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Health

Man Came Up With This Product So He Would Never Have to Eat Food Again

Mar. 15, 2013 9:22pm Liz Klimas

A month ago, Rob Rhinehart posted on his blog his goal, which was essentially to maintain his current fitness level but without having to eat food. Healthy food, in the traditional sense, was not only costly but it also took time to prepare.

So he thought:

What if I consumed only the raw ingredients the body uses for energy? Would I be healthier or do we need all the other stuff that’s in traditional food? If it does work, what would it feel like to have a perfectly balanced diet? I just want to be in good health and spend as little time and money on food as possible.

What Rhinehart proceeded to do was research all the nutrients the body needed, whipped it all into one drink mix and lived off of only that for 30 days. He wrote that nothing in the mix, which he calls Soylent, except for olive oil and table salt for sodium and chloride is like food as we know it.

Rob Rhinehart Develops Drink Mix Soylent to Avoid Eating Traditional Food

Rob Rhinehart holding a glass of Soylent. (Photo via Vice)

He continued on in the post writing that he felt like he had more energy, a better complexion and could push himself further in exercise. He said that when he was hungry, he drank more of his mix. When he had food cravings, he added more of that supplement to the drink (like a craving for red meat indicated he needed more iron).

“All I crave is Soylent,” he wrote of his cravings now.

Rhinehart thinks Soylent, which he described more in detail in this post, has everything the body needs for carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, minerals and other essential nutrients.

Vice reached out to Rhinehart to learn more about him and his mission. Turns out he’s a 24-year-old software engineer living in Atlanta. One of the more interesting questions Vice asked Rhinehart was what the pros and cons of living a food-free lifestyle were. Here’s what he said:

Not having to worry about food is fantastic. No groceries or dishes, no deciding what to eat, no endless conversations weighing the relative merits of gluten-free, keto, paleo, or vegan. Power and water bills are lower. I save hours a day and hundreds of dollars a month. I feel liberated from a crushing amount of repetitive drudgery. Soylent might also be good for people having trouble managing their weight. I find it very easy to lose and gain precise amounts of weight by varying the proportions in my drink.

There are drawbacks: It doesn’t keep long after mixing with water, so I still have to make it every day. If I make a mistake with the amount of an ingredient, it can make me sick, but that hasn’t happened in a while. Also, some people really enjoy food a lot more than I do, so they may not like the idea.

Rhinehart also described to Vice how such an idea can make healthy nutrients more accessible to people who couldn’t otherwise afford it. This applies to both sides of the coin too: those who battle with weight due to the availability of cheap, not so nutritious food and those who can’t get enough food in developing countries.

But for those who want to try it themselves, he offers caution.

“We’re not making pie here. It’s a lot easier to overdose or underdose with the raw elemental form than it is with food. It took me a while to arrange sources for all of these substances, as well,” he wrote.

The Washington Post’s Dylan Matthews spoke with medical experts who said the substance described on Rhinehart’s blog looked relatively safe:

Surprisingly, the answer from nutrition experts seems to be, “Yeah, probably.” Jay Mirtallo is a professor of pharmacy at Ohio State and the immediate past president of American Society for Parental Enteral Nutrition, which focuses on the science and practice of providing food to patients through both intravenous injections and feeding tubes. His main concern with Rhinehart’s plan is that he’s making the concoction himself, rather than buying it from reputable suppliers.

“He basically made medical food,” Mirtallo says. “If he wanted to switch to a liquid diet, those are already available.”

[...]

I asked Mirtallo if I could live a healthy life just drinking medical food from here on out. “You can completely,” he says. “But I don’t know why you’d want to. There are so many social aspects to food in what we do.”

Is Rhinehart still going food-free? He told Vice he continues to drink his “bachelor chow” but does have one or two normal meals a week.

Read more about Rhinehart’s personal experiment on his blog here. Get more insights behind the project and where he thinks such an idea could go in the future in Vice’s article here.

Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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Comments (140)

RationalMan
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:56pm
NY Mayor Bloomberg ought to check into this?? LOL

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- Caniac Steve
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:14pm
  if it has too much sodium..he’ll try to ban that you know !! LOL And i notice that there was NO cost factors posted ..as how much per serving it is for a 7,14,30 day supply
  
  Report this comment
- The_Pointy_End
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:43pm
  yea that glass look to be over 16oz :)
  
  Report this comment
- Kaoscontrol
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 2:16am
  Mr Heston said it best:
  http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=8Sp-VFBbjpE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D8Sp-VFBbjpE
  
  Report this comment
- dbeesh
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 3:00am
  But only in 16 oz or less sizes per meal.
  
  Report this comment
- NoSleeper
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 4:25am
  Soylent Red Riots…and we all know Soylent Green is made from people…
  
  Report this comment
- netmail
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 9:35am
  Compared to 99% of the population, I think he’s on the right track and quite objective. (his blog is interesting) Obviously, Rob is using knowledge/science of this age to help counteract the effects of dead and harmful foods sold in most restaurants and grocery stores today. America’s food supply is as contaminated and corrupt as our government is now. I give the kid a lot of credit for his efforts and research and think a lot of people will be helped because of it. Those who want to try to help themselves that is.
  
  Report this comment
- redfish52
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 10:42am
  Why is this a relevant story? I seriously do not care….
  
  Report this comment
- aogiss
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 11:23am
  I bet in the not so distant future we will read about the real reason for the soda ban in NY, and it is not about the health of citizens as much as it is about taxes, kickbacks, etc.
  
  Report this comment
- michael48
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 11:30am
  unacceptable…it hasn’t been studied, sued and studied to see if we can sue the study…unless of course we can tax the hell out of it…
  
  Report this comment
- Hoozdaman
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 12:39pm
  Either this guy is a meth head or he has some physiological issue that blocks his taste buds. Great tasting food is a gift from God. One of the joys of life. Maybe he should have himself castrated then he wouldn’t have to waste time with foreplay….. One word…. “Boneheaded”
  
  Report this comment
- marssnw
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 11:53pm
  I bet this guy has not pooped a solid turd since he started the diet. Nothing like peeing out your butt.
  
  Report this comment
- Pontiaku
  Posted on March 17, 2013 at 12:43pm
  “Either this guy is a meth head or he has some physiological issue that blocks his taste buds”
  You sound like an expert on this. Describe to me what his mixture taste like since you have apparently tried it.
  
  “Great tasting food is a gift from God”
  Ahahaha.
  
  Please stop talking out of your tailpipe…
  
  Report this comment
- Secret Squirrel
  Posted on March 17, 2013 at 2:17pm
  “Soylent is people.”
  
  Report this comment
justasurvivor
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:46pm
I’ve only known one person in my life who just plain didn’t like to eat. They do exist.

Sadly, it was not contagious, but I wish we could bottle it.

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- antiprogressive
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 1:06am
  I have thought (lightly) about this type of thing for a while now.
  I imagined a tasteless rice cake – no better no worse.
  As long as I feel FULL and get all the nutrition I need, I can deal with it.
  
  I love good food like anyone else but am a bachelor and have got MUCH better ways to spend my time.
  I get absolutely PSSED OFF when I have to stop working on whatever I am doing so that I can EAT and go back to work.
  It takes too much time.
  And let’s face it – its just FOOD.
  
  I applaude this dude.
  
  But it sounds like he may be spening as much time making the concoction as you could cooking a meal.
  If that’s the case – what’s the the big deal?
  
  I want a CHEAP (so much for health drinks) ready to go milkshake – that merely requires a scoop and milk.
  I got a blender ready.
  
  But breaking out 10 jars of “vitamins” one at a time, chopping some of this and that?
  Counting, measuring and blending?
  
  Might as well eat meat.
  
  Report this comment
- AMickey1126
  Posted on March 18, 2013 at 11:07am
  While I enjoy certain foods, I’ve always described myself as “eating to live, not living to eat.”
  
  Report this comment
- smv803
  Posted on March 19, 2013 at 7:02am
  Yes, they do exist…..there’s always therapy; something really bad must have happened in childhood. For me, food represents the good things in life and a liquid diet represents a boring person.
  
