I think everyone who uses Huel would be met with a lot less stick if everyone stopped referring to it as the “future of food”. It just puts people’s backs up in a very Daily Mail, conclusion leaping way, so they think that, by existing, Huel is somehow going to stop them from eating and enjoying food. “If we’re not careful, one day food will be obliterated and we’re all just gonna be eating powder, if Huel get their way!”. People feel the need to defend their eating habits or love for eating and tasting actual food food because the implication is that it’s all going to change soon, unless we put a stop to this!
It’s not the future of food, it’s just a new product that will come in handy for a few people for various reasons
I think everyone’s reaction, initially, is like “eurgh, freak!”, but as soon as they realise that they’re under no obligation to try it, much less to have only Huel and never eat food again, and that nobody is gonna try and make them, they chill out about the whole thing.
People like to jump to ridiculous conclusions when they don’t understand something new
I rather like Rob Rhinehart’s view that a product like this can become the default meal, just as water is the default drink. If you’re thirsty and you can’t think of what to drink or there’s nothing you like around, you just drink water. In a similar way, if you’re hungry and you don’t know what food to prepare or you don’t have time, you can just have Soylent or Huel. But of course, if you want a roast dinner with a glass of beer, that’s fine too.
So it’s not the future of eating for pleasure. It’s future of healthy food when other options are unavailable.
Even the makers of Huel enjoy good food in addition to Huel, so for many people it’s not about completely replacing all food.
Well the article may have been rubbish, for all the reasons described above, but it did intrigue me enough to do my own research. Hopefully it motivated some others to give it a go, too, despite its negative slant.
My first sample arrived in the post this morning, so I’ll let you know how I get on!