back to article Reg hack prepares to live off wondergloop Soylent

In the latest attempt by denizens of Silicon Valley to free themselves from the shackles of normal life, a startup has created a meal replacement substance named "Soylent", and this Reg hack is going to spend the next seven days trying to live entirely off the stuff. Soylent Corporation launched in May with a funding campaign …

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  1. SuperTim

    Sounds like Complan...

    Except repackaged for the morbidly curious sickos who think they may be eating people.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sounds like Complan...

      Soylent Green is people?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Nooooooo

      The ocean's dying. Plankton's dying. It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing, they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!

      You tell everybody. Listen to me. You've gotta tell 'em! SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE! We gotta stop them! Somehow! Listen! Listen to me… PLEASE!!!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Trollface

        Re: Nooooooo

        Darn thermal dynamics! We are going to make people food out of people!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Living off it for 3 months?

      Put a steak in front of him and watch him cry like a baby.

    4. Great Bu

      Re: Sounds like Complan...

      It's exactly like enteral feeding stuff only much more expensive.......

      You can get complete feeds for people who are unable to eat for a lot less than this stuff, a quick google gets you:

      http://www.allegromedical.com/dietary-supplements-c522/nutren-1-0-fiber-p548658.html

      24 'drinks' for $31, nutritionally complete including fibre.....

  2. Miek
    Linux

    Soylent = Soya + Lentils ?

    1. SuperTim

      Yes

      I believe that was the portmanteau.

      1. Harvey Trowell

        Re: Yes

        Well in that case, he can go fuchims, 'cos that soylent looks blonast. Fischip for suptoni, I think...

    2. TeeCee Gold badge
      Mushroom

      Crikey! Just thinking about living on that is making me fart uncontrollably.

      1. Glenn Charles
        Devil

        Don't worry

        It's brainfarts.

  3. John Colman
    Go

    The big 3

    There are 3 important tests that you need to do to verify this as a food substitute:

    1) Does it have the same effect as a kebab after a night of booze?

    2) Does it have the same effect as a bacon sarnie the morning after a night of booze?

    3) Can you have it for lunch at your desk without looking like a plonker?

    One more thing to watch out for, the after effects of an all Soylent diet. There's no polite way to put this, but how horrific is it on the way out?

  4. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Boffin

    If you can't fry it, it's not food

    So that's the obvious experiment...

    1. Michael Hawkes
      Coat

      Re: If you can't fry it, it's not food

      It's still new, give it time. It probably hasn't made its way to Scotland yet.

      1. El Zed

        Re: If you can't fry it, it's not food

        It's still new, give it time. It probably hasn't made its way to Scotland yet.

        Ach, this isn't even a challenge, you can obviously use it as a batter so we'd probably use it to coat something else a bit more exotic (Mint Poppets anyone?) before the obligatory inadvisable deep frying...

        Mind you, for the record, Google deep fried Oreos, deep fried twinkies, deep fried snickers.. The US also has a history of slapping batter on some foodstuffs not normally associated with the antient and noble art of deep frying and just going for it.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: If you can't fry it, it's not food

          Definitely suggesting deep fried mars bars + soylent. :D

        2. Miek
          Linux

          Re: If you can't fry it, it's not food

          "Mind you, for the record, Google deep fried Oreos, deep fried twinkies, deep fried snickers.. The US also has a history of slapping batter on some foodstuffs not normally associated with the antient and noble art of deep frying and just going for it." -- Youtube:Fried Butter on a Stick!

        3. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

          Re: If you can't fry it, it's not food

          "Mind you, for the record, Google deep fried Oreos, deep fried twinkies, deep fried snickers.. The US also has a history of slapping batter on some foodstuffs not normally associated with the antient and noble art of deep frying and just going for it."

          Oh, that's not the US, that's Texas. They'll deep fry anything down there, including their prisoners.

      2. Michael Dunn
        Meh

        Re: If you can't fry it, it's not food

        I was once given a pointer by a Scotsman on the proper way to consume porridge (porage).

        Boil it up as usual, probably with a lost more salt than you would normally us, and pour it into a drawer. Then when you want to eat it, cut squares of it out of the drawer and fry them.

        Can't say it would appeal to me unless made with plenty of chillies.

  5. jai

    "Why, in my day you could buy meat anywhere. Eggs, they had. Real butter. Fresh lettuce in the..."

    Can you cook it at all? it looks like batter, so can you make pancakes out of it?

