A programmer told me that after 2 months on Soylent, he "Missed the feeling of eating" and returned to eating regularly.

Evolution took a long time to evolve our DNA. It doesn't change easily.

I tried Joylent (a version of Soylent made in EU) for few weeks and I too "missed the feeling of eating" a little, but I recognized it as just a habit. The same kind of habit browsing HN is, with similar procrastination values.

One of those habits developed over millenia to ensure the survival of the species. Eating is the opposite of procrastination.

Tell that to me when I'm eating to reduce stress caused by work I have to do that I can't make myself to.

Like all habits developed over millenia, just because something worked back then, doesn't mean it makes sense now. We had our cost/benefit evaluation slowly tuned to the environment that rapidly (i.e. over last few thousand of years) ceased to exist. A lot of problems we have with each other can be explained in terms of executing adaptations we had from the time where survival involved hunting, and not filling out forms.

Not saying that normal eating is obsolete - just that arguments from nature tend not to be too strong in general case.

Good point. I meant eating as in consumption (soylent or not) when comparing to HN but I see what you mean.