Introduction

The Little Soy Book
by Erika Dillman

Growing up in rural Illinois, I was literally surrounded by the soybeans and corn that grew in the fields near my house. I thought that soybeans were only fed to cows and pigs, so when I was eight years old and was served a soy burger at school, I eyed it suspiciously, took one bite, and then let it slide off my plastic lunch tray into the garbage. It wasn't thick and juicy like the hamburgers my mother made, and it didn't taste like a McDonald's hamburger. From that day on, I brought peanut butter sandwiches on hamburger day.

My next encounter with soy occurred when I was fourteen years old and working for an agriculture company, detasseling corn. Most days we worked in the cornfields from 6 a.m. until late in the afternoon. Some days we walked beans, which involved walking up and down rows of soybean plants with a shovel, killing any threatening weeds or rogue corn stalks that we found. I always preferred walking beans because it was much easier work than trying to detassel miles-long rows of corn that were two feet taller than I was. My editor, who has lived in New York City all her life, finds it hilarious that I spent my summer vacations this way and that I continued to work in the fields for seven straight summers. I think it was a portent.

I finally discovered tofu in college when some friends added it to a vegetable stir-fry at a dinner party I was attending. I didn't really know what it was or what to do with it, but I liked its texture and how it soaked up all the flavors of the garlic, vegetables, and sauce with which it was cooked. In the years since that dinner party, tofu has become an important protein source for me as part of my vegetarian diet.

More recently, I've incorporated many other soy foods into my meals, including roasted soy nuts, tempeh, soy sausages, soy-based nutrition bars, and miso soup. I have to admit that I was surprised that I liked so many of them. The first time I ate a soy breakfast sausage I was amazed that it had the same taste, texture, and smell as the pork sausages I had eaten as a child. I had to double-check the ingredients on the box to make sure I wasn't eating meat.

This book is for people who may be uninformed about soy foods, as I was, or simply curious about soy's health benefits. Eating soy has helped me create more variety in my diet while helping me get the protein I need. I hope you will enjoy learning about all the different types of soy foods as much as I have.

Enjoy.

Erika Dillman

It's Soy Time

The modest little soybean has hit the big time. You can't open a magazine or a newspaper these days without seeing an article about soy. Veggie burgers containing soy are selling like hotcakes. Tofu, made from soybeans, is now widely available in supermarkets across the country. You can even get soy milk lattes at Starbucks.

So what's all the fuss about? Americans are starting to realize what Asians have known for thousands of years: soybeans pack a huge nutritional punch. High in protein and low in fat, they're an inexpensive, fiber-rich, cholesterol-free food. Soy also contains powerful plant chemicals called isoflavones that researchers believe show potential for fighting many chronic diseases. Most notably, soy has been shown to help fight heart disease by lowering cholesterol, a claim approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

For people trying to reduce their fat and cholesterol intake, and for vegetarians looking for a high-quality protein source, soy is the ideal food-easy to cook with and available in a variety of styles and products.

In The Little Soy Book you'll learn about soy's nutritional qualities and health benefits, the role isoflavones play in fighting disease, the many different types of soy foods and how to incorporate them into your diet, and finally, how to cook with soy. In the final chapter you'll find thirty recipes.

But first, a brief introduction to the humble bean.

What's A Soybean? Soy Uses

What's A Soybean?

Soybeans are small, green, oval-shaped legumes that grow in pods, like peas, on the soybean plant. The beans are harvested about four months after they're planted, when they have become hard, dry, and yellow. There are also brown and black varieties of soybeans.

Soy Uses

Soy has been called “the wonder bean” and “a miracle crop,” and it's no surprise. Every bit of the bean has a use. Whole soybeans can be fermented, curdled, and pressed to make traditional soy foods like soy sauce, tofu, and soy milk. Soy can also be processed to create a wide range of food and agricultural products. First the hulls (outer shell of the bean) are removed and processed to make livestock feed and fiber additives for food products like packaged bread and cereal. Once the hulls are removed, the beans are rolled into flakes from which soy oil is extracted. The flakes are then made into livestock feed, or they are further processed to make a variety of soy protein products like flour, soy milk, soup mixes, and other foods. Soy oil is also refined and used in food products as well as industrial products.

