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The Man Who Would Make Food Obsolete
The Atlantic ^ | April 28, 2014 | Roc Morin

Posted on 04/28/2014 8:06:48 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Rob Rhinehart invented Soylent—a beverage that he claims contains all necessary nutrients—as a food replacement. The first batch is shipping this month.

Rob Rhinehart, inventor of Soylent

I was 6 or 7,” Rob Rhinehart began, “and I guess my mother was serving salad. I was looking down at a plate with these leaves on it. I could look outside and see leaves on the trees, and it just seemed a little weird. It seemed a little primitive - like something an animal would do. On this nice plate, in this nice house, why would I eat this thing that grows on trees? I thought, ‘We can do better.’”

“Better,” for the now 25-year-old Rhinehart, is Soylent, a beige beverage that he claims contains every nutrient the body needs. With tongue firmly in cheek, he named it after the ubiquitous food substitute Soylent Green found in the dystopian science fiction movie of the same name. For 30 days, the software engineer turned kitchen chemist consumed nothing but Soylent and reported his progress on a blog. With the help of an enthusiastic online community, he honed his formula, raised $3 million from investors, and is now bringing his product to the market.

I sat down with Rob at a Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles in January to talk about the future of food. He drank black coffee while I sipped Soylent from a chilled metal thermos he had brought.

* * *

This is pretty good. It tastes a bit like unsweetened custard.

What I’ve found is that a lot of people who like the idea, like the taste, and a lot of people who don’t like the idea are repelled by the taste. Because it has so little intrinsic taste, it pretty much comes from your expectation.....

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: food; robrhinehart; soylent; soylentgreen
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So...those on “food stamps” can get this as their ration!!!


21 posted on 04/28/2014 8:36:06 PM PDT by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
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To: SVTCobra03

It depends on how well it sits on the shelf. If it can sit there for years, and only need water and oil to use, it would certainly make a great emergency ration.

Having a custard-like taste wouldn’t be so bad in really bad times.


22 posted on 04/28/2014 8:36:57 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Army Air Corps
C’mon, science fiction movies told us that we would get all of our dietary needs from food pills by now.

Yeah, but there are other needs besides pure nutrition. There's a certain atavistic satisfaction by loading up on black bean chili, cheap beer, and pickled eggs that have been at the back of the bar for six years, and letting one go in the middle of yer liberal auntie's fund-raiser for the Democrat party...

23 posted on 04/28/2014 8:37:13 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t care if I can get “all necessary nutrients”. I want pizza.


24 posted on 04/28/2014 8:41:51 PM PDT by Proud2BeRight
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To: FatherofFive

If everyone in America actually did that, the medical system would collapse in a few months.


25 posted on 04/28/2014 8:41:58 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
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To: Billthedrill

He can have his slurry Slurpee. I actually enjoy food. Perhaps he thinks that old fashioned coitus is too “animalistic” and seeks to replace that with a substitute.


26 posted on 04/28/2014 8:42:24 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Paladin2

I put picante de chile habanero salsa on everything.


27 posted on 04/28/2014 8:43:12 PM PDT by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
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To: goodnesswins

Don’t be silly. We’ll all get it.

You can still have wine and oil if you’re rich but regular folks will have to pay a day’s labor for this stuff or maybe a third of a day for lo-cal soylent.


28 posted on 04/28/2014 8:49:28 PM PDT by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: Army Air Corps
Perhaps he thinks that old fashioned coitus is too “animalistic” and seeks to replace that with a substitute.


29 posted on 04/28/2014 8:56:33 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: yarddog

Here is the one that I do not understand.

How is it that you can get that anti-flea stuff, just put a little schmear on your cat (or dog I guess, but I’ve never had a dog) and for MONTHS the cat is protected from fleas.

Why can’t I get a little schmear of something to keep mosquitoes away? I’d be happy to use it daily, not a problem.

Please, can any explain the science of this to me?


