We recently hit the indefinite pause button on our Soylent subscription. I hope this isn’t permanent, but thats where we are at the moment.

To be clear, we still consume Soylent every single day and it is our staple go-to food source. We tend to have roughly 1 conventional meal per day just because we find ourselves in the mood for something different. We have become absolutely accustomed to the ease and convenience of Soylent, not to mention how much better we feel overall since adding it to our lives. But the risk of being such an early adopter is that the product in question is still very much in flux, and this is probably more true with Soylent than any other foodstuffs.

When version 1.3 came along, we were thrilled. For us it had finally nailed everything down from taste to texture to gas (or lack thereof). It was, and continues to be, the perfect Soylent for us. But then 1.4 came along. On paper we were very excited about it and were huge fans of the idea. It was the largest single update yet, changing a massive number of things. In particular was the addition of powdered oils a very strange sounding but exciting concept. No more little oil bottles to add to each batch!

Unfortunately, it came with a distinct flavor change that we just couldn’t get with. Some people actually prefer it, but sadly we were not in that camp. The folks at Rosa Labs acknowledged the change and set about trying to fix it, but rolling back to 1.3 was not possible due to the enormous number of changes to the core product. We hung in with our remaining 1.3 in the hopes that 1.5 would be our salvation.

Then 1.5 came to be, and alas it was only a slight improvement. To us, there is this sharp wet cardboard taste that we just cant get past. I was more willing to experiment, trying many different flavorings and additives in the hopes of masking the taste. But no nothing worked. So we immediately started hoarding all the 1.3 we could find on the secondary markets of eBay and the Soylent forum.

Then came the surprise announcement of Soylent 2.0! Strangely, its only available in pre-mixed bottles for now and not powder. Our hopes momentarily were raised, until we saw the change in ingredients. The primary protein source is now Soy Protein Isolate. Now I’m usually quick to dismiss pseudo-scientific research about how horrible (or great) a particular thing is, and Soy has definitely been demonized of late. In general I don’t expect its hugely dangerous or anything, but we have one rather critical extenuating circumstance, which is an extreme family history of estrogen-sensitive breast cancer.

The bottom line is that since I haven’t been able to find any solid research that absolutely does away with the notion that Soy can mimic estrogen in the body, we just cant take the chance that it might be a possible trigger when were talking about our primary nutrition source. If it was an occasional snack or something, maybe no big deal. But 70% to 80% of our intake? Just cant chance it.

For now were in pretty good shape as we have a huge stockpile of 1.3 Soylent and it should last us probably another 5 or 6 months. But after that were more than a little concerned. I know that Soylent eventually wants to move towards a totally algae-based protein, which again on paper I think is just awesome. But for us if the taste isn’t tolerable than were just not going to consume it, period. Were not in that camp of people who will just eat or drink something gross because its good for you. Either we like it, or it doesn’t go in.

Our fingers are nervously crossed that one of the next couple versions of powdered Soylent will finally solve this taste issue so that we can be comfortable that we can once again buy Soylent directly from the manufacturer, but theres no way to know for sure what the future of Soylent will be. Its possible though Im loathe to admit it that this is the end of out Soylent journey. If that looks to be the case when were down to our last month or two of Soylent 1.3, then well have to look at some of the other soylent providers who have popped up since Soylent’s success. The thought of going without soylent is truly terrible now that we’ve had it for a year and a half. Its truly changed our lives for the better, and going back to a purely conventional-food-diet is just a miserable thought.

Heres hoping were back in the fold again soon!