Comments on: Nutritional Sludge http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669 Dave Gottlieb's news, views and miscellaneous junk Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:25:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Carcass Sunstein http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669&cpage=1#comment-5188 Carcass Sunstein Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:45:24 +0000 http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669#comment-5188 Fancy _you_ leveling the charge of blowhardiness, Bunghole. Grobstein, since when did your blog become such a wretched hive of scum and villainy? Fancy _you_ leveling the charge of blowhardiness, Bunghole.

Grobstein, since when did your blog become such a wretched hive of scum and villainy?

]]> By: Yaakov "the Bunghole" Bungler http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669&cpage=1#comment-5187 Yaakov "the Bunghole" Bungler Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:42:58 +0000 http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669#comment-5187 Is that a foul breeze I smell, or is someone just being a blowhard? Is that a foul breeze I smell, or is someone just being a blowhard?

]]> By: Mother Ming http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669&cpage=1#comment-5186 Mother Ming Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:37:45 +0000 http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669#comment-5186 If you're a gastronomer, then I'm a fucking gustatator. If you’re a gastronomer, then I’m a fucking gustatator.

]]> By: Alan http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669&cpage=1#comment-5185 Alan Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:33:46 +0000 http://www.davegottlieb.com/blog/?p=669#comment-5185 Yeah, this seems obvious to me. The trope is surely related to visions of the future as sleek and clean. But in the same way that people will always like "dirty" (to some extent) sex, we will always like "dirty" actual food. We may get the nutritional component down some day (i.e., the sludge would be "good enough" that one could subsist solely on it and not have any real health issues as a result), but I can't imagine it could be more satisfying than a correspondingly healthy meal of real food. And therein lies the kicker -- I'm inclined to believe that there would be such a meal, because I doubt most fruits, grains, and vegetables inherently contain nutritionally undesirable elements if consumed in moderation (i.e., are there any material downsides to eating an apple a day?). And if they do, we could probably genetically engineer them out if we're technologically advanced enough to make the sludge. So why would anyone make the sludge their staple meal (setting aside cost issues and the like)? It (or specifically optimized variants) would probably be used to make futuristic Clif Bars and the like. Yeah, this seems obvious to me. The trope is surely related to visions of the future as sleek and clean. But in the same way that people will always like “dirty” (to some extent) sex, we will always like “dirty” actual food.

We may get the nutritional component down some day (i.e., the sludge would be “good enough” that one could subsist solely on it and not have any real health issues as a result), but I can’t imagine it could be more satisfying than a correspondingly healthy meal of real food. And therein lies the kicker — I’m inclined to believe that there would be such a meal, because I doubt most fruits, grains, and vegetables inherently contain nutritionally undesirable elements if consumed in moderation (i.e., are there any material downsides to eating an apple a day?). And if they do, we could probably genetically engineer them out if we’re technologically advanced enough to make the sludge. So why would anyone make the sludge their staple meal (setting aside cost issues and the like)? It (or specifically optimized variants) would probably be used to make futuristic Clif Bars and the like.

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