It's interesting reading about the difficulties Soylent has had in sourcing ingredients -- whenever I think about processed food (which I guess Soylent is taken to an extreme), I assume it's a huge industry with infinite resources -- if they're the largest customer for some of their suppliers, maybe the industry isn't that big, or they're just picking really specialty/premium ingredients.
I guess this is why most processed food is 1) made by huge, fairly vertically integrated firms like ConAgra 2) uses scary ingredients with substitution.
In general I'm happier with the delays to produce a great product than rushing to get something substandard out, at least for Soylent. Should be great for trips.
According to their previous updates, they picked a particular rice protein that apparently has a different mesh size, thanks to an innovation by the manufacturer that has not spread throughout the industry yet. This choice was made to achieve a certain mouthfeel that they couldn't accomplish with other rice proteins. Not exactly a specialty/premium ingredient, but close enough.
Yeah, but they tried hard to keep their price low. Remember that full meal replacements have existed before - one of soylent's differentiators is cost.
They aren't adding actual rice to the product. They are adding protein derived from rice. So these "other nutrients" and taste don't matter. Deriving protein from barley or quinoa would presumably be roughly the same thing (sub-optimal plant proteins) except a lot more expensive.
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It's interesting reading about the difficulties Soylent has had in sourcing ingredients -- whenever I think about processed food (which I guess Soylent is taken to an extreme), I assume it's a huge industry with infinite resources -- if they're the largest customer for some of their suppliers, maybe the industry isn't that big, or they're just picking really specialty/premium ingredients.
I guess this is why most processed food is 1) made by huge, fairly vertically integrated firms like ConAgra 2) uses scary ingredients with substitution.
In general I'm happier with the delays to produce a great product than rushing to get something substandard out, at least for Soylent. Should be great for trips.
According to their previous updates, they picked a particular rice protein that apparently has a different mesh size, thanks to an innovation by the manufacturer that has not spread throughout the industry yet. This choice was made to achieve a certain mouthfeel that they couldn't accomplish with other rice proteins. Not exactly a specialty/premium ingredient, but close enough.
They should have used Barley or quinoa. They are much healthier than rice, and tastier too.
Yeah, but they tried hard to keep their price low. Remember that full meal replacements have existed before - one of soylent's differentiators is cost.
How is protein derived from barley or quinoa healthier or tastier than rice protein?
Healthier: barley and quinoa have higher counts for most nutrients and are much higher in protein.
Taste: Rice is quite bland (generally you put something flavourful on it), but barley and quinoa both have nice flavours on their own.
They aren't adding actual rice to the product. They are adding protein derived from rice. So these "other nutrients" and taste don't matter. Deriving protein from barley or quinoa would presumably be roughly the same thing (sub-optimal plant proteins) except a lot more expensive.
Rice is cheaper per kilogram but there's much more protein per kg in barley and quinoa.
What are the Skoda/Seat, VW, Audi, Porsche, Bentley/Lambo, and Bugatti of protein sources?
Different amino acid profiles, not sure about "other nutrients" in protein powder, though - I wouldn't expect much else, other than protein...