  Report this comment
Helpful
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:41pm
Wonder how close you have to be to a Bathroom after drinking that stuff………??

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- woodyee
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:46pm
  Ahnn, he probably wears adult Depends, cause if he hates eating, he must hate squatting…
  
  Report this comment
Jake Dog2
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:34pm
There are always some wack jobs out there. Sounds like this guy may be into tube stake.
As far as Obama refusing to eat because his “food taster” was not there. He truly does think he is the “Emperor” now

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rwinsouthla
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:29pm
… I just want to be in good health and spend as little time and money on food as possible.

Cheap, lazy bastard….

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- Gorp
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 12:11am
  LOL. That was funny.
  
  Report this comment
lid.smoker
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:26pm
No Little Debbie’s snacks? As God is my witness, the Lord will exact his wrath on such a foolhardy pipsqueak.

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- ScreamingMimi
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:02pm
  Man I love those Oatmeal with cream things
  
  Report this comment
- hillbillyinny
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:09pm
  If you don’t use your teeth and jaws to chew, the teeth loosen in the jaw and the jaw can tighten up and become very unstable!
  
  If you don’t have roughage to clean your intestinal tract, the folds in the track will catch segments of the “nutritional mix,” which can irritate the walls of the colon and cause polyps and possibly cancer.
  
  If you go on a bread and water fast for a reasonable amount of time, your complexion clears too, as pimples have no sugary starch to live on!
  
  And, generally, you can really change your metabolism and ability to digest products by depriving them of rouage and other substances that they need to work and keep in balance (such as degree and strength of stomach acid.
  
  So, play if you must, but if you want to live to a ripe old age in a truly healthy manner, eat good food, not too much of it, and in the proper balance so all parts of your body can be used and “exercised” for continued health.
  
  Report this comment
RamonPreston
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:12pm
I want to add a palatable flavoring to sawdust and sell it as “Edible Sawdust.” All fiber, no sugar, no fat, no salt, no calories, no additives.

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- Chuck Stein
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 2:24am
  Who’s stopping you?
  
  Report this comment
- G-WHIZ
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 9:23am
  Save the trees!!
  
  Report this comment
- Deb C
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 5:57pm
  Eat to Live not Live to Eat
  
  Report this comment
FreedomPurveyor
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:09pm
The government is going to do studies on this for 10 years, spending billions of dollars, and then it will replace food stamps.

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- Chuck Stein
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 3:26am
  If so, it could actually save money in the long run.
  
  Report this comment
- G-WHIZ
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 9:24am
  …edible foodstamps!! Yummm!!
  
  Report this comment
Adi0s
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:57pm
I think we were given teeth for a reason. And we should use to chew on something. Caveman diet!

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- SgtB
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:04pm
  Actually, you bring up a good point. The health of your body depends strongly on the health of your intestinal tract, beginning with your mouth. One thing we do actually need in our diet, is hard foods. They impact the teeth and stimulate the gums keeping them healthy. When you live off of a diet of mush, they begin to grow flaccid and turn whiter in color. Such was the case on submarines eating canned foods all the time. Which is why we now have the electric toothbrush. This guy will probably suffer from tooth decay soon. Unless he has an electric toothbrush.
  
  Report this comment
woodyee
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:53pm
“Man came up with this product so he will never have to eat food again.”

Okay, I’ll bite…if it’s not FOOD, just WHAT is it then?

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FEMALL
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:52pm
It WOULD take a Millenium infant to make adult baby formula.

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LeadNotFollow
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:51pm
Why doesn’t he just drink Ensure? It’s safe.
All the mixing and testing has already been done.

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christhefanatic
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:51pm
Too much trouble. Gimme the 32oz coke, a pizza and maybe a box of Krispy Kreams to wash it down.

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- Gorp
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 5:40am
  KFC, a Big Mac, an 11″ Subway and a large chocolate shake. And yes, the life giving food, PIZZA! A Beer now and then to get your Hops and Barley. Gotta get your vegetables. Beer is the way to do it.
  
  Report this comment
LeadNotFollow
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:47pm
Wait until his hair starts falling out by the handfuls, and see just how fast he ditches his “bachelor chow”.

