Apologies if the movie reference escaped you, but it seemed like a fitting announcement. Just three days after placing my order for a 7-day supply of Soylent 1.4, it arrived. In this album are photos of the unboxing and me trying my first glassful.
My thoughts so far:
1. The packaging is as unpretentious as the entire product concept. Everything is quite functional. You definitely get the feeling that Rosa Labs is run by engineers, not designers or marketers.
2. The product itself is interesting. Opening the first pack, you're hit with a smell that's cakey, grain-y, slightly sweet, and a bit musty all at the same time. It's a complex smell. Not bad, but not good...it just is what it is.
3. Documentation is good...very useful with lots of anticipated questions fully answered.
4. Mixing the Soylent powder with water is easy. It dissolves (I guess it doesn't all actually dissolve, as it's mostly a suspension) easily and quickly using room-temperature water (as recommended). Shaking up a bunch in the provided pitcher is straightforward. Also, since the water is mostly for consistency, you don't have to worry about getting it exactly right...you can adjust to taste or just approximate and still be fine.
5. The taste and texture: I was hoping I'd really like it. I was hoping it would be like a vanilla diet shake. It's definitely not like that. There's no vanilla flavor at all. The flavor is like the smell...very bread-y or oat-y, but not really sweet. There's a flavor that seems familiar, but I can't figure out what it is. The texture is interesting. It's about the thickness of buttermilk, but a little more watery with an obvious residue suspended in the liquid. The solids aren't big enough to make you want to chew or use your teeth -- they aren't as significant as, say, oatmeal cereal -- but they are definitely noticeable on the tongue. It's not gritty, either...the solids aren't unpleasant...they're just there. All told, I think the taste and texture is fine. It's a little disappointing, but I think I had my expectations set too high. I do think that tarting it up with berries or honey or some other minimal additions will make it more palatable. But, in a pinch, I could easily see me drinking a glass of this straight up. I wouldn't look forward to it, but I wouldn't hate it while I was doing it.
Going to try having some as my lunch tomorrow at work. We'll see how I feel later in the day.
It's people.......and
ReplyDeleteThe new phone books are here.
My version (possibly 1.1 or 1.0) had no taste whatsoever that I could detect, so I was happy with it. The texture is indeed interesting. I would end up "playing" with my food, sucking it through my teeth like a whale filtering krill.
ReplyDeleteHow does 'people' taste like?
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Cobb I think humans need a little variety in their food. Even if I'm able to go 100% Soylent, I will likely experiment with different flavor hacks. Also, I will probably make snacks out of carrots and celery and apples, just for some teeth-renewing crunchiness. I'm not enough of a robot to go without variation in my diet.
ReplyDeleteThat joke just doesn't get old, Chris Robato. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThey said they changed the recipe, but it's still made of people!
ReplyDeleteHaving been brought up in a culture where food is not there to 'feed you' but is an art of life, I fund the whole concept truly shocking, disgusting and repulsive.
ReplyDeleteDon't feel offended, I just want to bring a cultural point of view.
We do not eat and cook only to bring calories and nutrients in our body.
Even in the USA.
It has a social function. How could you share the joy of a lunch with that thing.
It has also extra physiological functions.
Texture are important, chewing, crushing, grinding are not only integral part of the culinary experience but also key for our jaw muscles and the teeth.
Colours are keys as it stimulates our appetite.
And finally, duration. People are rediscovering that "the french pause" of 1h to 1h30 min for lunch makes sense, physiologically speaking.
We do not only eat or feed ourselves, we cook and have meals. We share our food. The act of eating is very complex and a glass of that mixture could maybe cover needs for emergency situations, like castaways or to an extent, starvation victims.
But I think it's psychologically, socially AND biologically a failure, a mistake.
I first thought it was an hoax or a joke, especially with the name.
Sorry I missed it. What are the benefits they claim by consuming this?
ReplyDeleteIt's nutrionally complete, and your body actually uses the nutrients. The guy that invented it used it to completely replace eating.
ReplyDeleteOr at least something like that. It's been a while since I exposed to it.
You drank it! OMG.
ReplyDeleteYour next batch, you have to put a little natural green food coloring in it. please!
Olivier Malinur "Because we've always done it that way" has never seemed to me to be a particularly compelling argument. Surely you don't recommend avoiding new things and ideas simply because they're different. Sometimes it's interesting to try new things, if only to understand their full range of advantages and weaknesses. I'm not selling this, just experiencing it and sharing my experience here on G+. But thank you for that condemnation. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for trying that shit Craig Froehle and still like you a lot. Chalky breath and all ;)
ReplyDeleteFormula for adults in well engineered packaging
ReplyDeleteDezzi The Humanist Don't know yet...will post about it tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm a little torn on this. I like food. A lot. And yeah, partly because it's always been that way. But also because I love the tastes and textures. The idea of this is difficult for me to swallow (pun intended).
ReplyDeleteBut ...
I'm not closed-minded enough to dismiss it right away. I would probably flavor-hack the hell out of it. And, like Dezzi The Humanist, I get hungry easily. I'd like to think there is a fullness aspect to it.
Super green!
ReplyDeleteCraig Froehle, it's not because "we always did it this way" but because evolution built us this way.
ReplyDeleteWe gather to eat, we chew and it gives us satiety, our brain like diversity of taste, colour, smell and texture because of our omnivorous nature, we like unconsciously red food because ripe fruits are red etc. This is our nature, millions of years of evolution as mammals, 200,000 years as homo sapiens, 10,000 years of agriculture.
Engineered food could work if it respects those aspects. I simply think it sells "healthy" concepts while, in fact, it's another junk food.
Experimenting isn't bad, though...
I had a dude in college tell me about this two years ago. The powder is still from a gmo.
ReplyDeleteI had the previous version of the recipe, and it worked quite well. I described it as like drinking a watery cake batter. I actually enjoyed it as a meal replacement, but I like weird things.
ReplyDeleteI had experimented with using it as a complete meal replacement for a few days, and it was surprisingly filling. I did find it worked well for breakfast and lunch with a normal dinner with other mixups in the routine.
Seeing this post prompted me to order a batch of the new formula to see how different it is.
And here I was still thinking we'd meet up for a beer some day...
ReplyDeleteNow I'm thinking that a 'People Juice' shake is in order...
What's the price point like? Especially versus some of the higher quality meal replacement powders.
ReplyDeleteK.B. Burnfield Depends on how much you buy and whether or not you're on a subscription basis. Pricing info is at the Soylent website. Today's lunch was cheaper than I would've paid if I'd gone out to a restaurant like I normally do.
ReplyDeleteNope, I think I will pass on this one. Unless I am in space...
ReplyDeleteCraig Froehle have I missed something in terms of why you're doing this? You appear quite fit so it wouldn't be a weight loss thing. Are you bulking up / lifting?
ReplyDeleteI am not as fit as photos might suggest, Peter Billing, but I appreciate the sentiment. 😆
ReplyDelete