Why is soy so widely used?

Answer

Easy to grow. Low inputs, water. Doesn’t need to be high quality, since a majority is for animal feed. GMO giant Monsanto targeted it as one of the first seeds since it gives them really high acreage.
It’s the same reason palm oil and soybean oil are cheap fillers from almond milk to chips.

You make more $$ by adding cheapest ingredients.
High quality, non-gmo organic soy is relatively expensive and for human consumption only.

Answer

Because of corn and money. Corn takes a lot of nutrients from the ground. Soy is planted in corn field every so many years in order to put nitrogen and nutrients back in the ground so corn can be grown again. Can’t just throw it away can we?

Answer

• Large existing knowledge on how to grow and use it from other cultures (tofu, miso, soy sauce, soy milk…) so we don’t have to get creative with new recipes and get them accepted. Which leads to:
• A large consumer market (not in the US) to mass produce for. The US is a top exporter of soybean, but doesn’t consume a lot of it.
• Similar to meat if you cook it right, thanks to proteins. TacoBell wasn’t the first to figure this out: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/taco-bell-reveals-mystery-beef-ingredients/story?id=23514878
• Food trend gears towards non-meat, plant based protein sources. Soy has high protein so it’s a top choice in the US, also cheaper because of existing infrastructure, which leads to:
• Mass production plus GMO is not restricted in the US further bring cost down

Human is very good at using what we have to create something else.

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