I remember, several years ago, that I turned to a vegetarian diet so quite some time. And I tried to eat those fake meat products. To me, they tasted nothing like meat at all. But that is also when I fell in love with edamame. I still have some learning to do about soy, but what I have been learning recently is so very interesting. I am no longer eating a vegetarian diet. I do not eat meat very often, but I do still eat it occasionally. I come from a very big (and I mean big as in very overwieght) family that thoroughly enjoys their meat. When I eat little to no meat or meat products I just feel so much more energized. I don’t feel as bogged down and heavy.

What really bothers me is why we do not hear all these things about soy. The media can tell us all the other negative things that are going on in our world, but I haven’t heard abut this?

As far as the ethical question is concerned, I can understand that viewpoint. Haven’t you heard it called “The Image to the Beast”? That should mean something to you even if the animal rights stance doesn’t.

I’ve found that most soy products don’t even taste like the real thing so I’m not sure why people claim they do. For me, I stopped eating meat a long time ago simply because I didn’t like the taste. If soy hotdogs and veggie chicken nuggets tasted like the real deal, I wouldn’t have touched them. It had nothing to do with animal rights or trying to be an example.

My understanding of meat analogs is that they were created to be a transitional food for those who were hooked on meat products. Eat the substitute for awhile until you get used to being a vegetarian and then stop. It wasn’t intended to be a life long food option. If the fake stuff is actually being used as a traditional food, then I don’t see the harm in it. I think eating soy products is a lot better than eating meat on the scale of health. As long as people continue to move in the right direction, we should try to be encouraging.