How Green Is Tofu Really?

Slate Magazine:

it is true that switching from meat to tofu should help you cut back on your greenhouse gas emissions. How significant are those savings, exactly?

Read the whole story: Slate Magazine

Comments

[enveg01]

03:29 PM on 10/25/2009

This article is so flawed it's hilarious. While it obviously takes energy to process soybeans to become tofu, soy doesn't create urine and feces. We slaughter over 9 billion chickens a year in the US alone, that's more than a million per hour, and that creates millions of tons of waste which pollutes water tables, rivers and streams. Indeed, the Gulf of Mexico has a dead zone from all the factory farm waste that gets dumped into the Mississippi River. As we move forward and more energy gets generated from renewable resources the carbon footprint of tofu and other mock meats will become less of an issue. But chickens will still crap and pee. That's the way it goes folks.

[hippie4ever]

11:01 PM on 10/24/2009

I think omnivores exploring vegetarianism gravitate towards tofu. They often fear not getting enough protein, which is a non-issue as long as you consume enough calories (1800 - 2400) each day from a variety of foods.

If you must eat this food, be aware it's generally a good idea to press the cake between two plates to squeeze away the brine. Your cuisine will taste better if you do this.

[TazoWolf]

07:43 PM on 10/23/2009

I never developed a liking for tofu. Maybe it's the texture. If I'm going to eat soy protein, give me tempeh. Compared to Tofu, Tempeh also has more vitamins, protein, and fiber. Since it's still fermented, the protein is also highly digestible.

[Goliadkin]

06:02 PM on 10/22/2009

Tofu is not a whole food. When you eat tofu, you are only eating a small portion of the bean. It's a highly processed, fractionated food.

If you want to include legumes in your diet, I suggest sprouted beans. Sprouting turns the beans from a legume, which is very hard to digest, to a vegetable, which is easy.

Mung beans, adzukis, lentils, all make delicious, fresh tasting sprouts. The sprouting process makes them much easier to digest, too. Eat all the sprouts you like, and you won't get gas like you do with cooked, unsprouted beans.

[jsarets]

10:10 PM on 10/22/2009

Studies show that eating more legumes stimulates the production of enzymes that digest oligosaccharides in the small intestine rather than passing them to gas producing bacteria in the large intestine. So to reduce the gas, eat beans more often.

[Goliadkin]

06:47 AM on 10/23/2009

Eat all the beans you like. Just don't serve them to me unless they're sprouted, and we'll be friends.

[AngelaQuattrano]

10:30 PM on 10/22/2009

Tofu is much higher in phytates and inedible fiber than other beans, to which they are not all that closely related. Processing and fermentation greatly improve digestibility and healthfulness of soybeans.

[ResidualSelfImage]

03:38 PM on 10/22/2009

Tofu should not be any part of your diet.
Soybean runoff pollutes streams (ESTROGEN)

Soy and the Brain
Apr 28, 2004 ... John MacArthur discusses the effects of soy on the brain. ... midlife had up to 2.4 times the risk of later developing Alzheimer's disease. ..... the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Fall 2000. ...
www.westonaprice.org/soy/soyandbrain.htm

[LyssaBarnes]

05:38 PM on 10/22/2009

I have read excerpts from Weston Price. Right on the money.

I have an allergy to tofu. I was on a vegan diet for over a year and became very ill. I also gained 30 pounds. My doctor suggested I dump the diet and introduce small portions of lean meat in my diet. I felt better and lost 20 pounds in 3 months.

Smart farming won't deplete the land. My mother's family raises cattle on their land and they have never overgrazed the land.They don't try to breed super sized herds. They also rotate the animals and the crops.

[LyssaBarnes]

05:42 PM on 10/22/2009

To add to the above, all the Asians I know do not consume large amounts of tofu. Almost all of the tofu product they consume is fermented, such as soy. They do consume a fair amount of grains and vegetables with very little meat.

Also, most of the soybeans produced in this country goes to animal feed. Since grain feed is not natural food for grazing animals, our beef and poultry tend to be fattier and the animals suffer greater health issues.

[ResidualSelfImage]

03:19 PM on 10/22/2009

Tofu is incomplete protein. Tofu contains estrogen.

Grazing animals create sustainable healthy land.
The land animals and farming use IS GOOD NOT BAD.
The methane cows create is part of a natural cycle.
Its rises in the atmosphere and ultraviolet light breaks it down.

[Phynx]

03:30 PM on 10/22/2009

1) Tofu shouldn't be the only part of your diet (same with any other food?)
2) Grazing animals are fine -- the majority of consumed animal products do not come from animals allowed to graze.
3) Factory farms which make up the vast majority of all the produced animal products are NOT good for the land -- they are in fact very destructive for both the land and the animals.
4) Carbon Dioxide is part of a natural cycle too, that doesn't mean it has no influence when more is added or taken away from that cycle. In fact methane is a far more harmful as a greenhouse gas because it is 20x more effective at trapping heat. (see EPA : http://www.epa.gov/methane/ )

[Vickster]

12:38 AM on 10/23/2009

Re: "In fact methane is more harmful as a greenhouse gas..."

In my opinion, that's like saying wood heat is as detrimental as using coal. Yes, burning wood releases CO2 into the atmosphere, but that CO2 was only removed during the life of the tree. The CO2 released by burning coal (or petroleum), on the other hand, was taken out of circulation millions and billions of years ago. And that's a big difference. Likewise, the amount of methane produced by plants and animals remains constant. The only things that change are the type of plants and animals that survive long enough to produce methane (i.e., rotting leaves vs. rotting grass clippings or antelope, buffalo and deer vs. cattle, goats and sheep).

[SaltySaltillo]

03:41 PM on 10/22/2009

The Cape Verde islands were turned into deserts in the 18th century by the introduction of grazing animals. What is now the state of Rondonia in western Brazil used to be tropical rain forest but its forests are almost gone, replaced for the most part by cattle grazing operations. There is a limit to the amount of methane that the atmosphere can accommodate. Sorry... You are going against the grain of truth on this one.

[aliceautumn]

04:23 PM on 10/22/2009

They could have cut down those forests to grow soy beans instead right? Everything has a price. But I wont eat soy or feed it to my kids. Very allergenic, full of hormone disrupters and loaded with pesticides. Big cash crop for the AgriCorps and their fertilizer/pesiticde suppliers. That is why they are pushing Meatless Mondays.