The Soyfoods Movement Worldwide - Page 2

by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi

A Chapter from the Unpublished Manuscript, History of Soybeans and
Soyfoods, 1100 B.C. to the 1980s

©Copyright 2004 Soyfoods Center, Lafayette, California

The Farm Food Company led the way with a host of highly creative and delicious recipes, served at a counter or tables: tofu sandwiches, salads, salad dressings, and cheesecake; tempeh burger, deep-fried tempeh cutlet, tempeh with creamy tofu topping, and Indonesian delight (tempeh strips with peanut butter and miso sauce over rice); soymilk ice cream, shakes, yogurt, mayonnaise, and whipped creme; soybean stroganoff and burritos; TVP chili; and Vege-Links (canned Loma Linda meatless hot dogs). Also for sale at the food store were packaged tofu, soymilk, tempeh, soy mayo, and Ice Bean, all made in the same building.

Over the next few years, other soy delis, cafes, and restaurants opened across North America: The Tofu Shop in Telluride, Colorado (Oct. 1977; it was later renamed Far Pavillions), The Cow of China in Boulder, Colorado (March 1978), The Soy Plant Soy Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan (May 1978), The Tofu Shop in Rochester, New York (Nov. 197; renamed The Lotus Cafe in 1981), and The Yellow Bean in Detroit, Michigan (March 1979). By October 1981 there were 19 soy delis, cafes, and restaurants in North America, including three in Canada, which had estimated combined yearly retail sales of $1.5 million. The first Canadian one, Soja Soyfoods Cafe & Delicatessen, opened in Toronto in March 1980. Many soy delis were run in conjunction with a local parent manufacturing company, which provided or wholesaled them their basic soyfoods. By early 1980 the typical soy deli was still quite small, grossing $1,200-$2,000 a week. Some expanded by adding a restaurant and retailing basic food items and books on soyfoods.

One of the most imaginative and successful of the early soy delis, which created over 30 unique soyfoods recipes, was The Tofu Shop/Lotus Cafe in Rochester. Their specialties included Deviled Tofu or Tempeh Salads, Creamy Tofu Dips, Tofu Burger, Tofulafel, Sloppy Joe Tempeh, Tempeh Reuben, Temptation (tempeh with Russian Dressing in pita bread), Deviled Tofu or Tempeh Salad Sandwiches, Tofu Spinach Pie, Tofu Italiano Casserole, Miso Soups, Tofu Lemon Creme Pie, Tofu Carob Mint Pie, Okara Gingerbread, Okara Peanut Butter Cookies, Fresh Soymilk (plain or carob), and Soy Shakes (with frozen bananas and carob or vanilla).

The Cow of China (later renamed the Good Belly Deli) was established by Steve Demos to "fill the burger gap" with "Real Food Real Fast." Specialties included Dairyless Tofu Pizza, Tofuna (mock tuna), Tofu "Meatball" Sandwiches, Tofu Turnovers, Soy Coconut Creme Pie, Tofu-Fruit Pies, Tofu Cinnamon Rolls, and Tempeh Sloppy Joe. The Soy Plant Deli featured Soysage, Tofu Creme Tarts, Tofu Tahini Spread, Tofu Missing Egg Salad, Spiced Vegetable Tofu, and Okara Brown Bread.

The first Jewish deli to discover the vast potential of pareve and kosher soyfoods was Mintz's Buffet, a traditional Glatt Kosher Deli on Third Avenue in New York City. David Mintz, "the prince of tofu," invented the world's first, most delicious, and most successful Tofu Ice Kreme, while using tofu to transform and expand his dairyless repertoire with cheesecakes, salads, dressings, sauces, souffles, quiches, bran muffins, and egg rolls. The New York media flocked to Mintz's, giving his soyfoods nationally syndicated coverage. Mintz went to to launch America's most sensational and popular soyfood, Tofutti. Details of this soy ice cream are given in Chapter 28A.

The first article on the new phenomenon was Richard Leviton's excellent and detailed "The Soy Delicatessen," which appeared in Soyfoods magazine (summer, 1979). Other good early articles were "Soy Delis to Go! (D.B. 1979) and Leviton's expanded "The Soy Deli: Tofuna Salad to Soysage-on-Rye" (1980).

A concept related to both the soy deli and to the later soyfoods marketing company was the second-generation soyfoods manufacturer-distributor, first pioneered by Swan Foods in Miami, Florida (early 1978). They distributed their ready-to-serve products to natural food stores over a radius of several hundred miles. Secondary soyfoods, all made with tofu or soymilk, listed on Swan Foods' April 1978 price list, included Baked Tofu, Marinated Tofu, Caraway Tofu, Tofu Cashew Pie, Tofu Chip Dip, Tofu Vegetable Stew; Soy Melk (plain, sweetened, or carob), Soyogurt (plain, strawberry, or peach), and Soy Shakes (carob or vanilla). Wholegrain Soyburgers, Tofu Cheesecakes, and Mary's Cream Cake (with tofu filling) were added shortly thereafter. The business was run by disciples of the young Indian Guru Maraji/Maharaji ?? and the products were publicized with full-page ads in several national "new-age" magazines. Another company to expand this new idea was Quong Hop & Co. in South San Francisco, which was also the first traditional Oriental soyfoods manufacturer to market products specifically for the natural foods trade. Under the New Leaf brand, they made and distributed Tofu Burgers (introduced June 1977), Creamy Tofu Dressings (May 1980), and a line of frozen tofu entrees (Sept. 1980), including Tofu Quiche, Tofu Eggplant Marinara, Tofu Cacciatore, and Tofu Cutlets Marinara. White Wave in Boulder, Colorado was also an early manufacturer-distributor. By December 1977 they were making and distributing Herb Tofu, Mushroom Tofu, and Black Walnut Tofu. By early 1979 they had added Tofu Sandwiches, Tofu Cheesecake, Tofu Mayo, Polar Bean (ice cream), Soysage (they were the first to make this commercially), Missing Egg Salad (White Wave invented this name), Baked Tofu Cutlets, Miso Salad Dressing, and Tofu Turnovers, plus their entire lines of deli items and basic soyfoods.

