The new revolution in food just might be in powder form. Or at least that’s what Rob Rhinehart, the 25-year-old engineer and creator of the headline-grabbing food-replacement product Soylent, would like us to believe.

Rhinehart, a California engineer, found fitting in three healthy meals a day to be too much of an effort, not to mention expensive. So after scarfing down one too many frozen quesadilla meals, he decided to treat the problem of eating as he would an issue faced at work — he reverse-engineered it.

“I just thought ‘why couldn’t there be a more efficient way to eat well?’” says Rhinehart. “What if we used our understanding of nutritional biochemistry and food processing and tried to make a better staple meal?”

Rhinehart broke down all the nutrients the human body needs to function to their purest form, creating a powder out of them. He began to subsist on Soylent (named with a humorous nod to the 1973 Charlton Heston movie “Soylent Green”), changing the formula according to how he felt. After a month Rhinehart posted a blog entry titled, “How I stopped eating food.” It went viral, and soon techies across the globe were working with Rhinehart to improve the formula.

Soon after, Rhinehart launched a Crowdtilt campaign and made $2.1 million from 20,000 fans eager to try Soylent. He also received $1.5 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Lerer Ventures and Y Combinator.

Some media outlets declared Soylent to be the future of food, while others branded it an unappetizing Ensure rip-off.

“There has been a lot of press, “ says Rhinehart, “because I think this is an idea whose time has come. It’s incredibly important for the population to be well-fed, and the food companies of the past have not done an adequate job.”

Rhinehart now operates Rosa Labs, which creates Soylent and will eventually produce other “future foods.” I was lucky enough to receive one of the first shipments of Soylent and, perhaps foolishly, decided to live on it exclusively for a week (well, five days).

Why would I do this to myself? I’m certainly a lover of solid foods but I’m also oddly attracted to this Jetson-esque food-drink. There are times when managing meals is a hassle, and as a 20-something living in New York City, it can be hard to find the perfect nutritional balance. I was ready — and excited — to become a Soylent Pioneer.

Taking the plunge

A week's worth of Soylent costs $70. My seven bags of Soylent arrived in a white, branded box and immediately drew the attention of my coworkers. People congregated around my desk, taking Soylent photos to post on Twitter (TWTR) and Instagram. To make my first batch, I mixed oil (which is provided) and water into the powder et voilà, I had a meal. It’s recommended that you leave your Soylent in a refrigerator overnight in order to let the powder and water combine more thoroughly, so I put a “Do not eat!” sign on my pitcher and left it for the evening.

It’s a woman thing

You’re advised to consume one 2,000-calorie pouch of Soylent daily, but I’m a woman who sits at a desk all day so I measured out a bit less than that.

Soylent is made by a man, and optimized for one as well. There have been complaints on Soylent forums that the community surrounding it isn’t exactly women-friendly. Timothy Fabiniak, a Soylent supporter since May 2013, described the target demographic as “29, male, engineering degree.”

It makes sense, as Silicon Valley as a whole seems to have issues with gender equality. But Rhinehart disagrees: “We know from our use-data that there are plenty of women and men [using Soylent] and that the skew isn’t heavily towards one way or the other. Soylent is for everybody.”

The taste

The first day of my new diet had come and I was becoming nervous about what was ahead during this Soylent-fueled week. But then I took my first taste — and it really wasn’t bad. It’s a bit like a combination of pancake and cake batter — not flavorsome but not offensive either. It’s neutral. And that’s just as it’s supposed to be.

"The taste is such that it’s very broad and not overly specific or stimulating, so that you don’t get tired of it,” Rhinehart says. “So people who have complained that it’s not incredibly stimulating or beautiful or tasty – that’s not really the problem that we’re trying to solve. In the future I think we’ll be able to have it all, but for now we’re trying to make a very efficient, practical, utilitarian product.”

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