An Inventory of Information on the Utilization of Unprocessed and Simply Processed Soybeans as Human Food

A.I.D. abstract: The lack of low-cost nutritious foods is a basic problem encountered by the poor in numerous lesser developed countries. Increased use of soybean foods by the poor could effectively ease this problem, but, while soybeans have been a basic part of oriental diets for centuries, their acceptance by western cultures has been minimal. A project has been initiated by AID to promote soybeans as a food staple among the rural poor in a select (test) LDC and to develop methods for introducing unprocessed or simply-processed soybeans as a "direct food" for low-income peoples of other LDC's. This document was prepared as a result of that project. It is a survey of the current knowledge on the food uses of soybeans and patterns of soybean consumption throughout the world. Traditional soybean foods and soybean processing methods according to country or region are discussed, as well as recently developed, non-traditional processing methods. Other sections of this document deal with ways of cooking and serving soybeans in the American diet, industrial processes for producing edible soy protein, the marketing of soybean products, barriers to acceptability and utilization of soybeans in food, and needed research or development work to overcome such barriers in developing countries.