I like Soya beans. Even more, I like what you can make from them. Soya milk (yes, it is milk), Soy sauce (a much better cooking aid and condiment than salt), and Tofu- a cheese (yes CHEESE) that has been around for a couple of thousand years longer than, say, Cheddar or Cheshire (the counties, or the cheeses named after them).

I do think it is a bad idea, however, to cut down rain forests or plough up natural pasture to grow Soya beans. The meat & dairy lobby have been giving us veggies & vegans a bad press over this - claiming that this destruction is due to our demand for tofu.

Actually most Soya beans are grown to feed these Frankenstein monsters we call “cattle” - strange things that us humans have developed to be useless at anything besides providing us with meat and milk. The amazing new discovery is that we should not let these things wander around eating grass, but should put them in sheds and feed them - Soya beans. So the pastureland, and the rain forests must be used to grow these beans.

I do realise that there are a lot of people in this world, and the number is growing. And, of course, these people want burgers on their plates and milk in their coffee (although I personally don’t understand the latter - why ruin a good cup of coffee?). 

Well, I can see a couple of ways of making burgers. The mainstream way is to take a load of Soya beans, force feed them to cattle in sheds, when the cattle get big enough mince them and add flavouring - and cook (funny, no-one seems to like eating raw, unflavoured dead animals - even minced). The unorthodox vegan way is to get a load of Soya beans, mince them, add flavouring - and cook. OK neither of these processes is “natural” - but the latter seems closer to it. Oh yes - the latter way also gives you 10 times as many burgers than the cattle method