The End of Food and The Rise of Powder

Did anyone else see this in the New Yorker? http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/05/12/140512fa_fact_widdicombe

It made me cringe and become really afraid of the future, which is not something that happens often to me. But mentalities like this: "He began to think that food was an inefficient way of getting what he needed to survive..." seem to have so many practical applications that it probably will gain popularity.

That said, it doesn't necessarily have to be the end of our eating and drinking lifestyle, if it spreads in the right context. And it is true that our approach to eating and drinking may be a niche style, albeit a niche that could stand to grow. But as the article says: "..the farm-to-table ethos has essentially bypassed the working class, which is left, instead, to live with the fallout of the low-cost food industry—obesity, diabetes, and, ironically, malnutrition."

Anyway, something to think about.

Great article, Rahsaan. Thanks for posting.

Rhinehart's utopianism reminds me of Star Trek's... all are clothed, all are fed, all are healthy, all are educated. It's fiction but it's good to have high aspirations.

I'm sure Soylent will have a place on supermarket shelves and in camping / survivalist stores and maybe NASA (if they still exist). But it won't supplant all other foods because, as Mr. Plant Protein Taco said, food is deeply connected to culture and people generally resist giving that up. Read back on the mistakes made by Nestle and the other big food conglomerates when they tried to penetrate third-world marketplaces. They adapted and eventually got in. But Rhinehart has no such luxury: he has only one pitch to pitch -- efficiency -- and to offer it as anything else is to revoke its own credentials.

He's kinda the Ayn Rand of food: she was so traumatized by life under Stalin that she spent the rest of her life urging people to do the exact opposite, while he was so traumatized by the wastefulness of food-eating that he is going whole hog the other way.

And another thing: food and shelter are not the only things needed for Peace on Earth. He also needs to solve the problems of waste removal, providing clean water, and finding everyone something productive to do with his/her life.

Alas, the list of pragmatic problems is endless. But, as I said, it is nice to have some idealism in there. All work and no play, you know.

And another thing: the shtick with only two pair of jeans and nylon shirts in the freezer... that stops as soon as he gets a girlfriend. Or wants to visit anywhere nice.

And another thing: the shtick with only two pair of jeans and nylon shirts in the freezer... that stops as soon as he gets a girlfriend. Or wants to visit anywhere nice.

Or (hopefully) when he turns 30!

For better or worse, I knew a guy back in the early 90s who was living on a low-tech Soylent-style diet. Beans, wheat, a multivitamin, heat it up and make porridge. It was, so he claimed, nutritionally complete and also was incredibly cheap, something like $.17 a day. For him, though, the diet was just a means to an end. He wanted to conserve money and time so he could spend all his hours researching in the Library of Congress. Food was no more or less than fuel.

He wanted to conserve money and time so he could spend all his hours researching in the Library of Congress. Food was no more or less than fuel.

Did he ever produce a magnum opus?

He wanted to conserve money and time so he could spend all his hours researching in the Library of Congress. Food was no more or less than fuel.

Did he ever produce a magnum opus?

Not to my knowledge; this was a friend of a friend who worked at the Library of Congress, and I only met him once. I'm sure you've received your share of crackpot manuscripts, maybe it was him!

Thanks for posting that, Rahsaan - it's an interesting article. I don't see Soylent really catching on, though. There aren't many people who value efficiency all that much. It seems to me that it would remain a niche product for survivalists and those wanting an alternative to the juice cleanse.

Wonder if they could sell it by the ton to countries suffering famines?