Dear Juicero, you’re ruining nutrition and here’s why
Like most people, I had no idea Juicero existed until very recently. In fact, I found out about the whole conundrum just this morning. Quick refresher for those of you who (like me until this morning) live under a rock: Juicero, a Silicon Valley start-up valued at $120 million, sells “juicers” for $399 (until recently $600) which can only squeeze pre-made bags of pulp that the company distributes at $7 a pop. It also comes with a nifty app, of course. The company claims to be solving “the national nutrition crisis”, evidently by selling them overpriced and useless products. Queue a shitstorm of “why are you selling a juicer that doesn’t juice for $399?” with the official answer being “The value of Juicero is more than a glass of cold-pressed juice. Much more.”
I must admit, I probably have a very cushy life because not many things have made me quite as angry lately. My biggest issue with the whole ordeal isn’t even the price mark of this utterly useless gadget. I mean, people buy SodaStreams, for god’s sake. But, if you know me, you know how much I love food and how much I value nutrition. I think the whole Juicero phenomenon is really symptomatic of how misguided and removed nutrition is becoming, and it’s all based on the presumption that eating well and eating right somehow takes a lot of time and effort. The Soylent hype is based on this. But this approach simply removes people further and further away from the reality of the food they eat. It comes in a closed, pristine package, the contents of which aren’t even visible. It erases the fact that food grows in the soil and feeds on the soil, it’s part of our ecosystem and part of our culture. I think this concept of food as an abstraction, not tied to the reality of the earth or the labour that goes into it, is what promotes conspicuous consumption and a disregard for our common environment. For me, it’s actually the opposite of mindful nutrition.
I also want to touch on the fact that juicing is a controversial topic in itself. It’s based on the (very correct) assumption that you should eat more fruit and vegetables. However, the act of juicing itself removes fiber from the produce, leaving you with a glassful of sugar and a few vitamins and minerals. Sure, the vitamins and minerals are important, but the fiber in produce helps to make sugar absorption slower, which is more nutritionally sound. The body doesn’t care whether the sugar you’re drinking comes from an apple or a fizzy drink, as far as it’s concerned — sugar is sugar is sugar. To me, juices are a treat, and they’re not a solution to any nutrition problem. What could be a solution?
I’m blessed in the sense that I live in a country with great agriculture and in a city filled with locally-mindful people. I can walk to the market and buy seasonal, locally-grown produce. Sure, I might not be able to find exotic, or out-of-season ingredients and that does get a bit frustrating when I’m reading fancy recipes that I want to try right this instant… But it also makes me more aware of the seasons changing and the climate being finicky. The drought last year left us with a poor harvest and left me personally without my favourite wine. Obviously, though, we don’t live at the dawn of the agricultural revolution, and digital innovation does have a place in nutrition. It just looks very different. Case in point: volunteers from the local community got in touch with farmers and small producers in and around Barcelona. The volunteers organised demand, and the producers organised the supply chain. On Wednesday, the producers organised a small-scale exhibition in our neighbourhood. We all got a gift of a majestic head of lettuce and some beautiful fave beans. We watched videos of happily grazing cows and tried some delicious cheeses. Why? Because starting next week, we’ll be able to buy from these producers directly, using a nifty app and without a fancy juicer. We’ll get fresh, organic produce delivered to our doorsteps and the farmers will get a fair price. That’s innovation in nutrition: local, mindful, community-based and harnessing digital technology.
But really, I think the most innovative thought in nutrition is that it’s not hard. It’s not hard to eat an apple. In fact, eating an apple takes less time than ordering a juice pack online for $7 and then juicing the pulp inside to release a sugary liquid. Chopping a salad takes 5 minutes. You don’t need the agave syrups, the coconut aminos, the naked smoothies or the new miracle seeds to eat right. All you need is a little awareness, a little mindfulness and a whole load of vegetables. But that doesn’t have a lot of startup potential and it isn’t worth millions, so here we are.