Here are just a few products that contain soy:

Agriculture/Industry: Livestock feed, pet food, pesticides/ fungicides, cleaners, paint, ink, plastics, adhesives, dust-control agents, biodiesel fuel, disinfectants, epoxies, polyesters, textiles, crayons, cosmetics, candles, hair conditioner and other hair-styling products. Foods: Cooking oil, margarine, mayonnaise, soy milk, meat substitutes, baby food and infant formula, flour, ice cream, roasted soy nuts, cereals, tofu, miso, tempeh.

The United States produces half of the world's soybeans, and U.S. soybean and soy product exports generated more than $7 billion in 1998.

History of Soy, Soy Foods

Soybeans were first cultivated from wild plants by Chinese farmers five thousand years ago. According to ancient texts, soybeans were used as both a food and a medicine and were one of five designated “sacred” crops. Over time, soybeans were also grown in southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan. Today soy remains a staple food in many Asian countries. The average Japanese person eats more than fifty pounds of tofu a year, and until recently, soy milk was more popular in China than Coca-Cola.

It wasn't until the early 1800s that soybeans were introduced to Europe and America. Soybeans were most likely brought to Europe by traders who carried them back from China. Soybeans arrived in America during this time stored in barrels that were used as ballast in trading ships. Most of the beans were thrown out when the ships arrived, but a few farmers began experimenting with the seeds. Benjamin Franklin was one of America's first soy enthusiasts, sending soybean seeds to America from France after learning about Chinese tofu.

By the late 1800s American farmers were growing soybeans for cattle feed, and in 1904 George Washington Carver discovered that soybeans were a great source of protein and oil.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, American scientists began to study thousands of soybean varieties from China. At that time, America imported 40 percent of its edible fats and oil, but when soybean fields in China were destroyed during World War II, the United States stepped up its soybean production.

Automobile manufacturer and vegetarian Henry Ford was a pioneer in soy research and soy promotion. In the 1930s he and his scientists experimented with making foods out of soy, including meat alternatives, milk, ice cream, and butter. He wore soy clothing (suits that were woven from a blend of wool and soy fibers) and even made a car out of soy plastic. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was Ford's scientists who worked with food manufacturers to incorporate soy into food products.

Today the United States is the largest producer and exporter of soybeans, which are grown in more than thirty states, with Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, and Nebraska among the top producers. In 1998, American soybean farmers produced a record-breaking 2,757 billion bushels of soybeans.

World Soybean Production, 1998

48 percent United States
20 percent Brazil
12 percent Argentina
9 percent China
3 percent India
2 percent Paraguay
1 percent Europe
5 percent Other

(Source: Soy Stats 1999)

Soy Foods

You've probably used soy sauce before, and heard of tofu and soy milk, but maybe you didn't know that soy comes in many different forms... or that you probably have eaten soy many times without knowing it. Widely used by food manufacturers, soy and soy products are common ingredients in packaged foods such as candy bars, powdered soup mixes, cereals, and baby food. Most of the vegetable oil you'll find at the grocery store is actually 100 percent soybean oil.

Soy, in the form of TSP (textured soy protein, also called textured vegetable protein or TVP), has been used for years in ground meat as an extender and to add texture. Low in fat and high in protein, soy is also used to make low-fat margarine, nutrition bars, and protein powder used in smoothies, thick shakelike drinks containing ingredients like fruit, water, soy milk or yogurt, and nutritional supplements.

This book will help you learn about the many types of soy foods and how to add them to your diet, why soy is becoming such a popular food, and how you can gain important health benefits from eating soy.

Copyright © 2001 by Erika Dillman

About the Author

Erika Dillman is a freelance health, fitness, and sports writer and editor based in Seattle, WA. Her articles have been published in a variety of regional and national publications, including Runner's World, Self, Northwest Health, Hemispheres , Ms., Northwest Runner, The Melpomene Journal, and Women's Sports & Fitness.