Where We Stand on Soy

People ask me about soy more than almost any other ingredient. Some want to hear that it is poison. Some want to hear that it is perfect. I do not think either one is true, so here is where I stand.

Soy the food

The soybean has been a staple crop in Asia for a very long time. Traditional soy foods are mostly whole or fermented: miso, tempeh, natto, soy sauce. Fermentation is one of the oldest ways people have made food keep and made it easier to digest. I have respect for that.

Soy the industrial ingredient

That is not how most Americans meet soy.

Soybeans are one of the biggest crops in the country, and according to the USDA, more than 90 percent of the acres planted are genetically engineered varieties. Most of that crop never reaches a plate as a bean. It becomes oil, animal feed, and soy protein isolate.

An isolate is made by stripping the bean down to its protein. The oil is typically removed with a solvent called hexane, and what is left is processed into a powder that is around 90 percent protein. That powder is cheap, it has a long shelf life, and it blends into almost anything. That is why it shows up in so many protein bars, shakes, and meat substitutes.

It is the same story as whey. A real food goes in one end and an ingredient comes out the other.

My actual objection

I am not against soybeans. I am against building food out of parts.

When I quit protein powders, I decided I wanted protein from an actual protein source, as close to whole as I could get it. That rule is why BIVI exists. Every bar starts with grass-fed beef and grass-fed beef tallow. There is no protein isolate in any of them, from soy or from anything else.

Full disclosure: Ronin Fire

One of our bars does contain soy, and I want you to hear it from me.

Ronin Fire is seasoned with miso powder. Miso is fermented soybean paste, and it is what gives that bar its deep, savory flavor. It is there as a seasoning, in the traditional form, and the label says so plainly: Contains: Soy.

If you avoid soy for any reason, read the label on the flavor you are buying. Every ingredient we use is printed on the wrapper and listed on our Ingredients and Nutrition page.

The short version

Whole and fermented foods, yes. Isolates, no. And whatever is in the bar, you will be able to read it.