NASA could probably have come up with a Soylent-like product by now, but they haven't. I guess that being stuck in a small can in space means that nice food becomes important.
So, on the ground, there are two hurdles. i) Portion control, ii) Choice.
Some people will not eat two scoops of ice cream. They will eat a pint of ice cream. They won't eat 2 cookies, they'll eat the packet of cookies. Some people will smear the cookies with peanut butter, and crumble them over the pint of ice cream.
Will Soylent help these people? What happens if someone eats double the recommended daily amount of Soylent? Or triple? Or quadruple?
Some people will walk into a supermarket, walk past all the fruit and vegetables, and into the doughnut aisle. Then they'll walk past the meat and fish and into the crisp / chip aisle. Then they'll go to the weird salt / sugar / fat / slop instant meal aisle and buy bizarre "food".
As far as I can figure out NASA's original solution to space food WAS a Soylent-like product. Astronauts responded by smuggling a corned beef sandwich into space. [1]
The point of Soylent is to separate the pleasure from eating. Rather than being a emotional, sensory activity, treat eating with has all the excitement of popping a pill - insert nutrients into body. What do I eat? Soylent. How much? The amount it tells me to. The questions of "Do I eat the broccoli or the ice cream?" or "Do I have seconds?" are taken off the table.
I wss in the hospital for the better part of a week a year ago. They had me on the "nothing by mouth" diet for a couple days - simply an IV drip for nutrition, then a liquid diet for two more. When my friends came to visit, the first thing I said was something along the lines of "As soon as I get out of here we're getting the best cheeseburger in this city." Could that desire be trained away? I'm not sure.
NASA could probably have come up with a Soylent-like product by now, but they haven't. I guess that being stuck in a small can in space means that nice food becomes important.
So, on the ground, there are two hurdles. i) Portion control, ii) Choice.
Some people will not eat two scoops of ice cream. They will eat a pint of ice cream. They won't eat 2 cookies, they'll eat the packet of cookies. Some people will smear the cookies with peanut butter, and crumble them over the pint of ice cream.
Will Soylent help these people? What happens if someone eats double the recommended daily amount of Soylent? Or triple? Or quadruple?
Some people will walk into a supermarket, walk past all the fruit and vegetables, and into the doughnut aisle. Then they'll walk past the meat and fish and into the crisp / chip aisle. Then they'll go to the weird salt / sugar / fat / slop instant meal aisle and buy bizarre "food".
I have no idea how Soylent will help them.