Survival Cooking Part IV

Next on the menu- Mainstay Emergency Food Rations

These munchies are twice the size of Datrex, and look something like squares of cornbread, only they're about 4 times as dense. They're lemon flavored, but are thoughful enough to not be overpoweringly scented. Also, the bag comes with a built in ziploc seal. (So considerate!)

With 400 calories a cube, these Mainstay blocks really can replace a meal. However, while they're not bad, they did lead me to start thinking about the purpose behind food. Sure, you can consume all the calories you need for a day in blocks of uniform, well-preserved food, but is it really worth it? So much of food is in the experience of taste and variety, different smells, changes of texture, even variations from how the same meal is prepared different days.

Without an experiential side of living, what are we really gaining? If we cut out the sensory input of life to be able to survive on through routine, eating without tasting, living without feeling, what is it we are hoping to gain by that sacrifice?

Unrelated to existentiosensory abstraction, I'd definitely pick Mainstay over Datrex as a food source, but I'm not really planning on stocking up on either any time in this, well, lifetime.