Free Republic

Rob Rhinehart invented Soylent—a beverage that he claims contains all necessary nutrients—as a food replacement. The first batch is shipping this month. Rob Rhinehart, inventor of SoylentI was 6 or 7,” Rob Rhinehart began, “and I guess my mother was serving salad. I was looking down at a plate with these leaves on it. I could look outside and see leaves on the trees, and it just seemed a little weird. It seemed a little primitive - like something an animal would do. On this nice plate, in this nice house, why would I eat this thing that grows on...

Meal replacement drinks are nothing new. Jevity, Nutren are used primarily by hospitals and store shelves are full of supplemental drinks such as Ensure and MuscleMilk, but Soylent is something different in the sense that its creator, 24-year-old engineer Rob Rhinehart, wants it to test our perceptions of the sustainability of food. What are we truly putting into our bodies? To put it simply, bad stuff, that much is true. Soylent is full of good stuff. A vegan source of protein, and an assortment of carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins and dozens of other vitamins, Soylent is not exactly lacking in...