PROJECT #1 (ALL DRAFTS)
PROJECT 1 PART 2
Essay 1, Draft 1:
Shannon O’Roak
Professor Miller
English 110
8 February 2020
Soy You Have a Favorite Meal
When you think of food, maybe you think of family. The loved ones you hold close to your heart. Or maybe you think of that trip you took to Italy, and how the food was so amazing you still talk about it. Whatever food brings to mind for you, I’d say it’s safe to assume they are mostly happy memories filled with love, laughter, and happiness. Now what would you say if there was a product out there that could replace meals? It could revolutionize the food industry, leaving you with a quicker and productive option of ingesting nutrients. Well that product is called Soylent, and it was created by Rob Rhinehart. In an article published by the New Yorker titled “The End of Food” author Lizzie Widdicome digs into Rhinehart’s life, to find out the true purpose of this nutrient filled, liquid food called Soylent. What Widdicome found is a man who originally studied Electrical Engineering and had a somewhat unsuccessful career in startup technology before he created Soylent. Rinehart was running out of funds for his startup project, and was living off cheap, unhealthy foods, which is when he thought of the idea for Soylent. Soylent is sort of like a smoothie but contains all the nutritional vitamins and minerals a person may need. This product eliminates the need for breaks to eat a meal. Although only consuming Soylent could save time overall, it’s not worth the loss of time spent together with those you love and enjoying life’s simple pleasures.
Some of my most cherished memories come from the dinner table. My Nanny is somewhat old-fashioned, and never failed to present us with an exceptional meal. In my Favorite Meal essay, I explained “Like the ingredients of Chicken Pie, our family is at its best when we are all together. Chicken Pie wouldn’t be complete without the chicken, gravy, and pie crust all together, and neither would our family.” Rhinehart mentions to Widdicombe that we forget most of our meals. We probably do forget most of our meals, but so many memories would also be lost from our most special ones. The memories of Chicken Pie at my Nanny’s, Christmas Dinners with my cousins, and even dining hall meals with my closest friends are so important to me. Without these meals, there would be a void in my life where some of the greatest memories of my friends and family now reside.
If we didn’t have meals, I can only imagine how differently we would do things as a society. If you think about it, meals are a social construct. Meals are something we as humans created. At some point, we decided to start sitting down to consume food with those whose company we enjoy. Without meals, we wouldn’t have to take a break from school or work to have lunch. If all people used a product like Soylent, it would be more efficient for our work, but would interfere with our social lives. Taking the time out of a busy day to sit, relax, and share stories with your friends or coworkers is important to our emotional health. Even though it’s important to do your work thoroughly, it’s just as important to take care of the other aspects of your health. One way we take care of our emotional health is taking a “mental break” in our day and enjoying lunch is one of the best ways to do that. If we don’t take care of every aspect of our health, other areas of our health will start to suffer as well. There are upsides to Soylent, but many downsides as well that may have been overlooked.
Rhinehart’s vision for Soylent was a unique idea, but all new ideas have flaws. At first, a new idea is obsessed over, and sometimes becomes a trend. Like all trends, new ideas fall out of style almost as quickly as they became popular. In her essay, Widdicome quotes Rhinehart explaining how much he has benefited from his product, “I feel like the six million dollar man, My physique has noticeably improved, my skin is clearer, my teeth whiter, my hair thicker, and my dandruff gone.” Rhinehart’s assessment of his physical attributes would make Soylent sound appealing to anyone in our American society. We have been stuffed with ideas as Americans for how our hair, body, face, and clothing should look, and Rhinehart’s claims only add to this social stigma. Widdicome contrasts some of Rhinehart’s views of how much “miracle working” Soylent can actually do. Widdicome tries the “Soylent diet” for a few days herself, but her findings are not as compelling as Rhinehart’s. While Widdecome does say “as Rhinehart puts it, you “cruise” through the day”, she also discovers many unappealing aspects. Widdecome explains that “the smell is the downside. On Friday, after a few hours, the doughy fragrance seemed to be everywhere- in my mouth, on my breath, my fingers and my face. And the stomach takes a while to adjust to liquid food: by the afternoon, I felt like a walking water balloon.”