    Then you could spice the flavour up with some fried bacon, and sausages, and tomato, scrambled egg, muschrooms, beans, a couple of slices of fried bread, ketchup and HP sauce. Could be a really tasty breakfast. although might be better to leave out the weird-pancake and just have the other stuff :)

    1. Frumious Bandersnatch

      Re: "Why, in my day you could buy meat anywhere. Eggs, they had. Real butter. Fresh lettuce in ..."

      spice the flavour up with some fried bacon, and sausages, and ...

      then hold the soylent, cos you've already got your meal right there.

  6. Locky
    Terminator

    Cheap supermarket copies will be called

    Replent, and advertised by CGIed Rutger Hauer and Daryl Hannah

    That's my brainstorming done for the day, beer o'clock ahoy

  7. Lamont Cranston
    WTF?

    Delete the lumps?

    My kitchen doesn't have a "delete" button.

    1. Don Jefe
      Happy

      Re: Delete the lumps?

      Mine didn't either, so I upgraded it with a dog I call Delete.

  8. Bob H
    Go

    keen.

    I like eating as much as the next guy, but this really appeals to me. In true hipster fashion: I have been following this guy's exploits for a while before he went commercial and it really seems he has a point. His plan is to solve malnutrition in one product and it looks like he has it. But it doesn't replace all eating, he says he likes to have A couple of meals a week and enjoy them rather than being slaves to eating three times a day.

    Once he launches in Europe I will be going for it!

    1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

      Re: keen.

      Quite frankly, I am amazed that there are people so lazy or lacking of taste so severely as to voluntarily forgo the joy of eating proper food in favour of drinking that baby-milk formula for adults. Maybe the next step is to skip the whole drinking inconvenience and feed it directly over an IV?

      Food is not a gas tank refill and nobody is so time-challenged that they can't spend 20-30 minutes a day to prepare proper meals for themselves.

      I can understand the utility of this as some kind of emergency rations on ships and space stations, humanitarian supplies to famine zones etc. But as a voluntary food substitute?

      Losing the taste of food is losing a part of our humanity IMHO.

      1. PerlyKing
        FAIL

        Re: keen.

        Thanks ever so much for telling the rest of us how to live our lives. Do you have any other pearls of wisdom for the rest of us?

        Food is exactly a "gas tank refill" - it is digested and provides energy to keep your body going. That some people choose to make a hobby of it is their own choice.

        I hope that you grow your own veg and hunt and kill all your meat by hand. After all, food is the most important thing in life so you'd better do a proper job of it.

        1. David Hicks
          FAIL

          Re: keen.

          >> Food is exactly a "gas tank refill"

          And sex is a mechanical function that serves only to reproduce, right?

          I pity people that think like you.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: keen.

            > And sex is a mechanical function that serves only to reproduce, right?

            How are we supposed to know? This is an IT site. :(

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: keen.

          'Food is exactly a "gas tank refill" - it is digested and provides energy to keep your body going.'

          Thank you, Mr.Logic.

          http://tinyurl.com/mn2p5e5

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: keen.

        @Vladimir Plouzhnikov

        "Losing the taste of food is losing a part of our humanity IMHO"

        Don't worry, we'll all be Borg drones before long, so you won't notice.

      3. Daniel B.
        Boffin

        Re: keen.

        Food is not a gas tank refill and nobody is so time-challenged that they can't spend 20-30 minutes a day to prepare proper meals for themselves.

        Food is a gas tank refill, as far as our body's concerned. Taste is all about us searching for the best energy-packed food, usually. As for the time-challenged, this is a good option for some types who have jobs where 30 minutes is all you have for eating. Technically, this might be healthier than eating at McD's. Though I'd agree that I'd use it more for emergency rations than everyday eating!

        1. Don Jefe

          Re: keen.

          Food is much more than a fuel tank refill. An easy example that shuts down the biological imperative for energy density idea is to look at a child. Even a baby dislikes certain things, regardless of nutritional content. Same with dogs, horses and cats.

          Sometimes it is best not to over think things. Life as a whole is pretty straightforward, and although scientist types hate it, not everything has a reason or underlying cause.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: keen.

          "Technically, this might be healthier than eating at McD's."

          Technically, eating the packaging from a supermarket ready meal is probably healthier (and more pleasant) than eating at McD's...

      4. Cameron Colley

        Re: keen.

        "Quite frankly, I am amazed that there are people so lazy or lacking of taste so severely as to voluntarily forgo the joy of eating proper food in favour of drinking that baby-milk formula for adults"

        It amazes me that some people assume the whole of humanity is as able as themselves in every respect. It amazes me that some people think their second-rate cooking is worth the time and effort just to get some fuel. It amazes me that some people are so rich in time and money they assume everyone can afford to taste the best food in the world without making some sacrifices.

