If I was serious about reducing my environmental impact, a friend teased, I should be putting soy milk, not cow’s milk, in my drink. What little soybean oil was produced was burned in lamps, or blended with more popular cooking oils, such as peanut or rapeseed oil. Despite old folks complaining that cooking with soybean oil made their stoves not merely greasy, but actually so sticky that only strong detergents could remove the glue-like gunk, the low price of soybean oil has ensured its popularity ever since. Yet, liter for liter, it’s responsible for barely a third of the carbon emissions generated by cow’s milk. Soymilk bottlers also add calcium and vitamins to make up for its deficiencies compared to cow’s milk.

Source: Taipei Times April 20, 2021 15:56 UTC