30 posted on 04/28/2014 8:58:17 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
This guy is SO in touch with his body that he is able to tell that taking X(2 or whatever multiple) of a mineral is giving him palpitations and shakes, etc... Then he says he went back to the recommended (govt. recommended) daily amount--which is also not totally scientific and accurate.

I hope this works, but I am not sure.

31 posted on 04/28/2014 8:59:02 PM PDT by Captainpaintball (Immigration without assimilation is the death of a nation)
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To: jocon307

The flea drops kill any fleas that bite the animal, and also kill any eggs they’ve laid in the coat of the animal. If mosquitoes behaved similarly with humans, I have no doubt you would be able to develop the equivalent of Frontline for humans. But, they don’t behave similarly. You’d still get bitten. The ones that bite you would die of course, but there are plenty more where that one came from. Plus, I have my suspicions regarding flea treatments being carcinogenic over time, having loved and lost many dogs that lived fairly long lives. Cancer in dogs has become a near epidemic over the past decade. It wasn’t that common twenty years ago.


32 posted on 04/28/2014 9:04:18 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: jimmyray
Although I am no longer allowing myself to eat mass quantities of cold breakfast cereal in multiple servings from a Jethro Bowl as I used to, I sure do miss it.

My wife could never understand how I could eat the exact same thing for breakfast day after day until the box ran out, then it was on to something else.

Heh, I guess I am one of those people who needs real routine in the morning. We are so opposite...this is my wife in the morning:

and this is me:

She would put her hands on her hips in the morning and just shake her head in puzzlement, while I shrugged my shoulders and said...I just liked it!

33 posted on 04/28/2014 9:09:11 PM PDT by rlmorel ("A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral." A. Hamilton)
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To: RegulatorCountry

But how does the protection last such a long time from such a small topical dose? It seems almost miraculous to me.

I can’t make any comment re: cancer increase in dogs due to flea treatment. You could be right of course, but I almost wonder if, back in the old day, dogs got cancer and it was just never diagnosed. One thing seems true to me, as a cat person, it seems like dogs need to go to the vet a lot more than cats.


34 posted on 04/28/2014 9:11:04 PM PDT by jocon307
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To: Billthedrill
Or, if you are the current occupant of the White House, you just let one rip at a press conference...

Anyway, good post...made me laugh!

35 posted on 04/28/2014 9:15:35 PM PDT by rlmorel ("A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral." A. Hamilton)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

When I checked this out before, the instructions included a list of vitamins that had to be taken along with the smoothie in order to get everything. When I’m more awake I’ll commwnt further.

Right now, my sleepy meds are kicking in.


36 posted on 04/28/2014 9:17:29 PM PDT by Ellendra ("Laws were most numerous when the Commonwealth was most corrupt." -Tacitus)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
He drank black coffee while I sipped Soylent from a chilled metal thermos he had brought.

He drinks bean water? How...primitive.

The guy is a bit off.

37 posted on 04/28/2014 9:19:40 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: jocon307

The flea drops are monthly and kill flea larvae much as the heart worm pills do. Dogs are more treatable than cats for a wide variety of maladies, is my impression, particularly cancer. That leads to more trips to the vet, and unlike cats who are very traumatized, have to be caged to get them there and sedated once there, dogs are good sports about it for the most part, they’re agreeable and their physiology is similar enough to humans that oftentimes the same cancer protocols work for them. Well, actually it’s the other way around, many if not most cancer protocols in use today came up through canine veterinary trials before ever being tested on people.


38 posted on 04/28/2014 9:22:11 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think I will pass on this liquid until it is mandatory.


39 posted on 04/28/2014 9:27:07 PM PDT by funfan
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

All your digestive functions would atrophy, but that’s OK because life wouldn’t be worth living anyway. One bite of quiche lorraine and you would die. You’d go out happy.


40 posted on 04/28/2014 9:27:41 PM PDT by firebrand
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