4 ms·

Even though it isn't for me (I actually like food, finding it one of the greatest pleasures in life), the Soylent story still presents an interesting storyline

Even though it isn't for me (I actually like food, finding it one of the greatest pleasures in life), the Soylent story still presents an interesting storyline to me. But I've always wondered: Why the name Soylent? Aren't there some negative connotations to that? Is it...made of people? An aspect of Soylent that I don't get is the assumption that it gets you out of the drudgery of eating, for those people for whom it is such a chore: the idea of chugging multiple cups of gray, sludgy drink daily sounds like an enormous burden that would grow tiring really quickly. It sounds like something that would make you dread the passing of the day, as another cup of slurry draws ever closer. I speak at least a bit from experience, as one stage in my life had me working out daily, starting each with a big protein drink. Over time I realized that I was dreading, if not even skipping, the workout because of the protein drink that went with it.

Blahah 13y ago
I've been doing DIY soylent for a few months now. I have to say it really does liberate much of the day, and it isn't at all a chore. It's easy to drink, I just sip it throughout the day. It has only a vague taste, and is a bit like drinking thick water. It might sound like it would be unpleasant or boring, but it isn't. I still have normal meals in the evening, but more and more I've come to feel like going all-soylent.
- tocomment 13y ago
  Can you post your recipe?
  - Blahah 13y ago
    I suggest starting with the hacker school soylent recipe [1], but eliminate the flax seed in favour of using xanthan gum and inulin as fibre sources, and make sure you blend the lecithin granules into a fine powder before making up the mix. That gives a smooth, pleasant texture and makes it very easy to drink. I'll post the full recipe on http://www.makesoylent.com/ http://www.makesoylent.com/ this evening. 1: http://www.cookingfor20.com/2013/06/18/hacker-school-soylent-recipe/ http://www.cookingfor20.com/2013/06/18/hacker-school-soylent...
    - tocomment 13y ago
      Thanks! What's wrong with flax seed though? Don't you get a lot of omega 3's from that in addition to the fiber?
      - Blahah 13y ago
        Yeah flax seed is a nice omega3 source as well as a fibre source. But it tastes disgustingly bitter, and even the mostly finely powdered forms are like sand in your mouth. So for textural and taste reasons, I switched to alternatives.
  - jaredmcateer 13y ago
    He posted it elsewhere in this thread[1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6283159 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6283159
sker 13y ago
I love food too. If I weren't a programmer I would be a chef. But just like sex, I want to have it when I feel like it, not in a rigorous schedule determined by society. In fact, not eating food as often makes you appreciate it more when you have it. Go three months without eating pizza and then have some, how did it taste? Now eat pizza every day for three months and then have some more, how did it taste? I currently eat once a day and I would gladly replace some of my meals with this drink. That would allow me to eat, say three times a week, enjoying the food that I really crave. As a food lover, this is the perfect product for me.
- corresation 13y ago
  not in a rigorous schedule determined by society Why don't you just eat when you want to? As an adult you do what you feel like doing. This is neither here nor there in the discussion regarding Soylent. In fact, not eating food as often makes you appreciate it more when you have it. I fully understand and practice the idea of self-deprivation for heightened experiences (I've followed the consumption habits of Ramadan despite being an agnostic, for example). However this product doesn't deprive you of nutrition or liquids, obviously, and while it does deprive you of taste (or at least good taste), the benefit of real food is that the variety is enormous. You mention pizza, for instance, yet again it isn't the choice of pizza every day or Soylent and then the monthly pizza -- many people with good diets already have pizza so infrequently that it is an enormous treat. The same with a grilled burger. Or a steak. Or a lobster. Or a fresh fish. Or sushi. Or Chinese. Some butter chicken. A turkey sandwich on fresh Rye. Or even, dare I say it, the occasional Big Mac. It goes on forever and ever and ever, such that if I ever lose that delight with food, I'm doing something wrong.
baggachipz 13y ago
I've discovered that there are two types of people: Those who live to eat and those who eat to live. I am the former, and Soylent seems to target the latter. I am always looking forward to my next meal. I love to eat, and removing that would be removing a large part of what makes life fulfilling for me.
- voidiac 13y ago
