What If You Never Had To Eat Food Again?

 So I recently read about a food alternative shake called Soylent that said, “What If You Never Had To Worry About Food Again.” It is supposed to be able to completely replace all food in your diet, yes ALL food in your diet. Supposedly it has all the nutritional elements the body needs for sustenance. The thought of this outraged me, because food is so much more than the fuel our body needs or the sustenance it provides. The first thing I thought of was a family sitting around the dinner table sipping this brown flavorless mush while they all sat silently looking at each other miserably. When you take traditional food out of the picture you take away the passion of those who actually enjoy preparing and creating meals that have the ability to brighten someones mood. You take away the connection between people who sit down together to share and enjoy the love, passion and emotion that was prepared on a plate. Imagine no more warm meals that give you comfort or leave you feeling satisfied. Never being able to taste a flavor that triggers a past memory or reminds you of home. It would take away the joy of foodies who like to try new, delicious and exotic foods allowing their palates to explore all the edible things nature provides. To take away how chefs, like the artist they are, mix and combine natures edibles to form a masterpiece of flavors and textures not only gratifying but exquisite to the eye. You deprive the tongue of its experience to the different components of rich, savory, bitter, sweet, salty, and sour; and how the right combinations can become a perfect melody. It saddens me that someone thought this was acceptable. I understand that there are numerous reasons why a meal replacement shake here and there could be beneficial, but to completely cut out all foods just seems unnatural. Which is why I felt it was my duty to express my disdain for all the home cooks, chefs, and food lovers out there who feel the same way I do about what food really means to many of us. It’s more than fuel and nutrition, food is love, art, medicine, culture, comfort and so much more.