What is Food, Really?
Food has always been a necessity for survival but as time goes on, food continues to evolve. Food plays a large role in cultures, religions and countries but no matter where you go, food is a large part of society. In some parts of the world, where the next meal is coming from is a constant thought whereas in other parts of the world, the next meal is expected and there is never a worry about where it is coming from. The place where a person grows up will constantly shape their opinion and feelings about food. In some places, having the resource of Soylent would be an amazing addition to their life but in other places, Soylent would make their life worse and not help them in any significant way. Food is able to play a large role in our lives because they are associated with good memories and it has the ability to improve our social lives but Soylent could have benefits to our financial stability and health.
Personally, I have had great experiences with food. My mom has always cooked meals for dinner, so I have become very used to going home from school and expecting a delicious dinner to be on the table when dinner time came. Coming to college was a little bit of a shock because I had to figure out my eating schedule and on top of that, I had to adjust to the food that was being served on campus. Figuring out a schedule to eat came naturally but adjusting to the food was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. I usually ate pretty healthy at home when it came to meals. I would always have a salad before dinner, a vegetable at dinner and some type of protein as the main dish. I found it very difficult to stick to the same healthy routine at college because there are not a lot of options to choose from. My mom knew what I liked, and she always chose dinner based on what my brother and I would eat but the chefs at college have to accommodate for a lot of students and faculty, so they have to serve very general things that would appeal to the greatest number of students. At first, pizza, French fries and chicken tenders seemed amazing, but after the first week I was craving a piece of chicken or steak. The full salad bar that they have is a good addition but only having a salad every night in order to eat healthy is hard because it never fully fills me up. One of the more difficult things I have found about the dining hall is that sometimes they will have no food that I want or like so I will only eat a salad but a few hours later, I will start to get hungry again and I will snack on foods or make myself mac and cheese which is acceptable to do every once in a while but once it becomes a habit it could become a very unhealthy lifestyle that I do not want to lead. Another big adjustment coming to college was that if I am every craving a food or having a bad day and just want a comfort food, I cannot ask my mom to make me my favorite food. Whenever I were to have a bad day my mom “was always the first one to comfort me with a crockpot full of buffalo chicken dip and a bag of Tostitos chips” (Hutchins) in order to make my day a little better and it never failed to make me a little happier. Overall, the adjustment to college has many difficulties that come along with it but for me, the hardest part of this adjustment was the dining aspect of it. I am starting to get more accustomed to how the dining hall and other cafes work but it still is going to take time to figure out the best way to stay healthy while surrounded by unhealthy options.
As a society, our lives are revolved around food, it is constantly in the back of our head of what will our next meal be, where will we get it from and how will we get it. Food is a necessity for life, so it makes sense that our lives would around it, but do we think too much about it? I believe that, as a society we are obsessed with food and our lives revolve too much around it. Even though we get so excited and obsess over food, often times we forget the meal we had a few days prior. I find that I get excited about a certain meal or thinking about what I will have for dinner but a few days after the meal that I was so excited, I have completely forgotten about it. On the other hand, I do have meals that I will never forget about because of how delicious they were or a certain memory that comes with that certain food. Having something that is able to bring you back to a good time in your life is very important. With the addition of Soylent, it is possible that we, as a society, could miss out on chances to make unforgettable memories. Buffalo chicken dip is the food that “has so many memories and experiences associated with it that it will automatically make me feel a little bit better” (Hutchins)because my mom would always make it when we would have our annual block party or big family events. This dish will bring me back to a good time in my life and it will help me when I am having a bad day. Looking back and reflecting on my experiences with food, I now see how much I take food for granted. I always expect food to be in the cabinet or the fridge as all times and if there’s not something that I find particularly appealing at that moment, I can get into a car and drive to a number of restaurants to get exactly what I am craving. There are even many places open 24/7 making it extremely easy to have access to food at all times of the day and night. Soylent may be an efficient way of making our society less dependent on food and make it, so we spend more time and money on other things that could help us to lead a better life.
In the article “The End of Food” the author, Lizzie Widdicombe, talks about a new way of getting food. The article explains Soylent which is a drink that has all the necessary elements that actually eating food would give you. Doctors that Rhinehart spoke to “agreed that you could subsist on Soylent,” (Widdicombe 9) but just because you can, doesn’t mean that it is the best idea. Although Soylent does have the necessary nutrition in order to survive, there is debate about how substances found in real food that are not known to be essential but are thought to provide important health benefits. This Soylent based diet is able to give people more time and save them more money but at the same time it could take away a lot of important aspects of actually eating food. Personally, I agree with the idea of Soylent and believe that it could be very beneficial to people’s lives but at the same time, I think that there is some grey area. Since Soylent is a new idea, the long-term effects of it are unknown which means that they could have damaging effects that people are unaware of when they first start this Soylent based diet. On the other hand, it could possibly have positive effects and be a good thing for society but since the product is new, it is impossible to know what the long-term outcome will turn out to be.
There are many things to gain as well as lose if you are all in with a Soylent based diet. Only living off Soylent with save you a great amount of time because there is no need to go to the grocery store and there is no prep or cooking time involved. It’s a quick an efficient way to not be hungry anymore. Also, Soylent will save you lots of money because there is no need to buy products to cook a dinner or to spend money eating out. As a society our “technological advances have created a new wave of anxiety about our edible present” (Widdicombe 5) because of all of the genetically modified vegetables, industrial farming and the weed killer used across the farming industry, Roundup. People are unaware of the effects of these technological advances that have the ability to affect the food that we are putting into our body. While Soylent does help you save both money and time, there are some down sides to an all Soylent diet. Food has a social aspect to it that it a hard thing to give up. From dinner with friends or family to having your favorite meal on your birthday, food is usually the center of gatherings with people that you love and care about. Everyone has a favorite food that they look forward to having but with a Soylent based diet, it would be impossible to have this favorite and create different memories around it.
While Soylent can be an efficient way to solve world hunger and it may be very valuable to some, it may not be as valuable to others. Soylent has the potential to solve large, real world problems and if used in this way, it would be a great thing for our world but for many other people, it would take away a lot of potential memories and moments that would not happen if it were not for the food that brought everyone together. I find that in a pinch Soylent would help me save time and money, but I would much rather stick to real food and keep making memories and meeting people through the act of eating.
RECIPE
ingredients
- 2 pounds of chicken
- bottle of franks red ht buffalo sauce
- jar of blue cheese
- 2 blocks of cream cheese
- Tostitos scoops
Steps
- boil the chicken for 20 minutes
- shred the chicken with forks
- put the chicken into a crock pot
- pour the buffalo sauce over the mixture
- melt the cream cheese and clue cheese in a sauce pan until it is bubbling
- pour this mixture over the chicken
- turn the crock pot on low until bubbling (about 15 minutes)
- serve with Tostito scoops
Food has always been a necessity for survival and I have found that it is able to bring people closer to the ones that they love and care about. Food is the center of many memories and is able to bring you back to good times in your life. Food overall, has the ability to have a large impact on people’s lives.