Tofu Kits and Equipment. To help people make their own tofu for pennies a pound at home, America's first tofu forming box was introduced in 1975 and the first complete tofu kit was launched in August 1976 by Larry Needleman in California. For years thereafter, 300-500 of the widely advertised kits were sold each month nationwide (see Chapter 28).

In October 1977 Needleman expanded his commitment to soyfoods by founding Bean Machines Inc., a company that initially imported and sold equipment made in Japan by Takai Tofu & Soymilk Equipment Co., but by June 1980 began producing some of its own equipment. Okita Enterprises in Los Angeles also designed and sold tofu and soymilk equipment, as described in Chapter 28.

Soyfoods Terminology. The term "soyfoods" was coined in December 1976 as part of the name for Surata Soyfoods, founded in Eugene, Oregon by Benjamin Hills and co-workers. Prior to that time, the various Oriental foods such as tofu, soymilk, miso, etc. were generally thought of as separate products rather than as a group, perhaps because the various foods are each quite different and have traditionally been produced in East Asia by separate industries--even though in Japanese and Chinese there are terms corresponding to the English term "soyfoods." When the foods were conceived of as a group in English, they had usually been referred to as "soy products," "soy protein products," or on rare occasions (as by Dr. Harry Miller) as "soy foods," or "soya foods." Likewise the various modern products such as soy isolates, concentrates, and textured products, because they were used primarily as ingredients in other foods rather than as foods in their own right, were usually referred to as "soy protein products." The new term caught on quickly, for it expressed concisely the new concept of using soy to make a variety of related foods, and served to focus and unite interests and efforts that had formerly been unrelated. The new term was widely used at the first Soycrafters' Conference in July 1978. The first book to pick it up was Tofu & Soymilk Production by Shurtleff and Aoyagi (July 1979), who also started writing a book entitled Soyfoods in March 1980. Soycraft magazine changed its title to Soyfoods in July 1980, by which time the term "soyfoods" had come to be widely used in the names of soyfoods businesses, in everyday conversation, and by the media.

The names of a number of East Asian soyfoods came to be adopted in English without anglicization: tofu, miso, tamari, okara, yuba, shoyu, natto, and tempeh. For various reasons, the first five soyfoods, though each initially developed and still produced in China, were given Japanese rather than Chinese names: Japanese Macrobiotic teachers first popularized the foods among Caucasians in America, Shurtleff and Aoyagi happened to do their research and writing in Japan rather than China, the Japanese terms were often easier to pronounced than the Chinese, and the Japanese versions of the products were often considered more suited to American tastes. Shoyu and natto were uniquely Japanese foods with no exact Chinese counterparts. Tempeh originated and was still produced primarily in Indonesia; for each of these terms, there was no short, attractive, expressive American equivalent. In their original Book of Tofu, Shurtleff and Aoyagi had also used Japanese terms for many of the various types of tofu, but it was soon found that these foreign terms served as an obstacle to introducing the foods to Americans. Thus in the 1979 Ballantine edition of The Book of Tofu go was changed to fresh soy puree, thick age to deep-fried tofu cutlets, ganmo to (deep-fried) tofu burgers, age to (deep-fried) tofu pouches, and kinugoshi to silken tofu. The Indonesian word tempe came to be spelled tempeh so that Americans did not pronounce it "TEMP;" the term and its spelling were standardized by US researchers during the 1960s.

Founding of the Soyfoods Association. The Soycrafters Association of North America was founded on 31 July 1978. In April of that year Steve Fiering and Jerry MacKinnon of The Soy Plant in Ann Arbor, Michigan, had felt that it would be worthwhile and enjoyable to have a meeting of the various people involved with tofu and other soyfoods. They sent a proposal to Shurtleff in Japan and to other interested parties. A program was drawn up, announced in the fledgling Soycraft newsletter (Vol. 1, No. 2), and sent out to people on a soyfoods mailing list compiled by Shurtleff. The conference was to be held on July 29-31 at The Soy Plant, 211 East Ann St. in Ann Arbor. To everyone's surprise and delight 75 people attended, including the owners of some 20 tofu shops (18 of them Caucasian run). On Friday evening there was a group meeting at which people introduced themselves, then Shurtleff showed color slides about tofu, miso, and tempeh and their production in Japan and America. Attendees stayed in the university dormitories. On Saturday there were spirited impromptu lectures and discussions about new ideas and problems, plus a demonstration by The Soy Plant of how to make tofu, soymilk, and tempeh. Informal vegetarian meals featuring these three soyfoods were served out of the shop. On Sunday morning there was an organizational meeting at which the group decided to form the Soycrafters Association of North America (SANA), an umbrella organization for people interested in all aspects of all of the various types of soyfoods, but with emphasis on traditional, low-technology soyfoods. The stated goals and activities of the Association would be to facilitate communication among those interested in soyfoods by publishing a quarterly magazine and holding annual conferences; to serve as an information center for the media, the public, and the industry; to develop a soyfoods information resource library, promotional materials, sanitation and quality standards, and access to ingredients; and to collect and publish statistics on the soyfoods industry. Active membership, open to producers, would cost $15 a year and include a subscription to the magazine. Contributing membership would cost $10. Larry Needleman of Bodega, California, was elected the first director. Elected to the steering committee were Tom Timmins (New England Soy Dairy), Les Karplus (Vegetarian, Inc.), Steve Demos (White Wave), William Shurtleff (The Soyinfo Center), Kathryn Bennet-Clarke (Southwest Soyfoods), Steve Fiering and Sue Kalen (The Soy Plant). A list of names and addresses was passed out to attendees. At this time there were known to be about 55 Oriental and 43 new Caucasian tofu shops in North America.