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- woodyee
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:14pm
  Haha! That’s not a bachelor chow! C’mon, the guy is “drinking” his…whatever! That’s a pushin’ cushion, big boy! Lol!
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:15pm
  “bachelor chow” is right. He won’t go out on many dates drinking only that crap.Women like steak, lobster, etc.
  
  Report this comment
- Dismayed Veteran
  Posted on March 18, 2013 at 12:48pm
  I recall that my bachelor chow had barley and hops.
  
  Report this comment
Stelex
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:42pm
Pizza is the purest food …….. all four food groups if you do it right.

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- Stelex
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:06pm
  I do of course have my “food taster” explore all my foods. I’m not a commoner you know.
  
  Report this comment
- Recovering_Sheeple
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:56pm
  food taster? more lies. Lobster is considered haram, forbiden.
  
  Any non-fish sea animal and any fish which has no scales is not allowed. So
  crab, shell-fish and other animals are haram in the Ja`fari fiqh.
  (The case of lobster is still undecided because of ambiguity in its
  classification: is it a shrimp just bigger in size, or is it a different kind
  of sea animal? Therefore, it is better to refrain from lobster until the
  issue is settled.)
  
  http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?/topic/234943464-list-of-halaal-and-haraam-fish/
  
  Report this comment
- Recovering_Sheeple
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:13pm
  One more link – http://www.al-islam.org/organizations/aalimnetwork/msg00283.html
  
  Report this comment
Small World
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:40pm
There are tons of nutritional products you can buy that you don’t have to cook and vitamins .

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:52pm
  That would be like eating in a Bundeswehr mess hall. You’ll pee neon orange for a week.
  
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- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:59pm
  That guy just needs a whole mess of Pork Patties and Beef Patties from the old MRE’s, with a little of the cheese and crackers.
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:08pm
  DARMOK, Ahhhh yes, the first generation of the MREs. I remember getting so tired of mess with soaking down those patties with no way to heat them for the most part. I just ate them dry taking a swig from my canteen with each bite. That cheese was something wasn’t it. Just from its looks alone we called it baby sh/t back then. Those early MREs would never even come close to being filling. Had to keep a bag of pogie bait in the ruck.
  
  Report this comment
- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:21pm
  Hey RJJ:
  Anytime we deployed, I always had a bunch of sardines, Chef Boyardee, cans of chili and dried fruit. The only thing I did like about the old MRE’s were the dried fruit. The longest I went on living off those things was 2 weeks, Korea 1988, the highlight of that deployment was when the MWR roach coach wagon started coming by, I think we bought out the entire truck.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:04pm
  DARMOK, Yeah, used to keep plenty of canned items too, and especially vegetables. That was what I always missed. Never saw roach coaches when we were in the field, One of our extended training mission in Germany lasted almost three months where we patrolled a lot between Grafenwohr and Hohenfels. I had been stationed at both during my first tour there so I knew the area really well. We were supposed to have our breakfast meal from the MKT or mobile kitchen trailer and pick up an MRE on the way out for lunch. Then back to the MKT for supper. That was the first year of the T Rats or Tray Rations. All of us wanted to wrap our hands around the neck of the clown who developed those. Absolutely sickening. Being mobile saved us. Most of us had some camping pots and pans and a two burner Coleman in our HMMWVs We hit the stores and Metzgereis along our route. We never touched those T Rats again on that mission. On another tour I finally had some much improved T Rats in ’92. But we still hit the metzgereis when we had a chance. Just in case, those are pretty much the German version of a deli.
  
  Report this comment
- RedDawn2012
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 11:33pm
  In the Air Force in ’65 we were given K-Rations dated in the 50′s – olive green cans of various sizes, and they were fantastic! The foods were eaten right out of the cans and were fresh tasting and very good, especially the beef. I wish we could still get that stuff. It beats hell out of MREs and that sodium-saturated crap that Costco et al is trying to push on us for “survival food.”
  
