Some Silicon Valley employees save time by skipping solid food, instead slurping Soylent or Schmoylent or Schmilk or Schcum (made up the last one), protein powders containing essential vitamins which are mixed with water or milk. Certainly, it’s unnecessary. It doesn’t take any more time to pack light, healthy foods, but subcultures have their own viral trends, and sometimes good can come of them. Think Los Angeles in the ’60s and ’70s with health food and exercise. But perhaps these coders and venture capitalists might consider that teeth and jaws and stomachs benefit from the biting, chewing and digesting of solids.

From Brian X. Chen of the New York Times:

SAN FRANCISCO — Every night, Aaron Melocik, a software developer, follows a precise food routine. He blends together half a gallon of water, three and a half tablespoons of macadamia nut oil and a 16-ounce bag of powder called Schmoylent. Then he pours the beige beverage into jars and chills them before bringing the containers to work the next day at Metrodigi, an education technology start-up.

At the office, Mr. Melocik stashes one Schmoylent jar in the refrigerator and takes the other to his desk. From 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., he sips from the first jar for breakfast, and the second for lunch. He consumes about 14 fluid ounces of Schmoylent each day so he can focus on coding instead of grabbing a bite to eat.

“It just removes food completely from my morning equation up until about 7 p.m.,” said Mr. Melocik, 34, who has been following his techie diet since February.

Boom times in Silicon Valley call for hard work, and hard work — at least in technology land — means that coders, engineers and venture capitalists are turning to liquid meals with names like Schmoylent, Soylent, Schmilk and People Chow. The protein-packed products that come in powder form are inexpensive and quick and easy to make — just shake with water, or in the case of Schmilk, milk. While athletes and dieters have been drinking their dinner for years, Silicon Valley’s workers are now increasingly chugging their meals, too, so they can more quickly get back to their computer work.•