Growth of the Soyfoods Association and Soyfoods Magazine. Following the organization of the Soycrafters Association, little concrete work was done since the leaders were too busy with their own businesses and funding was lacking. In September 1978 Richard Leviton expressed interest in working actively as director of SANA and as publisher of the then defunct Soycraft newsletter. Needleman and Shurtleff made the transfer of authority in December. Leviton would soon become the mainspring of the Soycrafters movement.

Born 4 May 1950 in Orange, New Jersey Richard Leviton (also known as Ira) grew up in western Massachusetts. He entered the University of Rochester in September 1968 with an independent major in psychoanalysis and mythology, and also studied English literature, Plato, and photography. After 2 years on the Dean's List with top grades, he dropped out in June 1970, looking for more valuable ways to employ his talents. During the next 4 years he traveled in Europe, lived in a woodland cabin for a year, worked at a plant nursery, and wrote and illustrated two unpublished children's books. In the spring of 1974, he and his wife, Kathy, opened the Corncreek Whole Grain Bakery (which became New England's largest whole grain bakery), then in January 1977 the Laughing Grasshopper Tofu Shop, which later became the famous New England Soy Dairy. By late 1978 he was still working at the Soy Dairy, making tofu several days a week, trying to generate media publicity the rest of the time, but hoping to find a bigger intellectual and entrepreneurial challenge as a soyfoods pioneer. The job of director of SANA and editor of the magazine from December 1978 gave him an overview of the new and rapidly expanding soyfoods interest and a chance to guide its direction, while fulfilling his long-term aspirations to be a writer and publish a magazine. In January 1979 the New England Soy Dairy gave Richard and SANA a nice office room in their building at 305 Wells Street in Greenfield, Massachusetts. On June 1 the office was moved to 158 Main Street #3 in Greenfield, and on October 1, for lack of funds, it was moved into the 9-room Leviton house on Sunrise Farm, 100 Heath Rd., Colrain, Massachusetts. Richard was a true entrepreneur, willing to chart a new course and take bold risks, even in areas where he had little or no previous experience. Astrologically a Taurus, he did things in his own way and liked to work alone.

Leviton's first venture was to transform Soycraft from a small quarterly newsletter into a handsome and dynamic quarterly magazine with worldwide circulation. The newsletter had been founded by David and Danette Briscoe of Lawrence, Kansas; the first issue was published in the fall of 1977, but publication was discontinued after three issues in the summer of 1978 for lack of funds. Leviton's new Soycraft magazine, founded with only $1,000 capitalization yet packed with good information, became the official publication of the Soycrafters Association. The first periodical in the Western world devoted to the subject of soyfoods, it aimed to reach both the professional and the lay reader. The first issue, summer 1979, contained 60 pages, with in-depth articles, and incisive analyses on a wide range of important topics; 1,900 copies were printed. All of the work--writing, editing, designing, soliciting ads and articles, publishing, and mailing--was done by Leviton and one other part-time helper (initially David Kilroy, then Frank Ward); they learned as they went and struggled to make ends meet. Still the magazine grew. The second issue in February 1980 was 5,000 copies and 64 pages. The third issue in July 1980, was 10,000 copies and 72 pages; the name was changed to Soyfoods in recognition of the magazine's expanded vision and content. The fourth and fifth issues in February and July 1981 were each 72 pages with 10,000 and 13,000 copies printed respectively. In October 1980 Leviton published the first issue of a new soyfoods newsletter titled The Bean Field; it was sent to soyfoods manufacturers and SANA members. After December 1980, when The Soyfoods Center and SANA merged and computerized their two mailing lists, mailing the magazine and controlling circulation were greatly facilitated.

While learning the publishing trade and putting out his first issue of the magazine, Leviton also took on full responsibility for organizing (with his own funds and on a shoestring) the Second Soycrafters Conference, "Producing and Marketing Soyfoods," on July 26-29, 1979, at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts; 230 people attended, up from 75 a year earlier. It was a huge success and a great leap forward. The 3-1/2-day program was packed with major addresses, round tables, discussion groups, slide shows, and films led by a remarkably diverse cross-section of the soyfoods community: top university and industry researchers, Caucasian and Oriental soyfoods producers, nutritionists, and soybean growers from across the nation. A spirit of sharing and cooperation predominated. Excellent vegetarian meals featuring soyfoods were served from the university dining halls. A colorful Soycrafters USA exhibit displaying photos, posters, flyers, and books occupied two floors of the meeting hall. The new Soycraft magazine, hot off the presses, arrived just in time for distribution on opening day. There were tours of the New England Soy Dairy. The total cost, including nine meals and three nights lodging was only $85. The Conference received wide media coverage. America's new low-technology soyfoods movement had now emerged as an industry in its own right.

One year later, Leviton produced the Third Soycrafters Conference, "Soyfoods Showcase," on July 9-13 at the University of Illinois; over 270 people attended, including representatives from Kraft, Beatrice Foods, General Foods, and General Nutrition, and from 10-15 foreign countries . . . plus 15 Third World students taking the INTSOY course in soyfoods processing. The program was expanded to include hands-on workshops in tempeh and tofu production (at the USDA Northern Regional Research Center, Peoria) and in soymilk and soy yogurt production (at the University of Illinois Department of Food Science) . . . plus a Saturday night square dance. Total cost $185. In November 1980 Leviton manned a booth and represented SANA at the World Soya Conference in Acapulco, Mexico.