  Report this comment
- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 12:34am
  Hey RJJ:
  When we deployed to Korea for 3 months, got there last week in Januarary, lived in tents the entire time, I brought a rice cooker and 50 lbs of rice. Our tent would take all of our MRE’s, chop up the Beef/Pork patties, mix it in with some canned chili, and pour it over rice. It helped make our time a little more enjoyable. We would be allowed to go off-site to the local army camp, but most the time we were working 16 hours a day, and we were in field conditions, so no rations pay. That and a lot of tabasco sauce, and anything tasted good. I was sooooo glad to get on the C-141 at the end, I deployed back to Korea 3 more times, but nothing like that exercise.
  
  I will say the Marines and Airborne troops that came into camp, they loved it and always told us how much they appreciated the work we did, I was in CE, and we had to build the Tent City, got there before anyone else, and was the last to leave. Built over 240 tents, shower/shave units, latrines, a complete chowhall, and an all ranks club, in three weeks.
  
  CE Motto, Can Do, Will Do.
  
  Report this comment
MrHoggLegg
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:39pm
Just another Progressive Nut Job! ✡ Progressive Nut Jobs don’t have the Common Sense to even know how to Eat Healthy! ✡ Let alone know how to Eat Junk Food without going Overboard and Over Eat! ✡ Heaven Help Them! ✡ Their too stupid to even ask the Lord for Help!

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- Deb C
  Posted on April 7, 2013 at 2:51pm
  The only thing your taste buds were designed for – poisons
  
  Report this comment
The_Pointy_End
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:37pm
I bet the ladies are lining up to date him – sarcasm-

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- chips1
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:53pm
  If he uses a BIG straw!!!
  
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1FreeVoice
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:36pm
He will have problems if he does not have enough fiber in his diet. I hope he is having salad when he is having those one or two meals a week. Eat a head of lettuce (plain no dressing if you are trying to eliminate the fat/cal), but you need the fiber. A friend of a friend was on a liquid diet for bodybuilding and that tip helped eliminate some gastric issues.

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Verceofreason
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:33pm
Some folks like to cook.
And eat.
Look at the recipe books at any book store.
This is more like a form of denial than a plus.

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:32pm
What if you decide to eat a real meal one day, and your plumbing is the size of a pencil? That’s going to hurt?

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MisterSarcastic
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:32pm
The cynic in me says this is a set up. He’ll make millions marketing this crap to people who are looking for the easy way out.

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The-Monk
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:29pm
OK… he watched The Matrix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oEnJfZ9joY

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:55pm
  Howdy MONK, I would have picked a different name though. That’s an entirely different movie.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:04pm
  Hey MONK, just heard this at the end of the Hannity Show. Susan Collins of Maine hosted a meal where 0bama was present consisting of Maine lobster and other foods from her state. He refused to eat anything because…get this now…his “FOOD TASTER” was not present!
  
  Report this comment
- RamonPreston
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:21pm
  @RJJINGADSDEN He has a valid point. Lots of people would love to poison that arsehole.
  
  Report this comment
- hillbillyinny
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 5:59am
  Or read GB’s, AGENDA 21 with the “nutrition cubes”!
  
  Report this comment
N37BU6
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:28pm
Looks like he’s been eating too much ginger.

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- HOOT_OWL
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 4:37am
  LOL ..How can you tell .? Has Mary Ann been spreading rumors again.
  
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YesLiberalsAreThatDumb
Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:25pm
Is it April 1st?

Soylent?? Like Soylent Green??

If this shake turns out to contain people…

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- nesmond
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 9:46pm
  Everyone knows that Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!
  
  Report this comment
- Kisses6350
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:02pm
  Read my Mind! Can see Charlton Heston face when he realizes what “Soylent Green” really is! Spooky!
  
  Report this comment
- Ohio50patriot
  Posted on March 15, 2013 at 10:05pm
  Looks more like soylent brown or soylent tan
  
  Report this comment
- SacredHonor1776
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 2:45am
  Green as in “natural” doesn’t have to be physically green, or actually green… Look at green energy.
  
  Report this comment
- G-WHIZ
  Posted on March 16, 2013 at 9:37am
  …and what is “pink slime”??? … gristle? bone? brain-stem? intestine? umbilical-cord? (fil-in-blank)? …
  
  Report this comment

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