From its more humble origins to its modern-day status as a dominant yet destructive wonderbean, the story of soy concerns us all. Soy is much more than tofu or tempeh. It's a global commodity crop: the driving force of animal agriculture and a hidden fuel of growing importance for our cars. In this episode, we deep dive with Dr. Christine M. Du Bois into the history of soy and the vital role it continues to play in our lives. Christine M. Du Bois is a former co-manager of the Johns Hopkins Project on Soy. She is the author of The Story of Soy (2018) and Images of West Indian Immigrants in Mass Media: The Struggle for a Positive Ethnic Reputation (2004) and is the lead editor and coauthor of The World of Soy (2008). She has published poetry at BourgeonOnline.com. She lives in Pennsylvania. We discuss:

How we use the modern soybean: ubiquitous yet unseen
The bean's Manchurian origins
The rise of the 'Cinderella crop'
Mass deforestation, billionaire Blairo Maggi and the 'United Republic of Soy'
The role of China, geopolitics and the future of soy

Links:

The Story of Soy (2018)- Christine M. Du Bois
The World of Soy (2008) - Christine M. Du Bois, Chee-Beng Tan, Sidney Mintz (Eds.)
Rise of the 'wonder bean': from deforestation to your plate - The Guardian

FFS 047 - Soy: a destructive wonderbean