How to Make Your Own Soy Milk

I found a number of recipes for homemade soy milk online, most with only slight variations. Many of them called for the use of a soy milk making contraption, however, which I'm guessing that most people don't have on hand. I neither have one, nor do I intend to get one--I've got too many electric kitchen gadgets as it is, and want to scale back on what I already have and use. I found a number of videos, as well, using the same. I ended up finding this one below on YouTube and really liked it. It shows how easy it is to make soy milk from scratch using nothing but the most basic kitchen tools, a blender and your stove (or other source of cooking heat).

Given the relative ease with which most people can find soy milk in stores these days, the idea of making it yourself may not seem that appealing. The cost-saving benefit is worth noting: Dried organic soy beans are cheaper to use and you will indeed save money making it yourself--up to half or more of what you'd pay for the commercial soy milk. When you make it yourself, you get to flavour it however you like it. Also, remember the energy and resources wasted during the manufacturing of commercial soy milk and of its packaging, and of where that packaging often ends up even if it may be recyclable. Another thing I've been noticing is that the availability of organic soy milk seems to declining somewhat, with brands like Silk switching from organic to beans that are almost certainly genetically modified, and then sometimes even reintroducing organic versions at higher prices.

So do indeed use organic beans and give this recipe a try. Save that soy pulp (also called "okara"), since it's incredibly nutritious and there are innumerable recipes available on the internet, particularly Asian recipes, in which you can use it. Enjoy!

Corn, Soybeans and Monsanto, Oh My!

Ever really wonder what the heck it is that you're putting into your mouth when you're eating plant-based food? Whether it's food from the grocery store when we're at home, from restaurants and cafeterias when we're at work or school, from baskets in boardrooms, and bowls in front of the telly at friend's homes on movie nights, we're constantly munching on one thing or another. For vegans, the first and main concern is obviously whether the food in question contains animal products. Once that's been covered, though, the only questions that generally concern us are whether the substance in question tastes good, smells good and looks good. Occasionally, we'll wonder what potential it has to additionally pad our arses.

But what about how it was grown?

The USDA has documented the increase in planting of genetically modified (or transgenic / genetically engineered) crops in the US over the past several years. It's somewhat shocking just how large a percentage of the corn, soybeans (and cotton) grown today is actually derived from genetically modified seed. The Ethicurean featured a short article last year about the USDA data. More and more people are becoming aware that the use of genetically modified plants in the North American food supply has been widespread and status quo for many years now, but I wonder if many have any idea that it's reached this magnitude.

Looking at the USDA's charts really drills it home, and makes me even more resolved to continue integrating more and more organic foods into my own diet where it counts. and to educate myself about what's happening. The Organic Consumers Association's website is a fabulous resource for anyone interested in learning the benefits (health, environmental, et al.) of consuming organic products, as well as the potential and proven dangers of perpetuating and consuming genetically modified organisms. The OCA's site also features all the latest news on the biotech industry.

As well, Jeffrey Smith, founder of The Institute for Responsible Technology and author of the bestselling book on GM foods Seeds of Deception has put together a DVD/CD set called The GMO Trilogy that's selling for less than $20 and that he's encouraging people to buy to show at house screenings -- the goal being to expose as many people as possible to the truth behind the biotech industry and how it's endangering the food supply and the very soil from which these genetically modified crops are grown. You can also view and/or listen to them here on Google Video.

Reading all of this also makes me eager to kickstart (albeit somewhat late) my backyard garden again this summer, after. But delving into that's probably left to another post...

Why Buy Organic?

Once a week (or at least once every couple of weeks), I want to highlight certain foods that you should indeed go out of your way to buy organic, either because they're customarily genetically modified or they're grown using pesticides and tend to end up with a lot of residue. I figured that I'd use this to educate myself, as well, so that when I do my own shopping, I'll know where to best spend my organic dollars. My eventual goal is to create my own little shopper's guide to haul with me to the stores. I'll start with foods that I eat most often or that other vegans might find ending up on their own plates more often than not. I should have my first post on this over the next 24 hours. All feedback and questions will be much appreciated.

What's new and organic on your store shelves?

Shopper's Drug Mart in Canada recently unrolled its own new line of organic products, planning to offer up to 170 new products, including coffee, tea, juice, salad dressing, pasta and pasta sauces, cereals and more. I've only seen a handful of items in my local Shopper's -- mostly snack foods like nuts, seeds, rice cakes and an assortment of cookies and crackers.

Shop n' Save's parent company grocery giant Supervalu Inc. just announced that it's going to be launching its own line of of up to 300 new organic products -- Wild Harvest -- in the US. They intend to sell organic dairy and eggs, cereals, pasta and produce. They also plan to offer it at an average 15% less in price than most brand name organic products currently on the market. A recent Wall Street Journal article mentions that Supervalu's goal is to keep consumers in their stores, rather than buying their ''regular'' groceries at a Shop n' Save and then going to places like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's for their organic foods.

I'm glad to see organic foods becoming more readily available on the market and to see them becoming more affordable. It concerns me, however, that a lot of smaller health food stores -- like the two independently owned ones in my small city -- are now facing increasingly fierce competition from larger chains that can afford to undercut them. I also wonder what the impact will have upon organic farmers, who generally operate smaller, more intensive operations completely unlike a lot of the large-scale factory farm type set-ups that provide cheap food for the general North American market. If the supermarkets don't want to cover the extra cost of the more labour-intensive and costly organically farmed goods and don't want to pass on additional costs to their customers, that leaves the organic farmers to carry the load.