  I think there is a third type in between your two types of people.
  - zacharypinter 13y ago
    Maybe just a spectrum with opposite ends?
fc2 13y ago
>>the idea of chugging multiple cups of gray, sludgy drink daily sounds like an enormous burden that would grow tiring really quickly. It sounds like something that would make you dread the passing of the day, as another cup of slurry draws ever closer. I guess some people just don't care about taste as much as they care about superior nutrition that uses less resources to produce and transport, and less time to prepare, consume and clean up.
- corresation 13y ago
  uses less resources to produce You've run the numbers on this?
  - fc2 13y ago
    No, but it sounds logical to me that it would be a lot more efficient to get, say, X tons of calcium from calcium carbonate than from milk, or protein from a high yielding source instead of one that needs to be tasty.
    - dragonwriter 13y ago
      > No, but it sounds logical to me that it would be a lot more efficient to get, say, X tons of calcium from calcium carbonate than from milk, or protein from a high yielding source instead of one that needs to be tasty. It might be, if you were considering each individual micronutrient individually. The thing about real foods is that they tend to be sources of multiple micronutrients. You get more than calcium from milk.
nagrom 13y ago
There is a use case that you maybe didn't think of: I love to eat. I love to eat too much. If I make two portions of a meal with the intention of eating the other one later, I'll often just eat both. Where food is concerned, I'm like a labrador dog; I have no willpower. Everyone I know in my family is like this. I'm mildly overweight, but only just because I play sports, hike and go to the gym a lot. I'd love to have a way of eating ideal my calorific intake with no fuss or special eating time because it would make it much easier to avoid overeating - I could still eat proper food a couple of times a week for the sheer pleasure, but not every mealtime would become a hazardous temptation to eat way, way too much. Soylent looks like a possible way of achieving that.
xanadohnt 13y ago
There are also Red and Yellow flavors of Soylent, from the movie. Green is the "new and improved" flavor. And though I haven't been able to source a direct reference, I think the connotation is only the new, Green flavor has the human secret sauce. Soylent is a total-food substitute for the apocalyptic / dystopian future. It's still not a great name because it will always bring the negative connotation for those familiar with the movie. But I see where the inventor was going with it.
- minikites 13y ago
  Exactly, Soylent Red and Yellow are fine. Soylent is a portmanteau of "soybean" and "lentil", from the book that provides the story for the movie.
ImprovedSilence 13y ago
>> An aspect of Soylent that I don't get is the assumption that it gets you out of the drudgery of eating Maybe not everybody is going to use it as a straight meal replacement. I for one like to think I would enjoy a glass for breakfast. Or maybe even for a quick working lunch, you know, on those days I'm too busy at work to stop and smell the roses and go out for an 1.5hr lunch break.... I've seen sooo many people get up in arms about completely replacing food. "ZOMG WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE LIKE FOOD" etc.. Really, I'm fascinated by the nutrition needs of the human body, and I think trying to cram everything into a drink is a curious concept. And yes, on those days I'm on the road, I think it would be better than stopping at say, Mcdonalds or Subway. Likely in both taste and health. Also, Only Soylent green is people. All the other soylents (red? purple? I don't remember the colors..) were legit food I believe. I do enjoy the irony though...
- corresation 13y ago
  I've seen sooo many people get up in arms about completely replacing food. "ZOMG WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE LIKE FOOD" etc.. The whole point of Soylent is that it is a 100% food replacement. If people just want to skip meals...just skip them! Or have a glass of milk. The human body does not operate on the edge of deprivation, and quite contrary you could go quite a long period of time eating just rice. This notion that every meal must provide a full-spectrum nutritionally complete intake is not nutritionally or practically valid. on those days I'm too busy at work to stop and smell the roses and go out for an 1.5hr lunch break It takes literally seconds to throw together a sandwich. Or to microwave some leftovers. Etc. Pitching Soylent compared to infomercial-style broken food habits (you muss! you fuss!) has always seemed very dishonest to me.
marknutter 13y ago
I think the name "Soylent" is brilliant. It's memorable precisely because of its association with Soylent Green. Nobody is actually going to make the naive mistake of believing it's made of people.

