Soylent: The pet food for people?

Since we are not Soylent, sales have been challenging.

Being a house pet must really be nice, ya know? You never have to think about what to eat. It is just the same thing for every meal. You can rest assured that as long as you eat that one thing and only that one thing, you will get a balanced nutritional serving.

Us humans on the other hand have it tough. Options. Nothing but piles and piles of options. Always either fighting off an urge to eat more leftover Halloween candy or worrying about whether another bowl of pasta might make three too many. If only there were an option to fill my cupboards with a single product that would satisfy all of my nutritional needs and make it so that I do not have to put any more effort into my nutrition than to consume said product every so often.

Enter Soylent. “Soylent is a meal replacement beverage, advertised as a "staple meal", available in both liquid and powdered forms. Its creators state that Soylent meets all nutritional requirements for an average adult.” (via Wikipedia)

When I first heard about Soylent the first thing that came to my mind was, “is it made of people?” This as I had only been subjected to the 1973 film Soylent Green and not the earlier term reference in a 1966 science fiction novel Make Room! Make Room! which featured a product called Soylent made of soya and lentils. Soylent’s name apparently comes from the novel, but I am still suspicious.

Soylent has gone through several revisions since it was released as a product for consumers to utilize. The first versions came as a powder which needed to be mixed. The powder was shipped in bags that contain 3+ servings. They are available in various quantities and there is even a monthly subscription option for those who want to put this diet of nutritional ease on autopilot.

Now in revision 2.0 there is a ready to drink bottle. You can subscribe to get 144 bottles a month for only $348. It apparently does not spoil, even unrefrigerated, for a year. What is claimed to be in it, if you are one of those who believe the claims that it is not people, is soy protein, algal oil, isomaltulose, vitamins, and minerals. Each 400 calorie serving contains 33% carbohydrates, 47% lipids, and 20% protein. The product is vegan and the bottle is recyclable.

Reports on the taste of the substance are highly variable. Some find it surprising, some find it disgusting, others have more of a neutral stance on the taste.

So I suppose I need not envy my dogs’ tightly simplified diet any longer. I too can have the option of no options. I am not sure if I really want to try this or not though. After all, my dogs are always begging for table scraps. What about you. Would you try a diet of Soylent for the benefit of making your dietary needs super simple? Let me know what you think.

Kirk Aug

Kirk cultivates the Idea Farm here at SeedSing. He is curious why they did not name Soylent Bachelor Chow. Follow Kirk on twitter @kirkaug.