Essay 1, Draft 1
Lizzie Widdicombe writes an article called “The End of Food” and talks about a man named Rob Rhinehart and how he lives his life. Twenty five year old Rob Rhinehart was very tight on funds. His technology startup had failed and he was down to minimal money to live off of. He realized he wasn’t going to be able to save money, pay for rent, and buy groceries. He was living off of ramen and frozen food, like normal teenagers and college students do; but he wasn’t capable of the bills living like that. He tried out many diets, even living off of cheap fast food, but those just made him feel worse. Trying to figure out new ways to get the nutrients that he needs to survive, he began to look at nutritional biochemistry. He realized that he doesn’t need to eat actual food to survive and began to order everything he needed in powder or pill form. He put everything into a blender with water and made a “potion” that he named Soylent. Drinking Soylent may be a convenient, cheaper way to survive while getting all of the nutrients needed, but it takes away from the social aspect of eating actual food.
Rhinehart began to live off his new creation, Soylent. He never needed a break from work and never had to take time out of his day to go get a meal. Although Soylent may be a good substitute for food and for people that are too busy during the day, it does ruin the social aspect of eating. As Lizzie Widdecombe states in her article, “ Meals provide punctuation to our lives: we’re constantly recovering from them, anticipating them, riding the emotional ups and downs of a good or a bad sandwich” (pg 14). Some people wouldn’t know what to do with their day if they didn’t have to go find food. As for me, when I’m with my friends, sometimes we just go out to eat for fun or go get coffee to pass time. If you are like Rhinehart, you would never be hungry for a meal or have the desire to go out and spend extra money on something that is less healthy than what is right in front of him.
Being like Rhinehart and having a busy schedule can be a struggle. Rhinehart spends most of his day at the computer and doesn’t let many things interrupt him. As Rhinehart explained in Food for Thought, “If you’re in a groove at your computer, and feel a hunger pane, you don’t have to stop for lunch. Your energy levels stay consistent” (pg14). Although Rhinehart has easy access to food, he is missing the social aspect of going to the store, buying food and talking to people. In a way, I can agree with Rhinehart about not wanting to miss out on work for getting a meal, because college can make people feel that way as well. I also believe that although Rhinehart isn’t going out to stores and being social in that manner, him having this business might actually give him a way to socialize. He talks to customers and he goes to meetings to explain his new creation, so he is being social, but he isn’t giving himself time to de-stress or take his mind off his work. People need a break in their day or they will end up overwhelming themselves.
Since being at college, I feel as though food has a bigger meaning to me. Being at home and having my parents cook meals mostly every night for dinner and being able to grab whatever I want from my fridge or just going out to eat anywhere and not worrying about missing time to study, is completely different then being at college. Soylent became insanely popular in Ricketts dorm, which was filled with busy physics and engineering students. As Rhinehart had observed, many students were very impressed by Soylent, saying, “It fills you up all day” and “It’s good for studying”. These students had no time to do anything which is why Soylent saved them, unlike other kids at their school who were setting up plates and getting ready for dinner. At college, going to get lunch and dinner is a relaxing break for me. I need that time to catch up with people and take a break from homework and studying. Although people might not have a lot of time in their day to do certain things, I think taking a little break to socialize and grab a bite of food might make people happier during the day.
Rhinehart believes that most people’s meals are forgotten. I agree that normally people don’t remember what they had for breakfast a week ago but I don’t think that actual meals are forgotten. Writing the essay about my favorite food, lasagna, made me realize that food does have meaning to people and that you won’t forget the meals that mean something to you. In my family most of the time we all sit down and eat dinner together if we have time. I have grown up doing that, unlike someone like Rhinehart who maybe didn’t have that experience. Soylent could be his favorite meal but I think it has a different meaning to him than what food means to other people. As I stated in My Favorite Meal Essay, “Homemade meals to me, means more than just the food on the plate. It means family and the love that was made with it”. The lasagna or any meal that my family takes time to make for me has meaning made with it. I feel as though Soylent is just a cheap and healthy way for Rhinehart to live and that might be what it means to him.
As of today, the norm of consuming nutrients to survive is to eat real food. Most people go to the store and buy the food they need or go out to eat to fulfill their needs. Imagine if the norm was to drink soylent. People wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store because they can order everything online and have it delivered right to their doorstep. If I was to use soylent and have it for every meal, I would miss out on the experience of dining out and trying new things. Food makes people happy and being able to test out new foods gives people more excitement in their lives. Although it would probably be a much healthier alternative to the way I eat, I wouldn’t want to lose the relationship that I have with food.
As Widdicome explains in Food for Thought, “Rhinehart compiled a list of thirty-five nutrients required for survival. Then, instead of heading to the grocery store, he ordered them off the internet- mostly in powder or pill form- and poured everything into a blender, with some water” (pg 2). If drinking soylent was the norm, then this world would be much less social, just like Rhinehart. People wouldn’t be going out to restaurants, going shopping for food or even feeling the need to go out of their homes as often. In my family, ever since I was little, having home cooked meals most nights is the norm. Drinking soylent for every meal wouldn’t allow my family and I to catch up on what happened during our day at school or work, while we eat family dinner. As I stated in My Favorite Meal Essay, “Eating lasagna on my birthday means so much more than just a meal to eat at dinner. It makes me feel as though my whole family is with me on my birthday even if they aren’t truly there.” Drinking soylent wouldn’t give me that feeling about food. I believe soylent wouldn’t have much meaning to me other than living off of it to survive. Everyone has different norms and meanings of what food means to them, but I believe if soylent was our norm then the way we live would change drastically.
