Twenty-Five Percent Soy

Written in 1974, never published
©2023 Elder Road Books

IT WAS A MATTER OF BUDGET. When several companies came out with a mixture of ground beef and soy protein, it cut the price nearly as much as it cut the flavor. We rejoiced at our house. The remarkable discovery meant that we could have meat twice a week. On our limited food budget, it was rare to see beef on the table, even in its ground up form.

However, we soon discovered many more good things from the remarkable little legume called soy beans. First, we discovered that the soy additive absorbed much of the grease that normally was left in the skillet, oven, or lost to the flames on the charcoal grill. As a result, our hamburgers were plumper, juicier. Our meatloafs and casseroles were moist and tender. And our dog was extremely unhappy that she no longer got meat drippings on her food.

There was no difference that we could tell in the flavor of the ground meat. My wife to whom the meat shortages meant nothing but an increased cost of feeding me, still couldn’t stand the taste of red meat.

It appeared the soy bean had made its debut on the table of America.

In doing research on the subject, we found that soy beans provide all the necessary proteins except one amino acid. That one was found in corn. Some brave scientist (I believe it was my father-in-law) exclaimed, “A person could live on a total diet of nothing but corn and soy beans.”

The food value in that inexpensive commodity took my house by storm.

If by adding twenty-five percent soy meal to the meat, we could have it twice a week, perhaps by adding fifty percent, we could have it four times. And what with the prices being relentless in their upward sweep, it appeared that might be the only way eventually to maintain the budget. Still there was no noticeable change in flavor. Perhaps the meat was not quite as moist as it once was, but it still didn’t shrink when you dropped it on a hot skillet.

My wife, being a vegetarian at tongue, took this to its logical conclusion. Why use meat at all? Why not just live on soy beans and corn? Why not invent the dish that would feed millions, and in five loaves and two ears of corn provide their minimum adult daily requirement of vitamins, iron, and protein? (I am certain her father was egging his brilliant daughter on.)

Why not?

Our kitchen was soon turned into a scientific laboratory. A sprouting tank occupied half the kitchen sink. The refrigerator was traded in on a storage bin. The stove was equipped with hydro analysis gauges, thermometers, and other miscellaneous devices. The cupboards took on the appearance of a high school chemistry lab. The soy bean was king!