The myth that no one eats in the offices of a fashion magazine is just that…a myth.

But when the ELLE team were sent sachets of HUEL, the latest meal replacement 'mixed from a carefully chosen blend of oats, pea protein, rice protein, flaxseed, MCTs from Coconut, sunflower lecithin, a bespoke vitamin and mineral blend, vanilla flavour and a sweetener' we had to give it a try.

Here are the various reactions of all of the ELLE team that tried it:

'It's porridge made with water…a bit gross.'

'Any brand that uses Helvetica font looks good.'

'That is vile. It's so bad. Urgh. I think it's the bits…'

'It's like porridge that's been left in the sun mixed with sewage'

'It's quite a nice name. I went out with a boyfriend called Huel'

'What could you add to that to make it better? Soy sauce? Chocolate? banana? Cinnamon? Ice cream!'

'You could put maple syrup in that would make it better…'

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'It looks so brown.'

'It's made of humans, I'm not drinking it.'

'If you have it for breakfast lunch and dinner, could you survive?' 

'Yes. That's the point.'

'I have an Elle McPherson one for breakfast with a banana. Does that count?'

'No, it's not HUEL.'

'I would drink it though. It is just like plain porridge.'

Maybe we need to try some of the more tempting-sounding flavoured versions before we make up our minds.

Or maybe we just need a Friday chocolate run.

Headshot of Hannah Nathanson
Hannah Nathanson
Features Director
Hannah Nathanson is Features Director at ELLE. She commissions, edits and writes stories for online and print, spanning everything from ’Generation Flake’ to cover profiles with Dua Lipa and Hailey Bieber. One of her most surreal moments as a journalist has been ‘chairing’ a conversation between Jodie Comer and Phoebe Waller-Bridge from her living room. The word she says most in the office is ‘podcast’.