Context

This line is spoken by Thorn, played by Charlton Heston, in the film Soylent Green, directed by Richard Fleischer (1973).

In 2022, the world is overcrowded. New York City alone houses 40 million people (compared to its real-life 2013 population of almost 8.5 million), and most are homeless and starving.

People survive on a miraculous product of food called Soylent Green. 

But, uh, it's not what it seems. 

At the end of the movie, Charlton Heston's character, Thorn, finds out the secret, and he reveals it. 

Spoiler alert: Soylent Green is people.

Where you've heard it

In 2012, a young entrepreneur invented a new food replacement, a slurry of minerals intended to provide sustenance without the need to consume actual food. He decided to call it Soylent. He swears it isn't made of people.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

The pretentious factor involved in drinking the new soylent is still up in the air (it hovers around 6-8), but making a reference to this classic 70s sci-fi isn't pretentious. It's retro.