The 1981 conference was held at Colorado State University, thus linking up the soyfoods movement with the low-cost extrusion cooker (LEC) movement; 240 people attended, including representatives from 18 foreign countries. The conference featured "Soyfoods Expo 1981," a 30-booth daily trade show that was the Western world's first exhibition of soyfoods equipment, raw materials, and literature. Another world's first was the Tofu Cheesecake Bakeoff. Leviton, in his typical understated New Yorker style, later noted that "A panel of 17 hungry judges went delirious in sampling the creations of ten daring contestants." Also offered was a series of ten soyfoods cooking classes taught by cooks from many countries.

Both SANA and Soyfoods magazine had serious financial problems. SANA was unable to build a broad membership; its activities were limited for lack of funds. The Board of Directors was largely inactive and many soycrafters, including almost all the Oriental producers, took little interest in or responsibility for the Association and the magazine, enjoying the free ride. Less than one-fourth of the producers came to annual conferences. One reason for this apparent lack of interest and financial support was the tremendous amount of time and energy required of each producer to attend to his or her typically undercapitalized and rapidly expanding business. SANA conferences, in part for lack of membership attendance, became largely educational events, and failed to address directly the basic financial and organizational problems of moving the industry past the early "honeymoon" stage and building a strong and unified Association to serve common interests. Leviton, thus, became almost entirely responsible for generating the income to finance SANA and Soyfoods, and to pay himself an occasional small salary. Profits from conferences were erratic and unpredictable showing a loss of $1,000 in 1979, a profit of $7,000 in 1980, and a loss of $6,600 in 1981. Advertising revenues and subscriptions did not cover production and mailing costs for the magazine. In these difficult, lean times Richard Leviton showed great dedication and ingenuity not only in managing to survive, but in persevering and in constantly improving the quality of his work. Much of the money to support his and SANA's efforts was earned by his wife, Kathy, to whom SANA owes a great debt of gratitude.

In July 1981, unwilling to pour any more family funds into a trade Association's magazine, Leviton received permission from the Board to incorporate it, take majority stock ownership, and sell stock to raise capital. In September 1981 the Board voted to change the name of the organization to the Soyfoods Association of North America in order to broaden its scope and appeal.

Media Coverage. Starting in 1975 with publication of The Book of Tofu, soyfoods began to receive excellent media coverage. The counter culture press was, of course, the first to pick up the subject. The first major publications to give it coverage were Organic Gardening, Prevention, and The New York Times. An excellent analysis of the early media honeymoon was given by Leviton in "Soyfoods and the media" (1980). Note the increase of media interest starting in 1979. Important articles and TV coverage included (redo??:

1975, Oct. East West Journal "The Traditional Tofu Craftsman and His Shop" (Oct.)

1976. San Francisco Examiner "Tofu Will Amaze You" (Feb.); KQED-TV San Francisco "Tofu" 30-minute special by Shurtleff and Aoyagi (Feb.); East West Journal "How to Make Tofu" (April); Mother Earth News, five long excerpts in issues 39-45 from The Book of Tofu (starting in May-June); Vegetarian World "Tofu" (June); East West Journal "How to Make Miso (Nov.)

1977. East West Journal, interview with Shurtleff and Aoyagi (Jan.); Organic Gardening "Tempeh Keeps `Em Coming for More Soybeans" (Jan.); Mother Earth News, Plowboy interview with Shurtleff and Aoyagi (#44, March-April); Prevention "Tempeh, a New Health Food Opportunity" (June); Organic Gardening "Favorite Tempeh Recipes" (June); Mother Earth News :How We Make and Eat Tempeh Down on the Farm" (Sept.-Oct.);

1978. Whole Foods "Making Money Making Tofu" (Jan.); New York Times "What is this Thing Called Tofu?" (May); East West Journal "Make Your Own Soyburger" (Tempeh) and "New England Soy Dairy" (July) PHP "Protein Source for the Future" (Oct.)

1979. Whole Foods "The Soyfoods Revolution" (Jan., cover story); Prevention "Tofu, Food of 10,000 Flavors" (Jan.); Vegetarian Times "Bill Shurtleff: The Johnny Appleseed of Tofu" (March); Wall Street Journal "Good Old Bean Curd; It's Suddenly Popular but You call it Tofu" (April); Washington Post "The Americanization of Bean Curd" (May); Family Circle "Tofu--The Oriental Way to High-Protein, Low-Calorie Meals" (July); Money "Americanized Tofu" (July); Gourmet "Bean Curd" (Sept.); Family Health "Super Soy" (Oct.); New Age "Tofu Power: Protein for a Small Planet" (Oct.); New Age "Soycrafters: A New-Age Guild" (Nov.); Organic Gardening "The Amazing Three-Way Bean" (Nov.); Bon Appetit "The Tofu Takeover" (Nov.); Prevention "Soybeans Can Prevent Cancer" (Dec.)

1980. East West Journal "Making Money Making Tofu" (Jan.); Time "Climbing Curd" (Feb.); Vegetarian Times "The Americanization of Tofu" (Mar.); Cuisine "Tofu" (June, cover story); Los Angeles Times "Tempeh: An Old Food Moves Out of Ethnic Kitchens" (July); New York Times "A Couple on a Tofu Mission in the West" (Sept.); San Francisco Examiner "Tofu; Trader Vic Americanizes an Asian Staple" (Sept.); People "With his Book on Tofu William Shurtleff Hopes to Bring Soy to the World" (Oct.); The Today Show "Tofu and the Bountiful Bean" (Oct.)

1981. National Food Review "Soyfoods Catching On" (Feb.); National Public Radio, All Things Considered "Soyfoods with Richard Leviton" (Mar.); East West Journal "The Miso-Master's Apprentice" (April); East West Journal "The Amazing Tofumobile" (May); Bestways "Surprise: It's Soy" (June); Health Foods Business "Soyfoods: The Future is Here But Are You Ready?" (Aug., cover story); New York Times "Soyfoods: Versatile, Cheap and on the Rise" and "A Top Quality Source of Protein" (Aug., widely syndicated); Natural Foods Merchandiser "Soyfoods Report" (Sept.); East West Journal "My Favorite Tempeh Recipes" (Aug., by Aveline Kushi); East West Journal "Things Go Better with Soyburgers: The New All-American Food" (Oct., cover story).

