eating Soylent for lunch in public. It
seems people think I’m an athlete cradling an offensively large
protein shake. I guess that’s better than
‘Man-who-doesn’t-eat-food.’ Despite my new-found love of Soylent, I
can’t help but think that doing this long-term would be
impossible.

Day 4

I feel fine, I think yesterday was exaggerated. One thing I have
noticed is I haven’t had a cigarette since Day 2. I’m a frequent
smoker, on about five a day, so this is a massive shock. What’s
stranger is I haven’t thought about smoking at all. Is this down to
the new balance of vitamins and minerals? Perhaps. There might be
something in this Soylent thing after all.

Day 5

I’m going through the motions now and have made the adjustment
to my new diet. Drinking meals is part of my new routine and I have
to say it’s not that bad. Nothing new to report. The biggest
benefit for me currently is the lack of washing up. Normal meal
preparation is something I have just come to accept over the years.
Thirty minutes in the supermarket after work followed by another 30
minutes prep time is just one of life’s annoyances, but not on
Soylent.

Day 6

Not much to report. I’m used to it. I have since had a cigarette
or three but over the course of six days that’s nothing to be
overlooked. I’m looking forward to weaning myself off my new best
friend but I know deep down I’ll be back. I can’t imagine what it’s
going to be like having a real meal again. The anticipation itself
is almost incentive enough to give up food entirely for a week.
Almost.

Day 7

I’m feeling smug, the same smugness I imagine a marathon runner
experiences when they post their achievement on Facebook. However,
my return-to-food meal lacked proper planning; my ingenious
selection was a bland Pret A Manger duck wrap. I miss Soylent.

Here Ant Adams speaks to the founder of Soylent, Rob
Rhinehart:

ANT ADAMS: How did the idea of Soylent come
about?

ROB RHINEHART: It arose from personal need. I
was frustrated with what and how I was eating and just the overall
inefficiency of food preparation. So I started experimenting with
what the body needed and I found a better way of getting a
perfectly balanced diet.

How long have you personally be living off Soylent and
what’s your longest burst on just Soylent?

Exclusively Soylent, one month. I still eat for fun! Day to day
Soylent makes the most sense. It’s made up about 80 per cent of my
diet of the last two years.

What’s the future of Soylent – will it be marketed as a
potential solution to solve world hunger or a consumer product
aimed at minimising food prep?

We’re working on a few versions – one that is low cost for the
developing world and one for consumers. I see it as the future of
food. The sales in the US have been overwhelming so I feel it
speaks to the demand for a simple and easy to prepare food that is
easy to source.

Do you believe Soylent will ever replace food on a
larger scale?

In terms of the nature of the product, I actually do. I feel
like it will compete with our commodity crops. It can be
incorporated into all sorts of meals.

Are you not destroying one of life’s
pleasures?

No, I see it as a commodity crop, so in the same way wheat has a
variety of uses, so does Soylent. It can be enjoyed in its purest
form or the rich balance of chemicals can be used to add nutrition
to other meals.

The taste isn’t bad but it’s hardly delicious. Are
there any plans to make Soylent tastier?

We can make it taste like anything but then the nutritional
value is compromised and having a singular taste gets boring
quickly. Users can add different flavours to their blend –
cinnamon, coffee, nutella etc.

What’s your biggest concern with Solyent? What’s your
biggest priority?

My biggest concern is the standardisation, which is a trade-off
with efficiency. Whilst everyone can live on the same chemical
build, we want to understand the micro-biome better. We want to
make it more convenient, cheaper and more easily distributed.