Blahah 13y ago

I've been doing DIY soylent for a few months now. I have to say it really does liberate much of the day, and it isn't at all a chore. It's easy to drink, I just sip it throughout the day. It has only a vague taste, and is a bit like drinking thick water. It might sound like it would be unpleasant or boring, but it isn't. I still have normal meals in the evening, but more and more I've come to feel like going all-soylent.

tocomment 13y ago
Can you post your recipe?
- Blahah 13y ago
  I suggest starting with the hacker school soylent recipe [1], but eliminate the flax seed in favour of using xanthan gum and inulin as fibre sources, and make sure you blend the lecithin granules into a fine powder before making up the mix. That gives a smooth, pleasant texture and makes it very easy to drink. I'll post the full recipe on http://www.makesoylent.com/ http://www.makesoylent.com/ this evening. 1: http://www.cookingfor20.com/2013/06/18/hacker-school-soylent-recipe/ http://www.cookingfor20.com/2013/06/18/hacker-school-soylent...
  - tocomment 13y ago
    Thanks! What's wrong with flax seed though? Don't you get a lot of omega 3's from that in addition to the fiber?
    - Blahah 13y ago
      Yeah flax seed is a nice omega3 source as well as a fibre source. But it tastes disgustingly bitter, and even the mostly finely powdered forms are like sand in your mouth. So for textural and taste reasons, I switched to alternatives.
- jaredmcateer 13y ago
  He posted it elsewhere in this thread[1] [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6283159 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6283159

sker 13y ago

I love food too. If I weren't a programmer I would be a chef. But just like sex, I want to have it when I feel like it, not in a rigorous schedule determined by society. In fact, not eating food as often makes you appreciate it more when you have it. Go three months without eating pizza and then have some, how did it taste? Now eat pizza every day for three months and then have some more, how did it taste? I currently eat once a day and I would gladly replace some of my meals with this drink. That would allow me to eat, say three times a week, enjoying the food that I really crave. As a food lover, this is the perfect product for me.

corresation 13y ago
not in a rigorous schedule determined by society Why don't you just eat when you want to? As an adult you do what you feel like doing. This is neither here nor there in the discussion regarding Soylent. In fact, not eating food as often makes you appreciate it more when you have it. I fully understand and practice the idea of self-deprivation for heightened experiences (I've followed the consumption habits of Ramadan despite being an agnostic, for example). However this product doesn't deprive you of nutrition or liquids, obviously, and while it does deprive you of taste (or at least good taste), the benefit of real food is that the variety is enormous. You mention pizza, for instance, yet again it isn't the choice of pizza every day or Soylent and then the monthly pizza -- many people with good diets already have pizza so infrequently that it is an enormous treat. The same with a grilled burger. Or a steak. Or a lobster. Or a fresh fish. Or sushi. Or Chinese. Some butter chicken. A turkey sandwich on fresh Rye. Or even, dare I say it, the occasional Big Mac. It goes on forever and ever and ever, such that if I ever lose that delight with food, I'm doing something wrong.

baggachipz 13y ago

I've discovered that there are two types of people: Those who live to eat and those who eat to live. I am the former, and Soylent seems to target the latter. I am always looking forward to my next meal. I love to eat, and removing that would be removing a large part of what makes life fulfilling for me.

voidiac 13y ago
I think there is a third type in between your two types of people.
- zacharypinter 13y ago
  Maybe just a spectrum with opposite ends?

