Soybeans: How healthy are they?

The wet weather of the past two weeks has extinguished the forest fire threat, even the ligthening was unable to get a fire going. On the other hand, the cool, damp climate was ideal for my potatoes. This was my first year growing the mighty spud and I was a bit anxious about the end result. I decided that I'd only grow a small crop and settled on one potatoe hill with two seeds potatoes, quartered, in it. I had no need to worry, when I harvested the crop, last Friday, I dug 15 pounds of this miracle food out of the hill. They are delicious.

Recently, my interest in food matters has taken a new direction. I was reading a talk that Bill Mollinson had delivered about the agricultural system and soybeans. Mollison is a founder of permaculture. This quote caught my concern: "Soybeans are used in tofu, soy sauce and are sold as health food. Well, it's not. It's probably the most unhealthy food in what is called agriculture."

I am a vegetarian and the soybean is, or perhaps, I should say, was a major food. I eat tofu and soy products such as hot dogs, hamburgers and cheese and lunch slices ona very regular basis. They are quick and easy to prepare and until now, I believed they we re healthy. Now, as much as I admire Mollison, I can't just take his word that this is an unhealthy crop.

There is considerable information about soybeans available. So I have decided to turn this quest for teh truth into a two part series, so that I can consult as many sources as possible. The uses for soybeans are quite diverse from building materials to automobile pain and soy sauce.

One of the factors that we need to consider is how the bean is grown. What impact does technology have? Or is technology the problem? Could it be the nature of the bean itself that Mollison is concerened about, or does he just not like beans. Next week, we'll explore these and other possibilities.

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