When ''organic'' doesn't mean organic

The Organic Consumers Association just released the results of a study where several well-known personal care products labelled ''organic'' or ''natural'' were found to contain concentrations of a substance called 1,4-dioxane, which is a by-product produced when foaming agents are processed with certain petrochemicals, with the intention of softening the harshness of the detergents in the products. It is an eye and respiratory tract irritant and is highly suspected of causing central nervous system damage, as well as liver and kidney damage. It has also been classified as a probable carcinogen.

It is commonly found in personal care products that aren't organic, and in the US, the FDA does not regulate it with any set standards. There are currently no standards in the US controlling the usage of the terms ''natural'' or ''organic'' with reference to personal care products. I plan to do some research on what the status quo is in Canada at this time concerning 1,4-dioxane.

Some of the products on their list include well-known brands such as Kiss My Face, Jason and Nature's Gate -- all products I've bought in the past, myself. The Whole Foods private label ''365'' is on the OCA'S list, as well.

The LA Times jumped on the story last Friday. I suspect we'll be hearing more about it over the next few days.

The Ethicurean and rBGH

I love The Ethicurean. It's not a vegetarian blog, but it's one of my favourite blogs out there now dealing with the ethics of consumption, both in terms of the actual information that's presented, as well as how it's presented . There are different contributors and they discuss topics such as organic farming, food labelling, animal welfare, changes in legislation, the biotech industry, etc. It's definitely worth bookmarking if any of these areas are of concern to you.

Someone posted an open letter to Monsanto there yesterday, listing off the small roadblocks they've been hitting during the lobbying they've been doing in the US to prevent dairy farmers or producers from labelling their milk rBGH-free (rBGH or recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone is manufactured by Monsanto and marketed under the name POSILAC). I was grinning from ear to ear reading it. Monsanto's take on it is that having some dairy products labelled rBGH-free would invariably lead consumers to believe that there's something wrong with it, which would in turn lead to consumers avoiding dairy products coming from cows who've been injected with it.

The Organic Consumers' Association website has a section dealing with the rBGH issue, featuring everything from news stories about it to lists of rBGH-free producers and companies. They also spell out all of the reasons its usage ranges from problematic to outright dangerous, both to cows, as well as to the humans who consume the dairy products coming from cows injected with it.

France bans its only homegrown GM crop

I read an article today that made me feel hopeful. It's the old drop in the bucket, I know, but it's still good to see someone standing up to international agri-bullies. France has decided to ban its only genetically modified crop, the MON810 strain of corn introduced to them by the friendly folks at Monsanto. The corn is used for animal feed. A few weeks ago, when France first expressed its intentions to impose a ban, the US-based Biotechnology Industries Organisation (BIO) released a statement calling on the US government and European Union to jump into the fray to intervene. According to BIO:

"This continued moratorium will negatively impact French farmers, consumers, and the environment. Biotech crops have tremendous potential to reduce the environmental impact of farming. By growing biotech crops, farmers reduce pesticide applications and the consumption of fuel and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reduce the need for plowing to control weeds, which leads to better conservation of soil and water, and a decrease in soil erosion and compaction."

Ah... sure. However, according to Greenpeace, all is not cut and dried concerning MON810's effectiveness, or its possible impact on the insects and organisms (either beneficial or harmful) that are exposed to it. Sale of the seed was banned in Germany earlier last year and this ban has since been lifted, albeit with regulations imposed to purportedly curtail the possibility of cross-contamination of GM crops with conventional crops. Since France took its stance on MON810, over 300 scientists and environmental groups in Spain (Europe's largest grower of GMOs) have come forward with a petition calling for a ban on the cultivation of all GMOs in Spain. The United States' government will likely attempt to retaliate against France with trade sanctions at the WTO level, which it did a few years back in response to Austria's ban on the cultivation and use of MON810. Austria still refuses to lift its ban.

The Organic Consumers Association has a ton of information on GMOs in general, and on Monsanto, more specifically -- its products, its politics and its history. The one thing that is clear in all of this is that agribusiness has become less about consumerism and more about politics, where international trade regulations are now taking away the rights of elected governments to respond to the needs and concerns of their own people. What better way to circumvent consumers' rights to control what they eat than to force it into their stores and sneak it into their products?

As agribusiness continues to fight against the labelling of GMO products, this leaves consumers with the task of struggling to educate themselves about where their food comes from, and whether the manufacturers producing it are using genetically modified ingredients. When it comes to choices, it seems that the only uncomplicated option now left to consumers that doesn't involve doing your homework first is to choose to purchase organic products.

Would you like some Roundup to round off your meal?

So I've been reading about changes coming up in the world of sweets next year. It seems that some major sugar producers in the US have announced that they're going to be switching to genetically modified sugar beets to produce their sugar. The sugar beets in question will be genetically engineered to withstand heavy doses of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide (these crops or then referred to as "Roundup Ready", which means that farmers get to use oodles more herbicide to get from point A to point B -- from their chemical-saturated fields to your sweet tooth. This sugar will make its way into most non-organic processed foods and won't be labeled any differently than the sugar that's being used now. Whatever happens to the US food supply will follow suit in the Canadian food supply. In fact, here's Health Canada's official response to the whole matter.

The Organic Consumers Association in the US has a letter writing campaign on the go right now to try to convince American Crystal, one of the larger producers involved, to reconsider its decision. Call me cynical, but I honestly don't see it amounting to much, especially considering that this story seems to be staying completely out of the mainstream media.

Thanks to The Ethicurean for spreading the word about this.