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Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

latimes.com

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Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#271

Post by WalterBright »

ericdykstra wrote: post #245

I personally avoid "new" food and "meal replacements" in general, because they look like garbage in a bar/mix sold by a profit-seeking company with their own best interests at heart. The only difference between Soylent and Coca Cola or other junk food is that Soylent promises time/convenience, Coca Cola promises happiness, and most other junk food relies on appealing to its taste or popularity. I'd be happy to be wro…

> sold by a profit-seeking company with their own best interests at heart.

All the food you eat is sold by profit-seeking companies.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#272

Post by jes5199 »

soyiuz wrote: post #243
thejacenxpress wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong, it came from the book Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison in which "Soylent Green" is based off of. However, in the book the soylent is not made from people. The movie added that for....drama

I'm aware of the novel. You are missing the point a bit, aren’t you? It wasn't about the origin of the word. What does one make of a company which chooses to name its product after a darkly dystopian piece of fiction?

One might make that it was a moment of refreshing dark humor in a world where most companies put a giant fake smile rictus and saccharine optimism on everything

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#273

Post by cloudjacker »

WalterBright wrote: post #271
ericdykstra wrote: post #245

I personally avoid "new" food and "meal replacements" in general, because they look like garbage in a bar/mix sold by a profit-seeking company with their own best interests at heart. The only difference between Soylent and Coca Cola or other junk food is that Soylent promises time/convenience, Coca Cola promises happiness, and most other junk food relies on appealing to its taste or popularity. I'd be happy to be wro…

> sold by a profit-seeking company with their own best interests at heart. All the food you eat is sold by profit-seeking companies.

yeah, but they've all been through the congressional hearings where they lie through their teeth, capitulation and settlement by the time I'm eating it.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#274

Post by BurningFrog »

ng12 wrote: post #113
Matachines wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time Soylent is on HN people say this. Why don't people understand? It's so simple: Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need. It's not a) the ONLY food you can eat or b) supposed to replace all meals. I order a box of Soylent bottles every few weeks—they come in handy while working or for a quick breakfast or if I have little time and am hungry. I also cook meals with my girlfriend a few times a week…

> Soylent is for meals you don't care about but need This is the problem. That concept is completely foreign to a lot of people (me included). The combination of my body's needs and the way I was raised lead me to view each meal as an opportunity to be enjoyed, never a chore. Something I observed in the weightlifting community: there are people who need to worry about dieting (cutting) and people who worry about eati…

Don't you ever have things to do?

I like a great meal a lot, but if that was the three top events each day, I'd consider it an empty life.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#275

Post by markdown »

hvidgaard wrote: post #258
Taek wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating a meal takes a lot of time. You've got to prepare it, clean up afterwards, and take your mind off of whatever you are doing. Or you have to order it, and then still usually there's some cleanup and interaction. The liquid Soylent is about as disruptive as drinking water. That's really useful to me when I'm sucked into a programming challenge or research task. Sometimes I'll go 3-4 days doing nothing but work a…

I used to do that as well when I was younger. Obviously not with Soylent, that wasn't around then. It works well for menial programming tasks where time is the limiting factor. Incidently, those are the problems where you can for the most part jump out and right back in without too much overhead. But when facing a hard problem, getting up and away from the computer, and cooking a meal always mean I'll solve the probl…

> I used to do that as well when I was younger. Obviously not with Soylent, that wasn't around then.

Is Soylent ramen for rich people?

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#276

Post by TJSomething »

warfangle wrote: post #140
djsumdog wrote: post #11

I'm really amazed by all the supporters on here. When I first heard about Soylent, I thought it was a terrible terrible idea. I mean, there's so much to food. It's not just eating it, it's all the flavours and ingredients and cooking with friends and loved ones and parties and such. I'm guessing most people on here use it as a supplement + regular food, but when I saw it originally, it seemed like it was intended to…

I'm still curious why the soylent thing has hit it off in the HN crowd and not, say, Slimfast. Which is basically the same thing but with more production hardening. Maybe fragile masculinity? IDK.

