How Soy Became A Worldwide Wartime Staple

Soybean is a little legume that can take almost any form, take on almost any flavor, and be used in almost anything. Soy can be eaten fermented or unfermented. It can be made into an oil, a powder, used as a food additive, and made into soy milk. Soy milk is what tofu is really made of; it's just bean curd that's been extracted from soy milk through cooking. Edamame is just a specific type of soybean, and is a popular appetizer these days. Soybeans are used to feed animals and humans, to increase protein, to add bulk to foods, and as a non-dairy, vegan substitute for all sorts of foods (for example, crispy and sticky baked sesame tofu, crispy ginger-glazed tofu bowls, and satay-style tofu skewers).

If you want to stay away from soy these days, you have to make an effort. It's everywhere. But there was a time, not that long ago, when soybean products were popular for a different reason. The flavorless versatility and nutritional profile of soy came in handy during and after World War II. When populations in several countries lost access to their usual staple foods thanks to embargoes and interrupted trade routes, they turned to soy as a substitute for both human and animal food. At the same time, expansion of cultures in the post-war era introduced soybeans to different parts of the world, where it became not only a popular food, but also a cornerstone of some economies.

There are many cultures that have used soybeans for centuries in their cooking, but soy milk started to become popular in the 1930's, just before WWII took place across the world. In Hong Kong, a Malaysian-born man named Kwee Seong Lo began manufacturing soy milk through his company Vitasoy just before the war. He thought the product would have mass appeal, but his main customers were war refugees. After the war, Vitasoy tweaked their recipe to make soy milk more shelf-stable and went on to be a very successful company.

During the same era in the Philippines, malnutrition was becoming a problem for the general population. Filipino and American prisoners of war were facing the same challenge. Even before the war, the country struggled to feed its own people. When Japan occupied the Philippines, trade was completely cut off by U.S. forces in order to deny Japanese forces access to resources, which made it even more difficult for Filipinos to eat. That's when a food scientist in the Philippines named Maria Orosa invented a powdered soy product that could be made into a high-protein drink called Soyalac. She smuggled Soyalac and another product she made from rice, called Darak, into prison camps to feed the starving prisoners.