In addition to these major articles, there were hundreds of other local or regional articles on soyfoods, especially tofu and tempeh. In 1979 a nationally syndicated cartoon by William Hamilton showed a well-dressed businessman standing and offering five of his colleagues a spoonful of tofu. The caption read: "Taste the Future gentlemen, it's called tofu."

In March 1979 the Soycrafters Association had its first major booth at the New Earth Exposition in San Francisco; 6,000 people enjoyed free samples of tofu dips, burgers, and teriyaki tofu. The Farm and many other soyfoods producers frequently had booths at expos and fairs from which they sold soymilk ice cream, tofu cheesecakes, tofu salad, tofu burgers, and the like. In February 1980 the New England Soy Dairy held America's first soyfoods press conference attended by 35 East Coast food editors. At Boston's elegant The Seventh Inn, they served an elaborate soyfoods menu, handed out press packets with recipes, nutritional analyses, and basic information on tofu, and showed slides of how they made and served tofu. As a result, stories about tofu and the Soy Dairy appeared in almost every major newspaper in New England, as well as in Time magazine.

Soyfoods Books and Booklets. The soyfoods boom was fueled by a steady input of good publications, written in many cases by amateur writers who had discovered the foods themselves then wanted to share their favorite recipes or discoveries with others. Books written prior to 1975, when the soyfoods/soycrafters movement began, are given only for reference. Note the increase in books starting in 1978. Soyfoods books in foreign languages are discussed later:

1963. The Soybean Cookbook (Lager and Jones)

1973. The Kikkoman Cookbook (Kikkoman Shoyu Co.)

1974. Tofu Recipes (Kikuchi), Yay Soybeans (The Farm), Soybean Diet (Aihara), The Protein for Pennies Cookbook (Woods), The Oats, Peas, Beans & Barley Cookbook (Cottrell), Soybean Magic (Cottrell)

1975. The Book of Tofu (Shurtleff and Aoyagi), Soybean Cookery (Lemley)

1976. The Book of Miso (Shurtleff and Aoyagi), The Joy of Soy (Anderson), Super Soy (Farr), Low Cost Extrusion Cookers (D. Wilson, ed.)

1977. Miso Production (Shurtleff and Aoyagi), The Heartsong Tofu Cookbook (Heartsong)

1978. Tofu Goes West (Landgrebe), Tofu Madness (Olszewski), How to Cook with Miso (Kushi), The Soybean Book (Hobson), Alimentacion Integral Para Una Vida Plena (Dominguez)

1979. The Tofu Cookbook (Bauer and Anderson), Tofu & Soymilk Production (Shurtleff and Aoyagi), The Book of Tofu (Ballantine Edition, Shurtleff and Aoyagi), The Book of Tempeh (Shurtleff and Aoyagi), The What to Do with Tofu Cookbooklet (Rovira), The Great American Tofu Cookbook (McGruter), The Soysage Cookbook (Cloud and Burdett), The Sacred Soybean (Aklan), Low Cost Extrusion Cookers II (Wilson and Tribelhorn)

1980. Tempeh Production (Shurtleff and Aoyagi), The Soy of Cooking (Norton and Wagner), The Tofu Primer (Andersen)

1981. The Book of Miso (Ballantine Edition, Shurtleff and Aoyagi), Tofu--Everybody's Guide (Cherniske), Tofu at Center Stage (Landgrebe), Soy Foodery Cookbook (Ford), Tofu Cookbook (Sheppard), Delights of Tofu (Fox, O'Connor and Timmins), Home Soyfood Equipment (Hoffman and Keough), Cook with Tofu (Clarke), Juel Andersen's Tofu Kitchen (Andersen), The Tofu-Miso High Efficiency Diet (Omura), Cooking with Tofu (DuSablon). The incredible Tofu Cookbook: California Style (Immegart and Dansby)

1982. Tofu Fantasies (Andersen).

Growth of the Soyfoods Industry. In 1975 the soyfoods industry in America consisted almost entirely of Oriental-run shops: 55 tofu producers, 4 miso producers (3 in Hawaii), 4 tempeh producers, 4 soymilk producers, and a few producers of soynuts, soy sprouts, natto, and soy sauce. By 1976 the number of new Caucasian-run shops, especially tofu shops and soy dairies, began to grow steadily. In 1979 and 1980 the number of tempeh shops increased. Various factors stimulated this growth: (1) the overall interest in soyfoods generated by books, media articles, consumer demand, the growth of the natural foods industry ($1 billion retail sales in 1980, of which some $45 million or 4.5% were soyfoods), and the rapid growth, starting in 1980 in California, of natural foods and soyfoods sold at supermarkets and used by foodservice institutions; (2) the Soycrafters Association and its publications; (3) three technical manuals by Shurtleff and Aoyagi (Tofu & Soymilk Production, Tempeh Production, Miso Production), which gave detailed information on how to start and run commercial shops; (4) the Soycrafters Apprenticeship Program, started in September 1979 at Island Spring in Vashon, Washington. This was a 3-week on-the-job training program in soyfoods production and soyfoods business management. By January 1981 the course had graduated 21 students, many of whom then started businesses producing soyfoods; (5) a growing number of Oriental Americans who, seeing the growing interest in soyfoods and the growing number of immigrants (including refugees) from East Asia, decided to start making these foods.

In June 1979 the first statistics on the tofu and soymilk industries in the US were published by The Soyfoods Center (Ref??). In June 1980 and in September 1981 both SANA and the Soyinfo Center published expanded statistics on the entire soyfoods industry in the US and Canada including the number of soyfood producers (by type of food), raw soybean usage, weight of product produced, wholesale and retail value, and number of employees.

