Spoon, meet Rob. Rob, meet Spoon.
Photo courtesy of vice.com
One day, Rob realized that the body does not need food, but only needs the chemicals and nutrients that food contains. What would happen if we consumed only these essential nutrients and not the foods themselves? Curious, he began an experiment on himself.
How it works
After researching every substance the human body needs for survival, Rob concocted this mixture of ingredients:
Photo courtesy of soylent.me
He calls this mixture Soylent. Apart from olive oil for fatty acids and table salt for sodium and chloride, nothing else in Soylent is traditionally recognized as food. Rob admits that his first time making Soylent, his kitchen looked like a chemistry lab, and he had no idea if it was safe to consume (pro tip: do not try this at home. This is not your average smoothie). It turns out that the very first Soylet recipe tasted like a “sweet, succulent, hearty meal in a glass.” Whenever Rob feels hungry, he drinks Soylent.
Health claims
Rob has since claimed that his skin is softer, smoother and clearer, that his teeth are whiter and his hair is thicker. Now he has the energy to run 3 miles, as opposed to his normal 1-mile runs. He claims his reflexes are faster, his mental performance higher and while he drinks coffee occasionally, he no longer needs it.
This idea is certainly an attractive one. He has lost weight from the experiment and can tweak the recipe so he loses more weight if he wants to. Soylent does exactly what every diet out there attempts to do: provide a perfectly balanced, nutritious source of energy that inexpensively helps you lose weight. Obese Americans could use this to control weight. Diabetics could use Soylent to control blood sugar.
Check out this video of a reporter who went on a 30 day exclusive Soylent diet:
Everyday effects
Rather than preparing, cooking, and cleaning up for each meal of his day, Rob now only spends 5 minutes every day preparing soylent for himself. He believes he could get rid of his kitchen entirely, in need of only a water source.
Soylent costs Rob about $9/day.
Social impact
Here at Spoon Universtiy, food is life. Food brings a kind of happiness that other things in this world cannot. How would you feel completely removing food from your life?
Rob does not crave food, in fact, he explains that eating “is a leisure activity, like going to the movies, but [he] doesn’t want to go to the movies three times a day.” While Rob doesn’t like food, what about children? Family members? How can you go on a date if you consume strictly Soylent? Break out your Soylent canteen at the dinner table? Not sure about that.
Photo courtesy of wired.com
But, you can certainly substitute normal meals with Soylent. This could reduce your weekly calorie consumption drastically and certainly would equate to drinking a diet “shake” (or however you categorize Soylent).
Global scale
Figuring out how to feed the world’s population is an ominous task. Mass producing Soylent and distributing it to the hungry can solve many of our world’s problems. Is that possible? Rob is still working on it.
Want Some?
Since Soylent’s commercial release, hundreds of others have made their own versions, too. To purchase your very own Soylent starter kit for $85 or to learn more about the details, click here.