        Not all of us are rich, successful gourmet chefs -- some of us can't eat what we love every day and, instead, choose to fuel our bodies whilst we save the time and money to enjoy things.

      5. Zack Mollusc

        Re: keen.

        I am in total agreement, Vladimir! It is almost as though different people have different views and different opinions. Crazy!

      6. Smaug

        Re: keen.

        "Quite frankly, I am amazed that there are people so lazy or lacking of taste so severely as to voluntarily forgo the joy of eating proper food in favour of drinking that baby-milk formula for adults."

        Lacking in taste, or lacking in time and/or skills? The first example to spring to mind: I don't know what proportion of people eats a ten-minute lunch at the desk, but it's probably pretty high (in certain professions, at least).

        "Maybe the next step is to skip the whole drinking inconvenience and feed it directly over an IV?"

        This is something many people would go for, I'm sure, assuming an IV can actually be made convenient rather than highly invasive.

        "Losing the taste of food is losing a part of our humanity IMHO."

        But that's not really the point of Soylent, I gather - the point is to get rid of mediocre food so that when we do eat, we eat really well. As Rob himself says, I may enjoy beer, but I don't want to drink it twenty-one times a week.

        1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

          Re: keen.

          "This is something many people would go for, I'm sure, assuming an IV can actually be made convenient rather than highly invasive."

          That would be really depressing if it's true.

          "But that's not really the point of Soylent, I gather - the point is to get rid of mediocre food so that when we do eat, we eat really well."

          But, surely, one cannot eat well if his food is a jug of a cold flavoured glue. What can be more mediocre an experience than that? I am just puzzled why would anybody choose a solution which is worse than the original problem.

      7. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: keen.

        I really hate to think of the long term damage that would do to the gut unless there are significant amounts of soft fibre in it.

      8. hplasm
        Happy

        Re: keen.

        Non-nomnomnom.

        Will your teeth fall out in protest if you eat just this?

      9. Horridbloke
        Unhappy

        @ " I am amazed that there are people so lazy..."

        I know someone who is in his fifties and runs his own business successfully (and therefore presumably isn't a total fool). He exists almost exclusively on low-preparation processed crud: crisps, value brand pasties and nasty microwave meals. He is hugely averse to cooking. I was present the first time he chopped up an onion a couple of years ago and last week he successfully cooked some rice under my instruction, but it's unlikely he'll ever get into the cooking habit and I could see him downing gloop instead and paying handsomely for the "convenience".

        Yes, it's pathetic, hence the icon.

      10. Intractable Potsherd

        Re: keen.

        IMHO, food should be merely fuel, sex should be merely mechanical procreation. I hope for a future in which we don't *need* to eat, drink, breathe, have sex. I really resent being at the mercy of my biological body, and like like to believe that humanity will be free of it eventually, turning all these things into pass-times, not requirements.

        1. David Hicks
          FAIL

          Re: keen.

          "IMHO, food should be merely fuel, sex should be merely mechanical procreation. I hope for a future in which we don't *need* to eat, drink, breathe, have sex. I really resent being at the mercy of my biological body, and like like to believe that humanity will be free of it eventually, turning all these things into pass-times, not requirements."

          You have lost touch with your humanity. I recommend some councilling. You are not a robot and should not aspire to be one.

        2. Michael Dunn
          Joke

          Re: keen. @Intractable Potsherd

          Hoping to reach your 80's then?

    2. David Hicks
      WTF?

      Slaves to eating?

      Eating is a pleasure. If you're a slave to it then you're doing it wrong.

      And yes, even when it's salad it can be delicious.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Re: keen.

      I like eating as much as the next guy, but this really appeals to me. In true hipster fashion: I have been following this guy's exploits for a while before he went commercial and it really seems he has a point.

      If you're a true hipster you won't want anything to do with it now he's went 'commercial'

      1. Don Jefe

        Re: keen.

        With the caveat that PBR is a perfectly acceptable commercial product for them.

        1. paulll
          Happy

          Re: keen.

          Professional Bull Riders ... Na

          Petroleo Brasileiro ... Maybe?

          Pabst Blue Ribbon ... Ah, the must be the one.

      2. Rukario
        Trollface

        Re: keen.

        > If you're a true hipster you won't want anything to do with it now he's went 'commercial'

        If you're a true hipster you won't want anything to do with it unless it has a picture of a half-eaten fruit on the packaging.

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