Dear lemmy, someone very close to my heart is starting to fall into conspiracy theories. It’s heartbreaking. Among other things, he has now told me that soy beans are not supposed to be consumed by human beings and is convinced that despite the literal centuries of human soy bean cultivation and consumption, we shouldn’t eat it or anything derived from it for this reason (ie tofu, soy sauce, etc…evidence that soy is present in other common foods doesn’t seem to register with him).
I don’t even know where he got this information from and can’t find a single source to back it up (even disingenuously). I’ve tried explaining to him that sure, in its original state it’s not edible, but undergoes processing (LIKE MANY OTHER FOODS) to become edible. And that this has gone on since at least the 11th century, so it’s not like Big Soy is trying to poison the little people.
He’s normally a very reasonable and intelligent person, and I don’t know how to reach him. I thought it might be helpful to show him where these myths have come from with hard data sources to prove it. He seems open to the possibility, so I don’t think he’s a lost cause yet!
Help?
While I’m not entirely sure about this reasoning, it might be related to the status of soy as a meat and milk substitute. Omnivores claiming that “soy is not meant for human consumption in the same way that milk and meat are” must have eventually been shortened along the way as “soy is not meant for human consumption”.
It’s really interesting to me because you don’t really see that same kind of vitriol directed at oat milk or almond milk! I just don’t understand how they can look at hundreds of years of soybean culture and come to the conclusion of ‘yeah, we totally should not be eating that’.
Personally, I can’t stand plant-based meat alternatives simply because I prefer to just eat vegetables as vegetables…but I fucking love miso, tofu and all the different ways you can prepare it, doenjang jigae…the list goes on. I feel like omnivores who preach this don’t grasp how many different foods soy is a part of…even meat based ones!
Ummm, yeah, about that…
"Milk War! Congressman Rails Against ‘Fraudulent Products’ Soy and Almond in House Floor Screed: ‘Our Students Deserve Better’ "
Goddamnit. I had no idea Big Dairy was a thing 🤦♀️
You should look into the dairy cartel of canada
https://hir.harvard.edu/canadas-dairy-lobby-the-shocking-power-of-big-milk/
As a Canadian, I can say that Big Dairy is 100% a thing in my country.
One story, among a bunch of others: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/merry-dairy-wholesale-milk-act-omafra-1.6538645
why do they call everything a war
Gets people riled up
Yeah I think you’re right and it’s sort of the result of a long game of telephone. Soy is a complete protein but it’s a lower quality protein. For example whey protein, which comes from milk and therefore an animal product, is much easier for your body to process and use.
Studies have shown that while both are complete proteins, whey’s amino acid profile for example is superior for muscle growth. A few of the amino acids in soy your body can’t really use that well.
This simple fact slowly becomes “soy is dangerous” as one person tells another and shares a link on Facebook and so on.
People really need to learn to just search up research articles and read a few studies. It’s not that hard to do and it’s generally the most reliable way to learn about something.