As of September 1981, the US soyfoods industry used an estimated 36,990 tons of raw soybeans, which was only 2.9% of all soybeans made into foods in the US. The remaining 97.1% was used by the soy protein industry, with defatted soy flour accounting for by far the greatest portion (52.6%).

There were 284 (Redo??) soyfoods companies in the US including 258 manufacturers, 11 soy delis, cafes, and restaurants, and 12 soyfoods marketer-distributors. There were 28 soyfoods companies in Canada and 32 elsewhere outside of East Asia for a total of 354 worldwide.

In the US the estimated wholesale value of soyfoods was $263 million, with the three largest contributors being soy sauce ($145 million), soymilk ($84 million), and tofu ($25 million). Retail value was estimated at $392 million. The industry employed roughly 1,794 people. Graphs showing the rate of growth of tofu and tempeh shops are given at their respective chapters.

In the late 1970s, as the soyfoods industry began to grow and mature, competition and the demands of the market for higher quality foods with a longer shelf life prodded most soycrafters to become more businesslike and professional in their work. Many were able to do this without loosing the essence of their early ideals. By the early 1980s, many of the new companies were started by more typical American businessmen, who were often unaware of the earlier soycrafter consciousness and ideals, but did have experience in business and, sometimes, in food processing. They perceived a growing demand for soyfoods and wanted to enter the industry to build a business and earn a living.

By the end of 1980 The New England Soy Dairy became the first of the new breed of soyfoods manufacturers to top $1 million in yearly retail sales; their 1980 sales were $1.2 million. They led the industry in generating media publicity, getting tofu into school lunches, setting quality and sanitation standards, and innovating equipment. In February 1981 Island Spring became the first new soyfoods manufacturer to be unionized. By 1981 the industry had begun to make a very valuable dialectical synthesis, combining the best from the worlds of standard food processing and business with the idealism and radical insights of the 1960s and the necessary economic pragmatism of the 1980s. Many companies were recapitalizing and developing new large scale equipment (often based on dairy equipment) for rapid expansion, while others, such as Wildwood Natural Foods in Marin County were returning to traditional models with "small is beautiful" technology and European/Third World approaches to marketing areas (small and decentralized), supported by an increased local demand for fresh, handmade tofu. Wildwood's bicycle-powered Tofumobile, used to deliver their products, attracted wide media interest. Some companies expanded operations by making and/or selling other foods such as nut butters or spirulina (a microalgae). In all these activities there was an industry wide effort to become more professional in the areas of business and food processing.

Soyfoods Marketer-Distributors. The basic version of this concept is the soyfoods distributor, which simply distributes a line of soyfoods (and sometimes related products) for one or more producers. The more elaborate and exciting version is the soyfoods marketer-distributor, which buys primary soyfoods (such as tofu, soymilk, or tempeh) from a producer, uses these soyfoods (or has the producer or another food processor use them) to make second generation products (such as Tofu Cheesecakes, Soymilk Ice Cream, Tempeh Sloppy Joe) from formulations that he has developed, then markets, advertises, and distributes these products as a soyfoods line, under his common brand-name, to retail stores. Advantages: a very low investment is required to start and run the operation, yet the soyfoods can be introduced to consumers in their most appealing, familiar, and convenient forms. The two forerunners of the soyfoods marketer-distributor were the Farm Food Company (San Rafael and San Francisco; August 1976) and Swan Foods (Miami; April 1978), both of which, however, produced their own basic soyfoods then made them into secondary products.

The first soyfoods marketer-distributor was Tumaro's Natural Foods in Los Angeles, run by Kaye and Teya Dunham. Their first product was a frozen, heat-and-serve Sprout & Tofu Pie, introduced in June 1978, using tofu made by Hinode Tofu Co. Seeing the need for high quality, convenient vegetarian entrees, they next introduced Chinese Rice & Tofu and Curried Rice & Tofu. By 1981 their nationally advertised line also contained Tamale Pie with Soy Protein, and Pizza Royale, made with soy (not TVP).

The first soyfoods distributor in the US, the Yellow Bean Trading Co., was started in September 1978 by Tim and Carol Ann Huang in Detroit, Michigan. Using only a truck, cooler and garage, they distributed tofu, tempeh, soysage, and soymilk, made by The Soy Plant in Ann Arbor under The Soy Plant label, together with sprouts, Farm Foods' TVP, soy flour, and books on soyfoods. In March of 1979 the Huangs catered a large symposium in Detroit at which they served Tofu Carob Creme Pies and Tofu Salad. They were a big hit. That same month the Huangs opened The Yellow Bean Soy Deli in Detroit and began serving the tofu pies and salad along with a number of other soyfoods recipes. By May 1979 they had expanded from a simple distributor to the second marketer-distributor, making three types of 4-inch tofu pies (carob, cocoa, peanut butter) and bulk tofu salad, using tofu made by The Soy Plant. By the summer of 1979 they were distributing 250-500 pies and 150 pounds of salad a week to 25 accounts in the Detroit area. A second company distributing solely soyfoods, Rainstar in Columbus, Ohio, was started in February 1980. They published an attractive color recipe brochure and distributed tofu.

