Feed The World
Tofu is made from soybeans that provide a good, all-round protein sufficient for our needs. But what is also important is how efficient soybeans are at providing that protein. Per acre, soybeans produce 32% more usable protein than any other crop and 20 times more than cattle farming.
According to UN statistics, ¼ world’s 4 billion people face hunger or famine, 25-30% world’s children die of malnutrition before the age of 4 and many more suffer from lack of sufficient protein.
As many of us did, I grew up with the regular mealtime mantra, ‘Eat your greens, think of the starving people in Africa’. It was frustrating. I could appreciate that it was unfair that I had enough to eat and I would have loved to help, but how could me eating my greens make any difference to all the hungry people in the world? But it can. If we didn’t consume meat in such vast quantities there would be enough food for everyone. If the wealthier countries changed their eating habits and gave up or ate less beef, the land used for grazing and growing fodder could be used to grow food for people and the soy and grain products grown to feed cattle could then be used directly as food. This would have a positive impact on the world’s food problem and people wouldn’t have to die of hunger. So we do just need to, ‘Eat our greens’.
British charity Vegfam reports that a 10 acre farm could feed 2 people on a meat diet, 10 people with corn, 24 people with wheat, or 60 people with soybeans.
If US alone reduced meat consumption by 10% it would free up enough plant protein (soybeans, corn, wheat and grains) to meet the annual grain requirements of 60m people.
And the situation is getting worse. Global population approximately doubles every 35 years and the linear increase in food production can’t keep up with this exponential rise in world population. Also, the global demand for meat is growing and we are gradually running out of agricultural land. In the last 12 years, cattle herds have increased by almost a third worldwide. The underlying fact is that we need a more protein efficient source of food than animal protein to distribute the world’s resources more fairly.
14-25 lbs of protein fed to a COW yields 1 lb protein for human consumption, this is about 5% efficiency.
To put it simply, protein from cows is more expensive and less efficient than protein from soybeans. A meat-centred diet squanders the earth’s limited food resources. Tofu is produced using the whole soya bean which makes it a nutritionally and ecologically viable alternative to meat and significantly more nutritionally efficient.
“Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” Albert Einstein. And he knew a thing or two.
Join the Tofu Revolution and help make the change. We CAN make a difference. Together we can Feed The World.