Rhinehart presents some very convincing opinions on how Soylent has improved his physical aspects, which has even caused me to think about trying it, but he fails to present the downsides. Widdicome shares that Soylent has an all-consuming smell, and how it takes a while for the human body to adjust to liquid food. Widdicome also tries a DIY recipe for Soylent and describes the idea of living on Soylent as “nauseating.” Widdicome meets college students from Caltech through Rhinehart, who also understand the adjust your body has to make to liquid food. One of the students, Erin, reported the first week can be hard “because you fart pretty bad.” Even though Soylent seems like a flawless project, sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to discover the truth.
Essay 1, Draft 2:
Shannon O’Roak
Professor Miller
English 110
13 February 2020
Soy You Have a Favorite Meal
When you think of food, maybe you think of family. The loved ones you hold close to your heart. Or maybe you think of that trip you took to Italy, and how the food was so amazing you still talk about it. Whatever food brings to mind for you, I’d say it’s safe to assume they are mostly happy memories filled with love and laughter. Now what would you say if there was a product out there that could replace meals? It could revolutionize the food industry, leaving you with a quicker and more productive option of ingesting nutrients. Well that product is called Soylent, and it was created by Rob Rhinehart. In an article published by the New Yorker titled “The End of Food” author Lizzie Widdicombe digs into Rhinehart’s life, to find out the true purpose of this nutrient filled, liquid food called Soylent. What Widdicombe found is a man who originally studied Electrical Engineering and had a somewhat unsuccessful career in startup technology before creating Soylent. Rinehart was running out of funds for his startup project, and was living off cheap, unhealthy foods, which is when he thought of the idea for Soylent. Soylent is sort of like a smoothie but contains all the nutritional vitamins and minerals a person could need. This product eliminates the need for breaks to eat a meal. Although only consuming Soylent could save time overall, it’s not worth the loss of time spent together with those you love and enjoying life’s simple pleasures.
Some of my most cherished memories come from the dinner table. My Nanny is somewhat old-fashioned, and never failed to present us with an exceptional meal. In my Favorite Meal essay, I explained “Like the ingredients of Chicken Pie, our family is at its best when we are all together. Chicken Pie wouldn’t be complete without the chicken, gravy, and pie crust all together, and neither would our family.” Rhinehart mentions to Widdicombe that we forget most of our meals. We probably do forget most of our meals, but so many memories would also be lost from our most special meals if we never had them. The memories of Chicken Pie at my Nanny’s, Christmas Dinners with my cousins, and even dining hall meals with my closest friends are so important to me. Without these meals, there would be a void in my life where some of the greatest memories of my friends and family now reside.
If we didn’t have meals, I can only imagine how differently we would do things as a society. If you think about it, meals are a social construct. Meals are something we as humans created to enjoy each other’s company. Without meals, we wouldn’t have to take a break from school or work to have lunch. If all people used a product like Soylent, it would be more efficient for our work, but would interfere with our social lives. Taking the time out of a busy day to sit, relax, and share stories with your friends or coworkers is important to our emotional health. Even though it’s important to do your work thoroughly, it’s just as important to take care of the other aspects of your health. One way we take care of our emotional health is taking a “mental break” in our day, and enjoying lunch is one of the best ways to do that. If we don’t take care of every aspect of our health, other areas of our health will start to suffer as well. There are upsides to Soylent, but many downsides as well that may have been overlooked.
