It’s a good thing that friendship doesn’t always require similarity, because I know a few fine people who regard eating as a chore. To some folk, food is fuel and their world is a place where no good meal goes unpunished by some sacrifice or another. I understand this only because I have the same attitude about walking to the grocery store rather than driving: it might be a hobby for you, but it sounds like a hassle to me.
What's Good At Trader Joe's? (www.whatsgoodattraderjoes.com) is a blog providing full-scale candid reviews of products from the California-based grocery chain. An entry last spring featured an especially curious novelty: "You ever look at Fluffy or Rex, happily chomping away at whatever's in their bowl for the 3,000th time, and wonder how a creature can so happily eat the same thing over and over again?" Trader Joe's Dog Food … For People was an April Fool's joke by the blog's writers, but it didn't strike me as an entirely implausible concept. Trader Joe's makes more than 20 varieties of trail mix, and what is trail mix if not the human equivalent of kibble? These sorts of meals already exist.
In the lead we have Soylent, perhaps the most controversial and polarising beverage since Prohibition. It was created by a young software engineer with a dream for a better world and one in which he could spend less time, energy and money feeding himself. Rob Rhinehart and his team developed the open-source formula for a meal replacement shake that would deliver more consistently complete nutrition than most people are likely to be getting from their diets in the first place. “No one seemed to worry about me when I lived on burritos and ramen and actually was deficient of many known essential nutrients. The body is pretty robust. If you can survive on what most Americans or Somalians eat, you can surely survive on Soylent.” I’d love to see Soylent in the hands of people who view food as an imperative rather than an inconvenience, but that could be a long commute.
Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times wrote about his test run with Soylent, which he described as "gritty, thinned-down pancake batter, inoffensive and dull" and ultimately "joyless". But Ars Technica's Lee Hutchinson, Soylent's most prolific documentarian, wrote that "not every meal needs to be a festive, life-affirming display of cultural pageantry where we march from kitchen to table bearing the carefully plated masterpieces of locally sourced delicacies while hidden speakers blare the Circle of Life song from The Lion King".
Soylent’s slogan is “What if you never had to worry about food again?” The thing is, I enjoy “worrying” about food. I’m the girl who draws diagrams to try to devise the perfect egg salad sandwich, with little arrows pointing to the layers of bagna cauda butter and garlic mayo, my notes a neurotic display of the delicious anguish of uncertainty: “Capers, parsley, chives or tarragon? All of the above?” Eating and thinking are not mutually exclusive, and Rob Rhinehart and I are both evidence of that, even if we take our meals – solid and liquid – in different camps.
artslife@thenational.ae
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
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The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now