The Whole Soy Story

This holiday season Whole Foods Market is offering gift boxes and certificates brightly printed with the wish “Soy to the World.” Whole Foods Market, of course, perceives soy foods and soy milk -- particularly modern packaged and processed soy products -- as a major profit center.   Soy also fits nicely within CEO John Mackey’s vegan agenda and his promotion of soy as the ticket to personal and planetary health.  Sadly, soy to the world will not bring joy to the world this holiday season or any other. The word “soy,” however, fits Whole Foods Market very well.  As discussed in my last blog, “Talking Tofurky,” your Naughty Nutritionist™ learned something most curious last month.  Seems“soy” is urban slang for something false, of poor value or just not what it seems.   That pretty much sums up a whole lot of the phoney baloney, pseudo-organic products Whole Foods sells.   Indeed a whole lot of what this chain preaches is out of integrity with what it practices. Greenwashing Heard of whitewashing?  The variant found at Whole Foods is known as "greenwashing."  The chain put green leaves on its logo,  prominently displays environmentally correct “core values,” and gives mouth service to sustainability yet engages in numerous practices that are environmentally unfriendly. Bagging It, for example. Whole Foods encourages us to bring our own bags to save the environment and gives bag credits to local charities.   Eco consumers feel good about this, but what about all those highly processed and overly packaged foods toted home in them?   Soy good to know that not one of those pricey crackers or cookies will crack or crumble.   As for those sturdy packages, they’ll survive for years in the landfills. Soy Local or Soy Loco Whole Foods talks the good talk about supporting  local farmers.  It’s one of its conspicuously displayed “core values.”   But walk down the aisles and most everything comes from somewhere else.    Where were all those little soybeans milked to produce soymilk?   Where did they catch those tofurkies?   Where did those fruits and vegetables grow?   California, Mexico, Chili, India?   Not soy often in our own backyard. How do local farmers feel about Whole Foods Market?   Many mutter “soy loco”  (“I am crazy”) under their breath whenever they give in and sell to Whole Foods.   Farmers who expect a fair wage for their hard work rarely sell there given the chain’s aim to buy dirt cheap and sell sky high. Soy Green More acres of the Rain Forest are destroyed for soybean crops than for beef cattle yet soy is touted as green for the environment.   Most of the Midwest has been destroyed by the monocropping of three vegan staples -- corn, wheat and soy. Soy Generous “Soy to the World” means planeloads of soy products given to survivors of famines and natural disasters.   Seems benevolent, bu

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