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Tiana Brandon
University of Michigan
20 May 2016
The Healthy Sacrifice of Soylent
Every American era identifies with a unique culture, depending on the surrounding
trends. Recently, technology reshaped the world, and redefined humanitys capabilities regarding
communication. Now, people can see and interact with others from different nations and vividly
view the world through a screen, with the help of social media. On the other hand, social media
and advanced communication caused people to grow obsessed with perfection. Since one could
easily compare his or her items and traits to anothers, one constantly tries to improve in order to
achieve the best of a certain attribute. An example of this includes dietary perfection. Many
individuals strive for flawlessness by becoming vegetarian, vegan, a consumer of only organic
foods, or resulting in meal replacements. Lizzie Widdicombe addresses this need for nutritional
excellence as she explores the revolutionary Soylent in The End of Food. While undergoing
the typical financial struggles of a university student, Rob Rhinehart finds that eating regularly
causes a monetary, time-consuming burden. He researches and develops Soylent, a chemical
composition resembling a powder, that fully replaces meals for himself as well as others who
have the same problem. Widdicombe follows Rhinehart, learning about his business
development, visions of the product, true motives, and even the publics reaction to this new
form of sustenance. At the end of her journey, Widdicombe concludes with a double-sided
outlook on Soylent, identifying both its miraculous and dangerous potential. While the obsession
with a perfect diet, the loss of a human tradition, and the immorality of abandoning natural foods

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may cause some to disagree with Soylent, the product actually produces a reliable solution.
Soylent allows one to save money, help the environment, and become healthier by eliminating
malnutrition, obesity, and certain diseases. Therefore, Soylent is more of a tangible dream than a
destructive nightmare.
Rhineharts chemical creation, Soylent, provides an inexpensive hope within the food
industry by allowing the nation to improve its health and the environment. When submerged into
poverty, many individuals find themselves consuming fast foods dollar-menu items, Nissins
Top Ramen, and other forms of easily affordable nutrition. However, when experimenting with
Soylent, Rhinehart confessed that his food costs had dropped from four hundred and seventy
dollars a month to fifty (Widdicombe 2). By switching from foods fit for a budgeting college
student to Soylent, Rhineharts grocery bill decreased by about ninety percent. Therefore, this
meal replacement would be extremely beneficial to those who do not have the ability or desire to
spend large amounts of money on food. Moreover, most fast food and foods accessible to those
in poverty are greasy, high in sodium, full of sugar, and have calorie counts one can cringe at.
Instead of filling the body with those poor forms of nutrition, Soylent gives one the option to
intake thirty-five nutrients required for survival (Widdicombe 2). The current set up of the
food industry focuses at making a profit rather than providing healthy options for people. Instead
of following that trend, Soylent provides a database that helps one ensure one is meeting daily
requirementsso [one] can tweak [the Soylent] recipe accordingly (Widdicombe 13). This
honest interest in the wellness of the public could solve many health issues faced by people all
over the world. Soylent gives individuals control over his or her health, rather than being a
victim to convenience and inexpensive options that tend to be detrimental to the body. Another
issue within the production of typical foods includes the effect on the environment. Agriculture

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in its mass production damaged the environment, leaving scientists in fear that soon the Earth
will be inhabitable. The current system of farming and industrialization involves livestock, which
cause[s] almost fifteen percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions (Widdicombe 5). It even
causes more immediate problems like in California, which is suffering from its worst drought in
a generation, about eighty percent of all water goes to agriculture (Widdicombe 5). Moreover,
many believe that Soylent will only help those who are poor, due to the wealthy peoples ability
to afford healthier meals. However, a recent U.N. report warned that climate change is
threatening the global food supply, and that its impact will worsen I ways that arent confined to
the poor (Widdicombe 5). Mass production and distribution of Soylent may cause these
numbers and problems to decrease, since the need for agriculture will lessen. Soylent can truly
bring the world necessary and healthy solutions to the devastations surrounding modern foods.
On the other hand, turning to Soylent as a primary source of nutrients forces one to lose a
cultural foundation, a flavorful life, and it may negatively affect ones health due to the lack of
proper research performed. On the topic of culture, most people immediately think of a races
language, location, and food. Soylent takes away this element of culture by substituting our
kitchens stocked with beige powder instead of banana bread, our spaghetti nights and ice-cream
socials replaced by evenings sipping sludge (Widdicombe 3). Conforming to a monotonous way
of eating will result in many losing a piece of identity, and even more so, people distancing
themselves from each other. Due to the formal processes of cooking, ordering, and sitting down
to a meal, people will interact with each other less, resulting in a nightmare-come-true to those
who dislike technological advances. The forced dependableness involved in the traditional way
of consuming food causes people to meet and connect, which is necessary for survival and
further advancement. Also, drinking Soylent is not a very pleasuring experience, according to

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those who have tried it. Widdicombe herself assessed that the idea of living on it was
nauseating (Widdicombe 14). People derive their basic happiness from food, due to its great
flavor. Exchanging that greatness for Soylent will devastate many; the liquid is smooth but
grainy in your mouth, and it has a yeasty, comforting blandness about it (Widdicombe 6). The
comfort found in typical food consoles many, helping one get through lifes celebrations and
hardships. Eliminating flavor may disrupt ones basic emotional stability, causing people to
become robot-like. Current food achieves more for people than simple survival. Besides these
aspects of Soylent, the scariest one is the lack of research done on the product and its true impact
on the human body. Rhineharts dream revolves around the idea that [one] could live off of
Soylent alone, but the chemical composition may be too simple to allow that optimally
(Widdicombe 8). There will be some parts chemicals or parts of a diet that cannot be properly
integrated, due to its complexity, like lycopene, which makes tomatoes red, has been linked to
lower rates of prostate cancer (Widdicombe 9). If a chemical like lycopene mixed in with
Soylent, it may result in one consuming too much of it, since one does not eat tomatoes daily, or
it may result in too little if it is not. The detailed aspects of the bodys needs may be too complex
to think we actually know everything that goes into a healthy diet, explained by Walter
Willet from Harvard School of Public Health (Widdicombe 9). Theoretically, Soylent is fantastic,
but if one does not conduct proper research to know its true dynamics and effects on the body,
one may subject oneself to worse nutrition that on would by consuming modern foods.
Researchers must prove that Soylent works for the body before utilizing it as an easy solution to
replace meals.
Based on the known facts of Soylent, the people who have tried the product, and the
combined information provided in The End of Food, by Lizzie Widdicombe, Soylent provides

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more of a benefit to humanity than a burden. Giving people the freedom to shape their nutrition
rather than subject them to blindly ingesting the content of typical foods will change the lives of
many for better. With time and investment into this idea, proper research, and an open mind,
masses of people can properly receive the essential dietary chemicals that they often go without.
Any change comes with an adjustment, and Soylent is no different. If people can adjust to the
cultural and taste development that comes along with this great change, people can live much
healthier lives, save the environment, and create a dependable solution to the scarcity of food.