Another person to grasp the great potential of the soyfoods marketer-distributor concept at about the same time was Al Jacobson, the self-proclaimed "Wizard of Foods," who had worked for years with Hain Pure Food Co. In 1970 he founded the Garden of Eatin', a Los Angeles natural-foods marketer-distributor, located next door to Tumaro's. In March 1979 he first encountered Farm Foods' Tofu Salad and Soy Ice Bean (soymilk ice cream) at the New Earth Exposition in San Francisco. He "loved their soyfoods' and knew he had stumbled on his next product line. By April 1979, he was distributing the Tofu Salad under the Farm Foods label. He didn't have freezer trucks to deliver the Ice Bean. By November Jacobson was marketing Cottage Tofu under his label, made for him by Farm Foods using a formula he had developed. By December he had expanded his soyfoods line to include Tofu No-Egg Salad, Super Tofu (a curried tofu with cayenne and herbs), and a regular Honorable Tofu, all?? made for Jacobson in Los Angeles by Farm Foods in San Francisco. Several months later, because of problems with Farm Foods, Jacobson turned to Hinode Tofu Co. in Los Angeles as his supplier. By February 1980 he was marketing a Dry-Pak Honorable Tofu (pasteurized in a tub without water, it had a shelf life of 5-7 weeks) and by March a new Cottage Tofu, No-Egg Salad, and Super Tofu, plus an Honorable Tofu Salad. In August he introduced Ice Dream (soymilk ice cream), using soymilk from Hinode and a formula developed for him by Robert Dolgin, formerly an Ice Bean maker for Farm Foods. The Ice Dream, reputed to be the tastiest soymilk ice cream in America, was made by Garden of Eatin' in vanilla, maple-walnut, carob-mint, strawberry, and tropical fruit flavors. In 1981 Jacobson introduced Jerky Soy and Vegie Yaki (meatless Teriyaki), both made with a special textured soy protein. He was planning to introduce Tofu No-Cheese Cake, Tofu Carob Mousse, frozen tempeh, and tempeh burgers. In early 19?? Garden of Eatin's monthly gross sales of soyfoods, marketed under the slogan "Tofu never had it so good!" were estimated to be about $17,500.

During 1980 the new concept of the soyfoods marketer-distributor caught on nationwide. In July Mark Brawerman of Jolly Licks in San Francisco started marketing a line of Ice-C-Bean (soymilk ice cream) in five flavors (toasted almond, strawberry, carob, chocolate, and coffee); the soymilk was made by Azumaya and the Ice-C-Bean by a local dairy ice cream plant. By January 1981 Brawerman's Living Lightly soyfoods line included Missing Egg Salad, Soy Juice (soymilk), Tofu Strawberry (or Mocha) Creme Pies, Soysage, Tempeh, Organic Tofu, Tofu Male (tamale), Tofu Enchiladas, and seven flavors of Ice-C-Bean. The first three products were produced by Redwood Valley Soyfoods, the tempeh by Soyfoods Unlimited, and the tofu for the remaining products by Azumaya. New products added by September were Tofu Almond (or Berry) Creamie, Soysage, Tofumous, Soysage Burger, and Tofu Ravioli.

From September 1980 to March 1981 Martin Strassmore of Nature's Table in Greenfield, Massachusetts, marketed a line of soyfoods including Savory Tofu Quiches (vegetable or spinach), Almond Delight, Carob Mousse, Carob Almond Swirl, and Cheeseless Cake with Fruit Topping. The tofu was made by the New England Soy Dairy. By January 1981 Oak and Chandri Barat of Legume in New Jersey were marketing a line of soyfoods which soon included Tofu Country Pies (tofu-spinach or broccoli), Tofu-Bran Muffins (blueberry, raisin, carrot, or banana), Tofu "No-Cream" Pies (banana, coconut, or strawberry), and Tofu Carrot (or Banana) Cakes. New products added by September included Tofu Lasagna and Tofu Ravioli. Slogans for their full page flyers and ads read: "Who says rich, creamy foods have to be high in cholesterol and calories?" and "What's 2,000 Years Old & Tastes Brand New? Tofu."

It is important to note that many early soyfoods marketer-distributors found that, to survive, they needed to carry foods other than just soyfoods, such as natural breads and other baked goods, cakes and cookies, chips, juices, cheeses, yogurt, and the like.

Soyfoods in Foodservice Institutions. Starting in 1973, TVP had begun to be widely used in school programs. Tofu began to follow the same path, beginning in 1979 with pioneering efforts by Thelma Dalman of the Santa Cruz County School System, Richard Leviton of SANA, and the New England Soy Dairy. For details, see Chapter 28, Tofu.

Influence and Activities Abroad. Many soycrafters had a strong and active personal concern with sharing the insights of the American soyfoods movement with people in other countries, especially the poor and hungry. yet they realized that, since many countries are deeply influenced by and follow the lead of America, one of the easiest ways to make changes abroad was to make them clearly first at home, developing examples and models that could be adapted and used elsewhere.

The first foreign country to be influenced by the growing American soyfoods revolution was Japan. The Japanese were delighted that America was finally awakening to East Asia's ancient soyfoods wisdom, and events in America were given national media coverage. Shurtleff and Aoyagi appeared twice on NHK-TV, the nation's largest network, and many times on smaller networks. The soyfoods industry trade magazines Toyo Shimpo and Daizu Tampaku ran regular feature stories on new concepts pioneered in America such as the soy deli, the soy dairy, the soyfoods marketer-distributor, development of dairylike products from tofu and soymilk, vacuum packaging of firm tofu, making tofu, soymilk, and tempeh in the same plant, and the like. In the summer of 1978 the first contingent of tofu makers from Japan--45 in all--toured America to study the new phenomenon. Some Westerners went to Japan to study soyfoods and their production: Ed Shorer, Hanna Bettner, Linda Barber, Becky and Yoshi Uchida apprenticed with tofu masters; John Belleme and Lulu Yoshihara?? with a miso master. All received major media coverage, especially Linda who taught tofu making and American-style tofu recipes (such as Tofu Cheesecakes) to Japanese housewives and children.

