Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

SupermealX, India’s Soylent

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 51 posts

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#41

Post by redahs »

nether wrote: post #6
DanBC wrote: post #2

> Ever since an American electrical engineer invented a food that abolishes the inconveniences of foraging and cooking, and contains all the nutrition a human body is known to require but is devoid of the substances that harm, there has been talk that it can end not only the problems of the overfed but also the underfed. After all, it is in the tradition of Silicon Valley-blessed projects to invent a solution for the…

I think any Soylent thread would benefit from a summary of typical comments, to make way for new ideas. Pick yours. 1. Liquid diets aren't new 2. Cooking is easy and enjoyable, I don't see why people avoid it 3. Soylent is healthier than fast food even if it's inferior to well-made natural meals 4. It hasn't undergone rigorous, clinical testing 5. It's dystopic, dehumanizing 6. It's a dietary choice of others that ma…

Maybe related to 6, inexplicable anger, but 10, bad marketing.

The product's namesake reminds me too much of cannibalism, coercive social engineering, industrial meat-processing with lax oversight, and neo-Malthusianism to produce any feeling other than nausea, regardless of whether or not the name was chosen ironically.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#42

Post by DanBC »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #32

I got some Soylent for my earthquake supplies, its shelf stable and nicer than the 3kCal US Coast Guard biscuit rations. Are their disaster kits in India? Something to tide you over until the systems reboot sufficiently ?

(This sounds like an aggressive quibble, but it isn't. I am just interested.)

May I ask: how do you know soylent is shelf stable? Is it packed in a protective atmosphere? What testing have they done?

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#43

Post by enraged_camel »

DanBC wrote: post #42
ChuckMcM wrote: post #32

I got some Soylent for my earthquake supplies, its shelf stable and nicer than the 3kCal US Coast Guard biscuit rations. Are their disaster kits in India? Something to tide you over until the systems reboot sufficiently ?

(This sounds like an aggressive quibble, but it isn't. I am just interested.) May I ask: how do you know soylent is shelf stable? Is it packed in a protective atmosphere? What testing have they done?

It's dry, and the packages are sealed.

For comparison, an unopened and properly sealed tub of protein powder lasts well over two years.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#44

Post by bordercases »

Crito wrote: post #29
bordercases wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like how Apple "invented" the GUI? The results speak for themselves.

> "Apple is successful, therefore your criticism of [unrelated company and their unrelated product] is irrelevant. I see this a lot. It is ridiculous.

It's usually put against the class of arguments that being derivative or being recombinant is in itself a valid criticism of a product. The company isn't going to give up any revenue just because it found a better target market for a similar good; and neither will accepting the existence of predecessors help the predecessors any. Not to falsely represent your point, but do you believe that changing industries makes this any less the case?

Plus the extent that Soylent is a substitute for Ensure or Boost or those peanut bars they give to starving earthquake victims isn't total: Soylent is based in consumer feedback while Ensure/Boost have stopped innovating; Soylent is aiming for use in perpetuity while Ensure/Boost are meant to be stopgap measures, etc.

I like the product a lot so I'm going to be speaking vehemently about it, but that doesn't mean I'm not open for criticism. I'm wondering what your thoughts are.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#45

Post by Vexs »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #32

I got some Soylent for my earthquake supplies, its shelf stable and nicer than the 3kCal US Coast Guard biscuit rations. Are their disaster kits in India? Something to tide you over until the systems reboot sufficiently ?

Good idea! Soylent is probably an excellent disaster food- it's denser than anything else out there, and I'm not terribly worried about gut folia or whatever in such a situation.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#46

Post by serpentor »

nether wrote: post #6
DanBC wrote: post #2

> Ever since an American electrical engineer invented a food that abolishes the inconveniences of foraging and cooking, and contains all the nutrition a human body is known to require but is devoid of the substances that harm, there has been talk that it can end not only the problems of the overfed but also the underfed. After all, it is in the tradition of Silicon Valley-blessed projects to invent a solution for the…

I think any Soylent thread would benefit from a summary of typical comments, to make way for new ideas. Pick yours. 1. Liquid diets aren't new 2. Cooking is easy and enjoyable, I don't see why people avoid it 3. Soylent is healthier than fast food even if it's inferior to well-made natural meals 4. It hasn't undergone rigorous, clinical testing 5. It's dystopic, dehumanizing 6. It's a dietary choice of others that ma…

  2. Cooking is easy and enjoyable
Okay, but what about washing dishes, and waiting in line at the grocery store, and taking out the garbage, and cleaning the refrigerator, and wasting food when you accidentally burn dinner, and when the recipe is bad, and when you botch the ingredients. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#47

Post by [deleted] »

Karunamon wrote: post #39
oneJob wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately Soylent does not market it as such. If they did, I'd be inclined to agree with you. However, on Soylent's website you can find the following: "Soylent is a food product (classified as a food, not a supplement, by the FDA) designed for use as a staple meal by all adults." - https://www.soylent.com/about/ "Soylent is designed as a simple staple food, and people incorporate it into their lives to varying d…

It sounds like the FDA classified it for them. Given: - The FDA considers it a food - Soylent considers it a food - Soylent users are on record as consuming mostly or all the product for their primary complete food source.. - ..over long periods of time, including the founder, who supposedly lives on the stuff. - Of those users, most are reporting positive results... - ..and the negative results are generally of the…

[deleted]

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#48

Post by ChuckMcM »

DanBC wrote: post #42
ChuckMcM wrote: post #32

I got some Soylent for my earthquake supplies, its shelf stable and nicer than the 3kCal US Coast Guard biscuit rations. Are their disaster kits in India? Something to tide you over until the systems reboot sufficiently ?

(This sounds like an aggressive quibble, but it isn't. I am just interested.) May I ask: how do you know soylent is shelf stable? Is it packed in a protective atmosphere? What testing have they done?

The current Soylent packaging comes with a one year shelf expiration date. I don't know the testing they have done to back that up. The USCG rations have a 10 year expiration date but other stuff in my earthquake kit is best rotated/replaced on an annual basis so it works for me.

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#49

Post by frofroggy »

> Also, society is conditioned to believe there is something objectionable about the poor being made to drink a tasteless subsidized potion because they cannot afford the other kind of good food.

Others might object to a mandated government subsidy for a product without relevant prior analysis of the existing market for minimum-cost diets (e.g., determining the cost of the Stigler Diet for the region).

Re: SupermealX, India’s Soylent

#50

Post by darkmighty »

discardorama wrote: post #24
darkmighty wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this is the only problem maybe it has a solution too? It shouldn't be too hard to make a nutrient-poor spongy substrate to carry Soylent.

Or, you know, just spit into the soylent as you're constituting it?

Doesn't provide chewing or gut muscle activity.
Post reply on HN