Yesterday, I received a box in the mail. It contained, among other health-related products, an white plastic jar of vanilla protein powder. About every other month, my mom sends me expensive vitamins with attractive packages from a company based in Pleasanton, California. Don’t get me wrong, I’m truly grateful for what she sends me, but I can’t help but question the extent to which the products from this company are effective. Supposedly, there are plenty of studies to back up their various claims of well-being: improved digestion from probiotics, immune system boosting from fiber, increased energy levels from B6 and B12 vitamins, etcetera. This protein powder actually claims all three of these positive effects that I imagine might be hard to quantitatively measure.
This stuff tastes just fine. I’m guessing that it’s being marketed similarly to Soylent, the “open-source” meal-replacement product. I tried Soylent about a year ago, and it was also just fine. Is this the food of the future? I can totally see meal-replacement products gaining popularity as the haunting spectre of late-capitalism demands longer hours from his workers. More time working means less time to cook yourself a meal. I’ve seen Google, Facebook, and other large tech companies try to ameliorate the consequences of increased demand on time by providing constant access to food in the workplace: fully-stocked fridges, and free snacks everywhere. Soylent is like the poor worker’s equivalent to this constant access to food.
What’s missing here? Self-love. Self-love is the reason Steve Jobs had the signatures of the team who created the original Macintosh computer inscribed on the inside of every unit, where no one would ever see them. Self-love is the reason that having nice industrial design in your house might make you feel more motivated, even if a tea kettle from Target isn’t any more functional than one from Alessi. Self-love is why I might spend my day off looking up a recipe online, shopping for ingredients, cooking with every dish in my kitchenette (granted, I don’t own that many), and eating this home-cooked meal alone without posting a picture of it on social media, rather than mixing two scoops of protein powder with one cup of nonfat milk.
Living to experience the intrinsic pleasure of eating: that is the goal. To extrapolate, I could believe that the way a person feeds themselves when in a situation of fiscal stability is greatly indicative of their personality.
thai noodles hmu
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