The soyfoods movement began to take root in Europe in the late 1970s. Most of the pioneers were involved with Macrobiotics. By the mid-1970s Pierre Gevaert was producing miso, then shoyu and tofu in Belgium and France. In July 1980 The Book of Miso was published in German and in August 1981 The Book of Tofu. In February 1981 Ted Nordquist and Tim Ohlund, both Americans, opened Aros Sojaprodukter in Sweden, where they made tofu, tofu burgers, and soymilk. That month they also started the first branch of the International Soyinfo Center Network and in July published Europe's first tofu book, Tofu Boken. In July 1981 Germany's first tofu shop opened in Munich, and tofu and tempeh shops started in the Netherlands. In Australia and New Zealand there was a rapid rise in soyfoods interest. Verena Krieger, who had learned about soyfoods in America, returned to her native Switzerland, where she opened a cooperative tofu shop and did much pioneering work. Marcea Weber opened the first tofu shop in Australia in 1978. In all of these countries, articles on soyfoods (written by both Shurtleff and by local enthusiasts) began to appear with increasing frequency by the late 1970s.

But some of the most important work with soyfoods abroad was in Third World countries, where soyfoods were not well known and there was a critical need for low-cost sources of high quality protein. The story of the very successful introduction of soyfoods to Sri Lanka is given in Chapter 71. Interest caught on quickly in Latin America. In 1972 Peter Kempadoo, a Ghandian-type village-level worker, pioneered tofu in Guayana. In 1972 and 1975 THIO Goan Loo, a Chinese-Indonesian working at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, wrote excellent booklets aimed at introducing soyfoods to Third World countries. In 1976, after reading The Book of Tofu, Blanca Dominguez began actively to introduce tofu and soymilk to villagers in Mexico. In 1978 her book titled Integral Diet for a Full Life: The Thousand Uses of Soya was published in Mexico. By October 1981 she was working for the government in Jalapa, Veracruz, teaching soyfoods nutrition to local people (see Chapter 17). In April 1980 Richard (Ricardo) Jennings founded the TAO-FU Foundation in Quito, Ecuador and began producing tofu for orphanages, day care centers, restaurants, and food stores. He did good educational work, including training of American Peace Corps volunteers in Third World soyfoods techniques.

An excellent early example of sharing soyfoods with the Third World was the work of The Farm and PLENTY in Guatemala. After the huge earthquake of 4 February 1976 flattened Guatemala City, leaving 23,000 dead, 75,000 injured, and many more homeless, PLENTY sent in a crew of volunteer construction workers. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) was on the scene with money and material but no workers, so they cooperated with PLENTY volunteers. Impressed with their hard work and good spirit, CIDA asked PLENTY if they had any other projects in mind for Guatemala. PLENTY said they would like to work with the Guatemalan people to build a soy dairy. CIDA offered a $30,000 grant for this and other projects. By 1978 PLENTY volunteers Laurie Praskin, Suzie Jenkins, and others were working in the Guatemalan highlands in Solala, on a soy demonstration project; they taught some 750 village women how to make soymilk and tofu using a metate (flat stone mill) and utensils traditionally found in their homes. The people and their families reportedly loved these soyfoods. Soon PLENTY was working with INTSOY, UNICEF, and other 200 local farmers growing and testing INTSOY-supplied soybeans at 6,000 feet in Itzapa. In February 1980 the Solala Soy Dairy opened. A split-level, solar-heated building with sawdust-fueled cookers, it produced 100 pounds of tofu and 40 gallons of soymilk ice cream three times a week, and supplied the latter free for the school lunch program. After an initial training period, the plant came to be run by local people as a village industry to produce jobs and good food for the community, using locally grown soybeans, while also serving as a nutritional education center. Various international development experts visited the project and were reported to have been impressed with the new concept and its implementation. In December 1980 PLENTY received the Swedish Right Livelihood Award and $25,000 for their work of "bridging the gap between good intention and practical help" with a lifestyle that "treads lightly on the earth." Unfortunately, in early 1981 PLENTY had to withdraw its workers from Guatemala because of the growing political violence in the country.

The Future. There were various possible scenarios for the future of the soyfoods industry. The shops could expand in number and size, both in the US and in the Third World, to become a vital, decentralized industry of middle-level producers providing high-quality, fresh local products. Or one or more of the giants of the food industry (such as Kraft, Beatrice, General Foods) or a medium sized company presently making soy protein foods (such as Grain Processing Corp., Griffith Labs, or A.E. Staley), or even a Japanese soy-related company (such as Morinaga or Kibun) could decide to jump into the soyfoods market, open a number of large regional plants (probably starting with tofu) and begin to market supermarket items such as cheeselike vacuum-packed tofu, and low calorie tofu dressings, dips, and mayonnaise. If they follow the same pattern with soyfoods that they did with granola, yogurt, and whole-wheat breads, the entry of Big Food into the market could serve to democratize it, greatly expanding the product's visibility to the typical consumer. Of the existing early soyfoods companies, well-run ones would probably benefit and grow, especially by emphasizing freshness, quality, and secondary soyfoods, and by doing creative marketing to local institutions. Marginal, poorly-run companies would, of course, be hurt and probably go out of business. A major factor that will determine whether or not the soyfoods industry grows and thrives is whether or not present soycrafters are farsighted enough to start to build a strong Soyfoods Association. One major danger to the industry is the threat of unsanitary food processing practices leading to a case of food contamination and widespread bad publicity. Four major new markets are for the use of traditional soyfoods in school lunches (3.6 billion meals are served each year), in secondary soyfoods (such as dressings, dips, lasagna, etc.) sold at both supermarkets and natural food stores, in low-cost, low-calorie, cholesterol-free dairy and meat analogs (such as cheeselike firm tofu, tofu cottage cheese, tofu and tempeh burgers), and in mixed protein diets, where people who aren't vegetarians use tofu or tempeh several times a week to replace or extend meat in their regular diets. For such people, soyfoods suppliers should help natural food and supermarket retailers put together meatless main dish departments to attract cross-over customers. If, as many predict, the 1980s are a decade of economic hardship, rampant inflation, and/or growing nutritional awareness, soyfoods will almost certainly grow in popularity.

Part 1