I used to drink SlimFast for lunch everyday, until I became lactose intolerant. Years later, Soylent came out, and I was tired of eating fast food all the time for lunch. Now I drink Soylent for lunch, which is healthier, cheaper, and faster.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#277

Post by chucksmash »

Animats wrote: post #196

Soylent made such a big deal of being a "tech company", and boasted about their overdesigned web infrastructure for a business that did two transactions a minute. What they didn't have is advanced technology on the production side. They write about "sending samples out" to external labs. It's not like they had an automated lab constantly sampling their production line and posting the results to the web. There are pro…

FWIW, I can't back this up with a link but I remember a HN thread where the infrastructure was strictly characterized as more of less mostly good enough, not a point of pride

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#278

Post by slg »

Animats wrote: post #196

Soylent made such a big deal of being a "tech company", and boasted about their overdesigned web infrastructure for a business that did two transactions a minute. What they didn't have is advanced technology on the production side. They write about "sending samples out" to external labs. It's not like they had an automated lab constantly sampling their production line and posting the results to the web. There are pro…

One of the biggest flaws of the tech industry is the belief that being a tech expert is enough to disrupt other industries in which they don't have any expertise. Sometimes they get lucky and it works despite something like Uber's or Airbnb's total ignorance of the law. Sometimes it fails like with numerous cryptocurrency companies relearning why the finance industry has so many dang regulations. Seems like Soylent is falling in the latter camp.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#279

Post by ericdykstra »

WalterBright wrote: post #271
ericdykstra wrote: post #245

I personally avoid "new" food and "meal replacements" in general, because they look like garbage in a bar/mix sold by a profit-seeking company with their own best interests at heart. The only difference between Soylent and Coca Cola or other junk food is that Soylent promises time/convenience, Coca Cola promises happiness, and most other junk food relies on appealing to its taste or popularity. I'd be happy to be wro…

> sold by a profit-seeking company with their own best interests at heart. All the food you eat is sold by profit-seeking companies.

I'm just making the point that they're not manufacturing garbage in a factory for altruistic reasons. They're just like Coca-Cola, or Kraft, or Nabisco, or any other trash-compacting company that sells their waste on grocery store shelves.

All the food I eat is sold by profit-seeking companies, but at least it's food.

Re: Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick

#280

Post by nemo44x »

dahart wrote: post #95
nemo44x wrote: post #44

A well cooked meal and wine - my greatest joys in life. Simple, romantic and fulfilling. Add butter. Add cream. A beautiful pan sauce from a well timed reduction. A cool glass of white wine in the hot kitchen as all the flavors come together. The scent of fresh cut shallots still lingering as the garlic in the pan sweats. I don't judge anyone for making food and drink a footnote in their life. I enjoy cooking as much…

> I don't judge anyone for making food and drink a footnote in their life. I believe you that you're trying not to be judgemental, but FWIW, your statement equating eating soylent to making food and drink a footnote in life sounds at least presumptuous if not judgemental. I love cooked meals too, but I can easily see the value in a quick, controlled meal with a proper balance of macros, it's not a stretch to understa…

I wish I could have wine with every meal. However, with breakfast that might just be superfluous.

I eat all types of food and because I live in Manhattan I sure am fortunate to have all types of food nearby. I do enjoy fast food from time to time. Is a well made pastrami on on rye fast food? I do know it's delicious. So is a Big Mac for what it's worth.

I probably don't eat many rich lunches. Sandwiches work there. I don't think you need to have a Full English Breakfast, Croque Monsieur and some type of Béchamel based dinner every day. You also don't have to snack on garbage between meals.

Just because you make a meat and reduce a sauce from the drippings doesn't mean it's a rich meal. Served with 2 vegetables you have a rather lightweight meal. Especially when you control for portions. 1/3 pound of meat might be good enough.

Moderation.

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