The Soylent Dream In The End Of Food

The Soylent dream is one of an efficient and cost effective source of nutrition, which, for many, sounds like a hopeful future for food; however, the possible physiological, cultural, and economic side effects that could stem from the product are too severe; Soylent is a food nightmare. The very title of this article, “The End of Food,” can be taken to mean two very different things. On one hand, “the end of food” represents the vision of Soylent’s creator, Rob Rhinehart, by implying Soylent could end traditional food practices and lead to a cheaper, healthier, more efficient method of sustenance. Rhinehart was a poor and hungry young man who wanted a cheap way to stop eating food, something he considered to be “an inefficient way of getting

From what can be found in Lizzie Widdicombe’s article, the longest known trial of soylent is the experience of Rob Rhinehart, where his diet has consisted of 90% soylent for roughly a year and a half. Rhinehart reports only positive benefits from the use of his product, claiming a food bill that shrunk from $470 to $50, a noticeable improvement in his physique, clearer skin, whiter teeth, thicker hair, and no more dandruff. But this is one man’s year long experience, hardly conclusive proof from a scientific perspective, and it is impossible to know the long-term effects of missing the, sometimes undiscovered, benefits of real food without real testing of Soylent. As Walter Willett is quoted as saying in Widdicombe 's article, “it’s a little bit presumptuous to think that we actually know everything that goes into an optimally healthy diet.” What Rhinehart considers to be inefficient could actually be something vitally important to living to our full potential. What we don’t know that we need today could be what kills us tomorrow, and there are even more unknowns associated with eliminating real food that could cause unforeseen health complications years down the