"Soylent Bad: America’s Toxic Relationship with Food" by Kim Jean

Kim analyzes America’s culture surrounding food and the unhealthiness of its current state. With Kim being a Medicinae Doctor (MD) and a “culture shrink,” she goes into depth on food trends within the American culture, such as soylent or other meal replacement options; going as far as to discuss the link between these behaviors and the obesity epidemic, alongside the nation’s struggle with eating disorders.

The author starts off the article by explaining the two main groups within America’s food culture: the “foodies” and the “goal-seekers” (par. 1). She describes foodies as a group that enjoys food to the fullest potential, seeing it “as a way of life,” then going on to voice that goal-seekers “view food as a bottom-line obstacle for maximum time management via minimal sustenance” (par. 1). Kim proceeds to focus in on the goal-seekers, stating that the group is extremely popular in America’s current culture. The author then leads the audience into the topic of capitalism and how it is affecting the way Americans view food, implying that a capitalist way of thinking only considers the efficiency of food of some foods rather than the healthiness. She does so by describing the link between food and capitalism in America, stating, “When food meets capitalistic efficiency, the results in America have usually been depressing” (par. 4). She characterizes this link as “depressing” because, in her eyes, has caused many U.S citizens to turn to meal replacements (such as soylent), which are said to save time.

In addition, Kim mocks the goal-seeker group by calling food a “time-waster” and an “enemy,” which is a hyperbole used to show her disapproval in the group’s viewpoint. She then examines the obesity epidemic in America, sympathizing by expressing her belief that junk food is a much cheaper and faster option when compared to most home-cooked meals. Lastly Kim implies that Soylent (a meal replacement) is disgusting and sad. She does so by using two different analogies, one stated as such, “It reminds me of the sad feeding tubes you see in hospitals, where people have lost the ability to swallow or use their gastrointestinal tracts, with the machines quietly cranking in bags of cream-colored goo into the stomach tube” (par. 9).

By comparing Soylent to the “goo” fed to people on feeding tubes, Kim establishes that she believes meal replacements are very much like this “goo.” Taking on a mocking tone in order to try and persuade the audience of her position, she displays the grotesqueness of Soylent. Kim ends the article by asking the reader a rhetorical question, “Why voluntarily give up the gift of flavor, the gift of food, the sensory appreciation of life, for a couple extra hours to finish spreadsheets” (par. 9)? This is meant to leave the reader thinking about Kim’s position by pointing out the supposed absurdity of the “goal-seeker’s” mindset.