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Soylent Isn't Green And It's Not People

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Charlton Heston (left) is pictured in a scene from the 1972 film "Soylent Green." (MGM) At left, a pitcher of Soylent. (Soylent/Facebook)
Charlton Heston (left) is pictured in a scene from the 1972 film "Soylent Green." (MGM) At right, a pitcher of Soylent. (Soylent/Facebook)

Rob Rhinehart is a software engineer, and also the creator of Soylent.

It's not green, and it's not people, but he is hoping that it will replace all the food that you might need in the course of a day.

[sidebar title="Soylent Ingredients" width="250" align="right"]Maltodextrin (carbs)
Oat Powder (carbs, fiber, protein, fat)
Whey Isolate (protein)
Grapeseed Oil (fat)
Potassium Gluconate
Salt (sodium)
Magnesium Gluconate
Monosodium Phosphate
Calcium Carbonate
Methylsulfonylmethane (Sulfur)
Creatine
Powdered Soy Lecithin
Choline Bitartrate
Ferrous Gluconate (Iron)[/sidebar]

Rhinehart, 24, claims that Soylent contains all the nutrients a person needs to survive, and he backs it up with his own health.

"[Soylent] now makes up about 90 percent of my meals. I mostly just eat socially now, which is how I think food should be enjoyed," Rhinehart told Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti.

Reviews of the shake-like beverage's taste vary.

Adrian Chen at the online magazine Gawker tried some and wrote, "Soylent tastes like the homemade nontoxic Play-Doh you made, and sometimes ate, as a kid. Slightly sweet and earthy with a strong yeasty aftertaste."

Rhinehart has already managed to raise three times more than his goal of $100,000 through an online fundraising campaign, and expects to start delivering his product to customers in August.

Soylent's promotional video:

Guest:

This segment aired on May 31, 2013.

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