fc2 13y ago

>>the idea of chugging multiple cups of gray, sludgy drink daily sounds like an enormous burden that would grow tiring really quickly. It sounds like something that would make you dread the passing of the day, as another cup of slurry draws ever closer. I guess some people just don't care about taste as much as they care about superior nutrition that uses less resources to produce and transport, and less time to prepare, consume and clean up.

corresation 13y ago
uses less resources to produce You've run the numbers on this?
- fc2 13y ago
  No, but it sounds logical to me that it would be a lot more efficient to get, say, X tons of calcium from calcium carbonate than from milk, or protein from a high yielding source instead of one that needs to be tasty.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > No, but it sounds logical to me that it would be a lot more efficient to get, say, X tons of calcium from calcium carbonate than from milk, or protein from a high yielding source instead of one that needs to be tasty. It might be, if you were considering each individual micronutrient individually. The thing about real foods is that they tend to be sources of multiple micronutrients. You get more than calcium from milk.

nagrom 13y ago

There is a use case that you maybe didn't think of: I love to eat. I love to eat too much. If I make two portions of a meal with the intention of eating the other one later, I'll often just eat both. Where food is concerned, I'm like a labrador dog; I have no willpower. Everyone I know in my family is like this. I'm mildly overweight, but only just because I play sports, hike and go to the gym a lot. I'd love to have a way of eating ideal my calorific intake with no fuss or special eating time because it would make it much easier to avoid overeating - I could still eat proper food a couple of times a week for the sheer pleasure, but not every mealtime would become a hazardous temptation to eat way, way too much. Soylent looks like a possible way of achieving that.

xanadohnt 13y ago

There are also Red and Yellow flavors of Soylent, from the movie. Green is the "new and improved" flavor. And though I haven't been able to source a direct reference, I think the connotation is only the new, Green flavor has the human secret sauce. Soylent is a total-food substitute for the apocalyptic / dystopian future. It's still not a great name because it will always bring the negative connotation for those familiar with the movie. But I see where the inventor was going with it.

minikites 13y ago
Exactly, Soylent Red and Yellow are fine. Soylent is a portmanteau of "soybean" and "lentil", from the book that provides the story for the movie.

ImprovedSilence 13y ago

>> An aspect of Soylent that I don't get is the assumption that it gets you out of the drudgery of eating Maybe not everybody is going to use it as a straight meal replacement. I for one like to think I would enjoy a glass for breakfast. Or maybe even for a quick working lunch, you know, on those days I'm too busy at work to stop and smell the roses and go out for an 1.5hr lunch break.... I've seen sooo many people get up in arms about completely replacing food. "ZOMG WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE LIKE FOOD" etc.. Really, I'm fascinated by the nutrition needs of the human body, and I think trying to cram everything into a drink is a curious concept. And yes, on those days I'm on the road, I think it would be better than stopping at say, Mcdonalds or Subway. Likely in both taste and health. Also, Only Soylent green is people. All the other soylents (red? purple? I don't remember the colors..) were legit food I believe. I do enjoy the irony though...

corresation 13y ago
I've seen sooo many people get up in arms about completely replacing food. "ZOMG WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE LIKE FOOD" etc.. The whole point of Soylent is that it is a 100% food replacement. If people just want to skip meals...just skip them! Or have a glass of milk. The human body does not operate on the edge of deprivation, and quite contrary you could go quite a long period of time eating just rice. This notion that every meal must provide a full-spectrum nutritionally complete intake is not nutritionally or practically valid. on those days I'm too busy at work to stop and smell the roses and go out for an 1.5hr lunch break It takes literally seconds to throw together a sandwich. Or to microwave some leftovers. Etc. Pitching Soylent compared to infomercial-style broken food habits (you muss! you fuss!) has always seemed very dishonest to me.

marknutter 13y ago

I think the name "Soylent" is brilliant. It's memorable precisely because of its association with Soylent Green. Nobody is actually going to make the naive mistake of believing it's made of people.