Soy Vegan

Soy comes from... beans.

Have you ever wondered where your edamame came from? Or miso soup? How about tofu and tempeh? Have you ever heard of natto?

They are all byproducts of this wonderous bean.

There are several varieties of these beans, including green, black, brown, blue, and speckled.

The beans have been grown in Asian countries for thousands of years and served as their main source of protein.

Although Western countries got soybeans from Eastern countries in the 18th century, they didn't start acually growing the beans until the early 20th century.

Now, the Americas produce more than half of the worldwide crops.

These beans count as a complete protein since they have all the amino acids that make up protein. They are often considered to be one of the healthiest foods in the world, but recently have come under scrutiny. It has created a huge controversy since it directly contradicts what people have thought for years.

Even with all this controversy, something that can't be ignored is the fact that for thousands of years, it has been heralded as a supreme health food. We are familiar with edamame from its popularity in Japanese restaurants across the United States. Edamame are young beans that are then boiled and eaten with salt.

The beans can be processed into all these products, such as milk, flour, meal, textured vegetable protein, lechitin, oil, tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, and natto.

Because of its usefulness in creating so many products for human consumption, its demand has drastically increased. Of course, this affects our environment because forests have been cleared to produce this crop.

One true problem with its crop production is that the crops are in such high demand that they are now often created with genetic modification (GM.) GM crops have far more drawbacks than good qualities. Although they do give us the capacity to grow plants that are resistent to disease and bug infestation, they are completely untested for negative drawbacks. They also destroy good bugs and crops that help keep down the amount of bugs.

Overall, genetic modification creates a nasty cyclical problem. Bugs=spray=kills good bugs=bag bugs proliferate=more spray=bugs are immune to spray=more bugs=harsher sprays.

You can only imagine what these ever stronger sprays will do to our immune systems (and bodies in general).

This product has been eaten for thousands of years, and recently has come into the Western world.

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