I don't think Soylent is optimal, but I do think it would be very difficult to beat
Depends on what you compare it to. For complete-nutrition liquids it competes against a few expensive hospital products. But for food it competes against things like WholeFoods and farmers' markets -- and loses handily (IMHO).
It doesn't compete against individual foods. It competes against diets. If you went through the work to make sure the diet was perfectly balanced, than it probably wouldn't be that hard to beat Soylent, although I'm not sure the margin it's possible to beat it by would do much. I don't think things like WholeFoods and farmers' markets would be necessary. On the other hand, if you were trying to make a diet just by looking at a few major nutrients, or worse, whatever you happen to crave, you're not going to beat Soylent, regardless of the quality of food.
Ta...
Previous Open Thread
You know the drill - If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
Notes for future OT posters:
1. Please add the 'open_thread' tag.
2. Check if there is an active Open Thread before posting a new one.
3. Open Threads should start on Monday, and end on Sunday.
4. Open Threads should be posted in Discussion, and not Main.