Rhinehart’s vision for Soylent was a unique idea, but all new ideas have flaws. At first, a new idea is obsessed over, and can even become trendy. Like all trends, new ideas fall out of style almost as quickly as they became popular. In her essay, Widdicombe quotes Rhinehart explaining how much he has benefited from his product, “I feel like the six million dollar man, My physique has noticeably improved, my skin is clearer, my teeth whiter, my hair thicker, and my dandruff gone.” Rhinehart’s assessment of his physical attributes would make Soylent sound appealing to anyone in our American society. We have been stuffed with ideas as Americans for how our hair, body, face, and clothing should look, and Rhinehart’s claims only add to this social stigma. Widdicombe contrasts some of Rhinehart’s views of how much “miracle working” Soylent can actually do. Widdicombe tries the Soylent diet for a few days herself, but her findings are not as compelling as Rhinehart’s. While Widdecombe does say “as Rhinehart puts it, you “cruise” through the day”, she also discovers many unappealing aspects. Widdecombe explains that “the smell is the downside. On Friday, after a few hours, the doughy fragrance seemed to be everywhere- in my mouth, on my breath, my fingers and my face. And the stomach takes a while to adjust to liquid food: by the afternoon, I felt like a walking water balloon.”
Rhinehart presents some very convincing opinions on how Soylent has improved his physical aspects, which has even caused me to think about trying it, but he fails to present the downsides. Widdicombe shares that Soylent has an all-consuming smell, and how it takes a while for the human body to adjust to liquid food. Widdicombe also tries a DIY recipe for Soylent and describes the idea of living on Soylent as “nauseating.” Widdicombe meets college students from Caltech through Rhinehart, who also understand the adjustment your body has to make to liquid food. One of the students, Erin, reported the first week can be hard “because you fart pretty bad.” Even though Soylent seems like a flawless project, sometimes you have to dig a little deeper to discover the truth.
Although I personally don’t agree with the proposition of Soylent revolutionizing all food, I understand Rhinehart and Widdicombe’s perspective on how our lives over time have begun to revolve around food. In her writing, Widdicombe addresses her concerns about our society and how we have grown to obsess over food. As Widdicombe puts it, “Meals provide punctuation to our lives: we’re constantly recovering from them, anticipating them, riding the emotional ups and downs of a good or bad sandwich.” Widdicombe’s take on Americans and food really makes me begin to think about how much stalk I put into the food I eat. Is it unhealthy to put so much thought into our daily food consumption? My initial reaction would be yes. Food is a necessity to sustaining human life just like water and sleep, so why is it that we think of food so much more? Our revolution around food is great for so many reasons, but it has also brought uncountable complications into our lives.
Since I began college, I have started to notice the problems food can bring to one’s life. As a full-time college student, I have a hard time balancing my classes, exercise, sleep, socialization, and my extra EMT course. I often find myself thinking that if I didn’t have to eat, I would have more time for my work, which is an issue I have never dealt with before. In my favorite meal essay, I reminisced on Nanny’s Chicken Pie expressing how “when you’re a kid, you don’t realize how special a moment is, and how fast everything can change. Now that I’m older, I can see why my dad cherished all the times we spent together eating dinners at Nanny’s.” My life has been a whirlwind of events over the past year, and everything has changed so much. I never imagined I would be wishing I had more time to study and didn’t need to eat. I didn’t realize until coming to college how lucky I was to enjoy meals with my family and be more carefree.
After taking the time to analyze “The End of Food”, my views on Soylent are not completely one sided. Soylent is an original idea that has the potential to provide us with many benefits, but it can’t fix all world problems. Rhinehart expresses his belief that Soylent could solve world hunger and end wars over land. Soylent could improve these current issues, but it is not an end all be all because no single product can fix everything. The hard work I have put into my college education has helped me to see the upside of Soylent. It would be a game-changer to not have to sacrifice my extra time for eating. On the other hand, I know not having time to eat will pass, and enjoying meals with my family and friends is still exceptionally important to me. Even though Soylent isn’t trying to take away our experiential and social meals, I know part of me would be missing without daily meals enjoyed with the ones I love.
