If one day, you could never walk into your home and inhale a savory scent of a homecooked meal, sit down with your family around a dinner table to enjoy a meal you’ve been craving, or even take an hour out of your day to hit pause and reflect on all that is around you, you’d be lost in the chaos of the world today. Your mind would constantly be thinking “what’s next”, and you’d soon experience a feeling of yourself submerging into an overwhelmingly deep dark hole. Food is the basic need for the human body. It is what allows us to attain our nutrients that are essential for one’s everyday growth and development, but it also gives us time to take a deep breath, get our mind off of our crazy lives, and share stories and create memories with the people we love. Imagine that one day all of your meals were taken away and turned into liquid. In the article “The End of Food” the time that many cherish to sit down with family and eat, is now looked at, in the eyes of Rob Rhinehart, an entrepreneur, as a “system that’s too complex and too expensive and too fragile.” His vision of food is in contrast to mine, but his outlook has changed the meaning behind meals for many. Although I agree with the fact that homecooked meals are complex and expensive, I look past that, and evaluate their importance.
Lizzie Widdicombe, a journalist for this article in The New Yorker, began this article with a well-thought-out question of: “has a tech entrepreneur come up with a product to replace our meals?” She interviewed Rob Rhinehart, the one who brewed this idea and thought, and began to string out parts of his ideas and thought process behind this replacement for food. He came up with the idea of a Soylent, which was basically all of our food and nutrients that we needed daily, blended into a thick drink. He used his failures in his past project, to motivate himself to create a new form of food and took time to research exactly what nutrients were essential for everyday growth and development. He later found that this can all be achieved in one simple drink. To him, this was brilliant, and was supported when it grew in interest around the world, but to others, it took away a lot of the meaning and importance behind sitting down and having a meal.
Sitting around a table with loved ones and having a meal may seem, to some, as though it is more of a hassle then it would be a reward. To others, this is a time to share laughs or stories, create memories, sit with your family, and put everything around you on pause to socialize and enjoy time together. To me, eating at least one meal a day is essential, and allows me to take a deep breath, get my mind off of what may be overwhelming, and spend time with the people I love most. In my eyes, this Soylent takes away from all of that. This, on paper, may seem like it is less of a bother, and it may save time and money, but to me, family comes first, and meals are not only important, but they are also rewarding and allow one to cherish who they have around them.
This Soylent, in Rhinehart’s eyes, is life changing. It saved him money, time, effort, and allowed him to minimize the breaks in his day, all while giving him the correct amount of nutrients to maintain a precise diet. In his past years, he found himself wasting a good amount of money on food that, to him, had little to no nutritional value. With this Soylent, no planning, shopping, cooking, clean up, or wasted time is needed. All it is, is strictly a package of powder, and some water or an oil blended into a smoothie like drink. To him, this was all he needed with his busy schedule, but to others, like me, this is insane. This takes away the true meaning behind meals. I know in my family, having a meal is meaningful and also rewarding. A reward is something given when recognizing one’s efforts or achievement. This doesn’t need to be a physical object such as money or a trophy. A reward can be a feeling of accomplishment or completion. Making a meal for the family, and allowing everyone to gather around, and enjoy this meal while getting their minds off of their busy schedules and allowing them to relax is rewarding. Whether thinking about dinner, breakfast, or lunch, family meals offer an opportunity for all family members to pass time enjoying each other’s company and good food. For many families, school, work schedules and extracurricular activities can make it difficult to find time to eat together. Mealtimes might be the only occasion many families get the chance to congregate as a unit. When talking about frittatas, a favorite meal in my household, my mom explains to me that “It is by far one of my favorite meals. Not only because I love breakfast, but because I know that my whole family enjoys it, and I want to cook food everyone likes, all while allowing each and every one of us to sit down and relax together. This is something I had growing up and allowing myself to add my own unique touch and bring it into another generation warms my heart.” Doing something for the outcome of a full stomach, happy minds, and a smile on their face is a reward in itself. Having a meal, even if it is once in a blue moon, allows people to cherish your hard work, effort, and talent, and with this Soylent, I believe as though, it hides this feeling, and removes the meaning behind why meals are important to most.
When create this unique Soylent, many things in Rhinehart’s life began to change. In my eyes, while reading this article, I sensed this drastic change, but it seemed as though he was oblivious as to what was happening to his life and his body. He knew he was losing weight and saving money, and in his eyes that was amazing. He looked past the fact that he is now missing out on chewing, something a lot of us take for granted, or that he never had a break in his day to take a deep breath, or even more than that, he was thought he was saving money by transitioning to his Soylent, but in reality, he was changing his life style which as an effect, saved him money. He stopped buying jeans and wore the same pair multiple days in a row, so he didn’t have to perchance seven to get him through the week He was excluding himself from socialization, because he was able to drink this Soylent on the go and it took minutes to prepare. And what is crazy to me, is that he never has to chew or digest food again, because all you have to do is mix powder and oil, and boom, your meal is ready. He looks past the fact that he’ll never put a fork, spoon, or knife in his hand, or have a plate in front of him, or be able to inhale the unique smell of a homecooked meal. In my life, these things are in my everyday routine. Every year, my family takes multiple breakfast foods and brings them to life. It’s a favorite dish in our household and holds its importance differently for each induvial experiencing each unique bite. As conversation while enjoying this meal, Ive talked to my mom about what this meal meant to her and she explained to me that “I started making breakfast frittatas many years ago. I wanted an alternative to simple breakfast eggs. It was something my parents made for me growing up and there are so many different versions of this dish. No dish is the same and that’s what makes it so unique. Typically, when I make breakfast, it’s for the family, whether everyone is home from school, or a family holiday. The purpose of breakfast is to bring everyone together, sitting at the same table, able to look eye to eye and have conversations we may not always have on an everyday basis. This allows the few times we do get the chance, to be worthwhile and fun. We enjoy a nice morning meal on the weekend, usually before the holiday, and start the day off on the right foot.”
