Schwartz has offered readers the code “STARVAT10N” for 10% off her nutrient supplement product line.
Photo by Sharon Roth
Rebecca Shwartz, a 48-year-old resident of Clairemont, San Diego, has established a lifestyle she calls “the true human experience”. She has reportedly gone 30 years without eating, sticking exclusively to water and nutrient pills.
“I was a freshman in college when I learned about the vegan lifestyle,” Shwartz explained. “I thought, oh my god, this is so important. But even after three weeks of eating just salads, I still felt really bad. My friends said it was because of the salad and the fact they only ever consisted of grass clippings, but I realized I felt bad because I was still eating something that lived! Grass is life! Plants feel and experience pain too. So I realized I shouldn’t eat anything. Instead, I thrive on natural nutrients and water, the way a human should.”
Shwartz calls her dietary habits “the most sustainable lifestyle,” claiming to have saved thousands of dollars by not buying food. Instead of going to the grocery store every Sunday, she’s become a regular at the nearby pill supplement shop. “I tell my children how my days are just poppin’ pills and being fly, you know, to relate to them,” she says. “They don’t seem to like that saying but I think it sums up my life pretty well.”
Within the last two years, Shwartz established her own company Slurp! to spread her version of vegan lifestyle to other people. Aside from supplement products, Slurp! sells “Plants have feelings too” t-shirts with a detachable coupon for their first round of nutrient supplements. Profit reports state that her business only has one purchase: from herself for her two teenage sons.
“I don’t understand how she does it. And I don’t mean that in an inspirational way, I’m pretty sure she’s slowly dying.” said Mark, the eldest. “We don’t ever have food in the house, I’ve been scavenging for food in dumpsters since I was like, three,” said Max, hauling a wagon of his mother’s business flyers. “I don’t get the sustainable part of her diet. Like, these flyers alone killed at least twenty trees. And she also has, like, 18 boxes of those t-shirts taking up space in the garage. And do you know how much nutrient pills are? It’s cheaper just to buy some damn food.”
Shwartz is also a proclaimed member of the local Vegan Association. However, the San Diego Vegan Association refutes that claim, stating that Shwartz’s membership was revoked due to “vegan extremism.” Sara Hepberg, president of the SDVA, commented on Shwartz, saying “She used to be pretty well-liked here. We kinda thought her t-shirt idea was funny. Not doable, just funny. Then she came in one day and showed us a 40-minute clip of people cutting lawns and picking flowers while she hysterically cried in the back of the room. It was then we realized she was serious.”
Despite the outlook of her business, Shwartz sees no end in her endeavor to spread the lifestyle. She reportedly intends to follow her diet to the end of her life, possibly even giving up her nutrient pills since she has considered the idea that items “might have felt sensation at one point.”
