What is the value of food? Do we consume food just because we have to or is there something more? In the early days of human history when we were still hunters and gathers we did what we had to do to survive. But as time passed we began to form increased surpluses of food.   Now instead of having to go out and hunt or gather berries all day humans were now able to eat a large quantity of food and had time during the day to do other activities such as getting for dinner and sharing experiences.  This is today the same for a long time the idea of getting together for a meal and sharing experiences. However, this idea would eventually change with the invention of fast food and restaurants and snacks to go.  It was no longer just about sitting together but about convenience.  Being able to eat while working or grab something quick on your way to pick up the kids from school. A new variety of food emerge.  The idea of the meal replacement one of which is Soylent.  Did around this was that instead of having Pop-Tarts or grabbing McDonald’s, instead of taking a drink of a beverage and getting everything they needed for a meal. But all of this is brought up the question is this a good idea.  Is the idea of getting rid of the shared family meal in replace of a  fast and convenient meal.  Or are the original ideas of sitting down and eating food with people or at places you enjoy still worth considering. The first question we have to ask ourselves is what is the value of food anyway and more importantly what do I mean by the value of food. What I mean by the value is that for some, it is simply something we do to survive but for others, it is a deeper meaning.  As I’ve written in my favorite meal essay  I talked about how food can be used to store memories as well.  Such as the cookies you wake up and eat Christmas morning or the turkey you have on Thanksgiving or the smell of pumpkin pie on Halloween.  Food has the ability to connect us with those memories or to be more specific the taste smell and texture of that food correlate with certain memories.  However, these are not all meals.   Some meals for instance are meals out of convenience.  You’re running late for work and need a quick bite so you stop off at your local gas station or McDonald’s and buy something with an extremely high-calorie count designed to get you through the day.  In the article the end of food by Lizzie Widdicombe.  She talks about the previously mentioned product Soylent which is an all-in-one me replacer.  The inventor of soylent Robert Reinhardt explains that he created the food as a replacement for the cheap one-off ramen noodle cups or late-night McDonald’s runs.  He did this as a way to help save himself some money and as Rob puts it ” Food has such a large burden”.  A lot of lower-class families’ food can be extremely expensive.  A good example of this is if you’ve ever been to the grocery store normally a full cart of groceries costs upwards of 100 to $200.  But with Rob’s idea of soylent, you may only have to spend have that or even a third on just one meal. 

So what is all the show us?  The value of food has two very different extremes one of which being the normal family gathering where everybody sits around the table and has a large meal and talks for several hours and on the opposite side, you have the quick and easy-to-go meal that’s thrown together that’s not particularly the healthiest option and may not even taste the best.  What I’m trying to get at is that the value of the food it depends extremely on where when and why you’re eating it.  If you were sitting home alone and eating your grandmother’s famous dish but it’s cold and you’re not eating it with her it may not bring back some of the same memories. So in that case does that mean that Rob’s idea of soylent an all-around mule replacer a good idea the memories and some sensations of eating a certain food or about being with certain people then what’s to say drinking Soylent can’t do the same thing.  Overall  Soylent offers one large benefit and also one large downside.  

What is the value of food? Do we consume food just because we have to or is there something more? In the early days of human history when we were still hunters and gathers we did what we had to do to survive. But as time passed we began to form increased surpluses of food.   Now instead of having to go out and hunt or gather berries all day humans were now able to eat a large quantity of food and had time during the day to do other activities such as getting for dinner and sharing experiences.  This is today the same for a long time the idea of getting together for a meal and sharing experiences. However, this idea would eventually change with the invention of fast food and restaurants and snacks to go.  It was no longer just about sitting together but about convenience.  Being able to eat while working or grab something quick on your way to pick up the kids from school. A new variety of food emerge.  The idea of the meal replacement one of which is Soylent.  Did around this was that instead of having Pop-Tarts or grabbing McDonald’s, instead of taking a drink of a beverage and getting everything they needed for a meal. But all of this is brought up the question is this a good idea.  Is the idea of getting rid of the shared family meal in replace of a  fast and convenient meal.  Or are the original ideas of sitting down and eating food with people or at places you enjoy still worth considering. The first question we have to ask ourselves is what is the value of food anyway and more importantly what do I mean by the value of food. What I mean by the value is that for some, it is simply something we do to survive but for others, it is a deeper meaning.  As I’ve written in my favorite meal essay  I talked about how food can be used to store memories as well.  Such as the cookies you wake up and eat Christmas morning or the turkey you have on Thanksgiving or the smell of pumpkin pie on Halloween.  Food has the ability to connect us with those memories or to be more specific the taste smell and texture of that food correlate with certain memories.  However, these are not all meals.   Some meals for instance are meals out of convenience.  You’re running late for work and need a quick bite so you stop off at your local gas station or McDonald’s and buy something with an extremely high-calorie count designed to get you through the day.  In the article the end of food by Lizzie Widdicombe.  She talks about the previously mentioned product Soylent which is an all-in-one me replacer.  The inventor of soylent Robert Reinhardt explains that he created the food as a replacement for the cheap one-off ramen noodle cups or late-night McDonald’s runs.  He did this as a way to help save himself some money and as Rob puts it ” Food has such a large burden”.  A lot of lower-class families’ food can be extremely expensive.  A good example of this is if you’ve ever been to the grocery store normally a full cart of groceries costs upwards of 100 to $200.  But with Rob’s idea of soylent, you may only have to spend have that or even a third on just one meal. 

So what is all the show us?  The value of food has two very different extremes one of which being the normal family gathering where everybody sits around the table and has a large meal and talks for several hours and on the opposite side, you have the quick and easy-to-go meal that’s thrown together that’s not particularly the healthiest option and may not even taste the best.  What I’m trying to get at is that the value of the food depends extremely on where when and why you’re eating it.  If you were sitting home alone and eating your grandmother’s famous dish but it’s cold and you’re not eating it with her it may not bring back some of the same memories. So in that case does that mean that Rob’s idea of soylent an all-around mule replacer a good idea the memories and some sensations of eating a certain food or about being with certain people then what’s to say drinking Soylent can’t do the same thing.  Overall  Soylent offers one large benefit and also one large downside.  Overall the large upside to silent is that it is a quick and easy meal replacer. This means that instead of going out and buying food from a fast-food chain with a calorie count in the double digits you could buy Soylent instead which is quick easy in a much healthier.  As Rob Rhinehart states ” Soylent isn’t coming for our Saturday potlucks. It’s coming for our Frozen quesadillas”.   While this will save people money and can also help people lose weight.  By not eating your Frozen quesadillas or going to a McDonald’s, Soylent would cut down on the calories your getting. Soylent has another benefit as well. Instead having to use large farms and plantations to make vast multiple different types of food.  We would be able to about maybe a half or even a third of that land on making just Soylent and be able to use the other land for other projects.  This could be extremely beneficial for us as it would allow us to build more homes and less homelessness as well as help the environment.

Daraun White Peer review

Ryan Mosscrop Peer review

Anjana Govindaraj Peer Reviewed

Daraun White Peer review