by Sally Fallon & Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.

Cinderella's Dark Side

The propaganda that has created the soy sales miracle is all the more
remarkable because, only a few decades ago, the soybean was considered unfit
to eat - even in Asia. During the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 BC) the soybean was
designated one of the five sacred grains, along with barley, wheat, millet
and rice.

However, the pictograph for the soybean, which dates from earlier times,
indicates that it was not first used as a food; for whereas the pictographs
for the other four grains show the seed and stem structure of the plant, the
pictograph for the soybean emphasizes the root structure. Agricultural
literature of the period speaks frequently of the soybean and its use in
crop rotation. Apparently the soy plant was initially used as a method of
fixing nitrogen.13

The soybean did not serve as a food until the discovery of fermentation
techniques, some time during the Chou Dynasty. The first soy foods were
fermented products like tempeh, natto, miso and soy sauce.

At a later date, possibly in the 2nd century BC, Chinese scientists
discovered that a pur