Episode Overview

Podcast: New Books Network – New Books in Food
Host: Nathan Hopson
Guest: Dr. Ines Prodöhl
Book Discussed: Globalizing the Soybean: Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food, c. 1900–1950 (Routledge, 2023)
Release Date: January 18, 2026

In this episode, host Nathan Hopson interviews historian Dr. Ines Prodöhl about her new book exploring the intertwined global history of the soybean between 1900 and 1950. The conversation delves into the plant’s journey from an Asian “stranger” to a global commodity, the key forces that drove its adoption and expansion, and its evolving social, economic, and environmental meanings up to the present day.

Main Themes

1. The Surprising Globalization of the Soybean

• The soybean’s late arrival in Western markets (“a latecomer” compared to coffee, tea, chocolate, and spices)
• The plant’s transformation from “Asian stranger” to global industrial and agricultural staple
• The subtitle "Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food" encapsulates both the chronological focus (1900–1950) and the functional journey of the soybean

2. Key Movers: Technological Change, Imperialism, and Globalization

• The convergence of industrial demand, imperial expansion, and world trade networks as catalysts for soybean globalization

3. Crises as Catalysts

• Wars, economic collapse, and environmental pressures repeatedly create necessity, which drives the adoption and expansion of soybeans

4. Post-War Legacies and Contemporary Consequences

• How the uses and meanings of soy have shifted, and the emergence of new environmental and ethical concerns

Detailed Discussion and Key Insights

Ines Prodöhl’s Path to the Soybean (02:12–06:20)

• Personal Motivation: Grew up on a farm; has a longstanding interest in agriculture and plants.
• Academic Spark: While at the University of Heidelberg, a research focus on Manchuria led her to the soybean’s prominence in the 1920s.
• Observation: "Everybody has an opinion about soybean, but nobody knows that much about the history of the soybean." (Ines Prodöhl, 04:54)
• The plant offered a way to unify her rural upbringing with academic pursuits.

The Soybean’s Western Ascent: Fat, Feed, and Sometimes Food (08:03–18:18)

• Driving Question: Why did the soybean take so long to globalize, despite its ancient Asian cultivation?
• European Demand: Industrial Europe, especially Britain, France, Germany, and Denmark, faced shortages of fats for food and industry (e.g., margarine, soap, paints).
• Japanese Connection: Japanese trading conglomerate Mitsui capitalizes on European fat shortages by exporting whole soybeans from Manchuria (“the main producer of soybeans worldwide” in the 1920s).
• Technical Challenge: Soy oil in bulk spoiled during shipping, so whole beans were sent for crushing and processing in Europe.
• Industrial and Agricultural Impact: Oil mills adapt to crush soybeans; oil goes into foods and industrial products, residue (soy cake) becomes livestock feed.
• Win-Win Dynamic: "This protein rich feed gives muscle tissue to our livestock. And that's what we actually want." (Ines Prodöhl, 16:40)

Germany as Case Study: Economic and Political Imperatives (19:35–27:26)

• Imperialism, Resources, and Substitution: After WWI, losing colonies forced Germany to seek alternative sources for fat and protein. Chinese soybeans, marketed as “outside any empire,” seemed ideal.
• Economic Nationalism: Reluctant to depend on British or French-controlled sources, Germany becomes the world's biggest importer of whole soybeans.
• Industrial Use: German margarine production, livestock (especially pigs for lard), and protein-rich feed are fueled by imported soybean residue.
• Surprising Reality: “Germany became actually the main customer of whole soybeans from Manchuria. No other country in any part of the world imported more.” (Ines Prodöhl, 26:35)

The United States: Cultivation Born of Crisis (28:24–41:52)

• A Different Puzzle: Unlike Germany, America’s story is less about import, more about domestic crisis and adaptation.
• Soil Depletion: Monoculture (cotton in the South, corn in the Midwest) exhausted American soils. Soybeans offered a solution as a nitrogen-fixing rotation crop.
• Necessity’s Invention: Soy’s American boom is spurred by:
  • WWI and WWII shortages
  • The Great Depression (1930s) and New Deal policies indirectly promoting soybean farming
• Soy Leaves the Table: “At World War I's end, soybeans vanished quickly from European and American tables, but not from their markets.” (Nathan Hopson quoting Ines Prodöhl, 30:04)
  Wartime scarcity leads both Germany and the US to try (and mostly dislike) direct human consumption, eventually reverting to indirect uses—oil, animal feed, and industrial inputs.

Notable Moment

• Digestive Challenges: "If you kind of treat soybean, dried soybeans, the same way as you would treat your regular dried beans... it is very difficult for the human body to digest soybeans directly... you end up with bloating and other kind of problems." (Ines Prodöhl, 31:40)

Postwar Expansion and Modern Legacies (43:48–49:09)

• Continued Patterns: After 1945, US production dominates globally; technology improves yields and processing; soy’s use as oil and animal fodder remains central.
• Shift to South America: By 1990, Brazil emerges as a soybean powerhouse; by the 2000s, it matches US production.
• Rising Awareness: The last 20 years see growing concern over environmental harm (deforestation, industrialized livestock, feeding salmon on soy meal).
• Cultural/Economic Shifts: “It would be much better if we would simply eat the soybean processed in ways that we as humans can digest them... I can only hope that this kind of trend grows and not stops somewhere.” (Ines Prodöhl, 47:40)

Notable Quote

• “In all human history, fat was in high demand. Now we literally swim on fat. Fat is bad. Fat is bad for your body. Fat makes yourself fat. Fat is something we try to avoid. And I find it so intriguing, this switch and the perception and assumptions about fat.” (Ines Prodöhl, 49:53)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Common Knowledge vs. Real History:
  “Everybody has an opinion about soybean, but nobody knows that much about the history of the soybean.”
  (Ines Prodöhl, 04:54)

• On the soy-oil boom:
  “It was such a story of success that within a very short period of time these soybeans were in high demand on European markets.”
  (Ines Prodöhl, 17:55)

• On Germans’ surprise dependence:
  "Normal people would not have an idea that they depended on soybeans... they would eat meat or fat produced by means of soybeans."
  (Ines Prodöhl, 30:39)

• Host’s marker of the research experience:
  “At every turn, there’s a crisis for which the soybean is the answer, right? It’s the answer for somebody somewhere.”
  (Nathan Hopson, 41:52)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:12 | Ines Prodöhl’s personal and scholarly origins | | 08:03 | The three main factors in soybean globalization | | 16:40 | Fat, feed, and industrial uses explained | | 19:35 | Germany’s special relationship with soybeans | | 28:24 | The U.S.: Soil, crisis, and soy cultivation | | 43:48 | Postwar changes, South American expansion, and present day | | 47:40 | Environmental awareness and cultural perceptions | | 49:49 | Dr. Prodöhl on future research (the history of fat) |

Conclusion

The episode is a deep and lively conversation about an agricultural commodity hiding in plain sight––soybeans. Through careful historical and personal insight, Dr. Ines Prodöhl argues that soy’s journey to global prominence was neither inevitable nor straightforward. Instead, crises, empires, and industrialization each transformed what soy meant and how it was used, shaping today’s complex food and environmental systems. From forgotten dependence in Weimar Germany to the hybrid landscapes of American agribusiness and Brazilian mega-farms, Globalizing the Soybean makes visible the often-invisible threads connecting food, industry, environment, and world history.