| Atlas Soy-led: Ayn Rand's Take on the Soybean |
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| Written by Kaayla Daniel, PhD, CCN |
| Tuesday, 12 July 2011 15:18 |
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“Atlas Shrugged: Part I” opened this spring in the movie theaters, leading me to reread Ayn Rand’s epic novel and to think about all that’s being done to our food supply “for our own good.” Indeed we are already seeing disastrous effects on personal and planetary health from Big Brother’s wasteful and corrupt subsidies of corn, soy, wheat and Big Pfood; from the increasing control over independent farmers through orders, directives, restrictions and police actions; and even growing restrictions on what families can choose to eat. Ayn Rand’s 1,168-page novel, first published in 1957, rarely mentions food directly. Indeed we might think her protagonist Dagny Taggert lives on coffee and cigarettes, except for a single incident in Part II when she eats the best “hamburger sandwich” she ever tasted, at a little diner located on the summit of a long, hard climb out of Cheyenne, Wyoming. That hamburger, of course, was not just a burger, but a product of simple ingredients and of an unusual skill. It had been prepared with integrity, by a philosopher genius, no less, and was authentic and real with nothing ersatz, tricky or pretentious about it. In short, an über burger that represented Ayn Rand’s and Dagny Taggart’s highest values. The food Rand chose to represent the lowest values was soy. In Part III the author introduces the flabby mystic Emma “Ma” Chambers, whose “progressive” dietary views led to the waste of millions of tax dollars on “Project Soybean.” Ma had been appointed the nation’s food czar out of pity, not intelligence or ability. With no objective evidence whatsoever, Ma felt soybeans would make “an excellent substitute for bread, meat, cereals and coffee” and that Americans not only needed to eat more like Asians but should be forced to do so for their own good. Ma’s feeling that soybeans were of a higher “moral value” than wheat, led to government orders to pull trains out of the midwest, loss of the nation’s wheat crop, economic collapse and widespread starvation. As for the soybean crop, it too was lost thanks to the rotters’ incompetence. Given Hollywood’s current worship of veganism, I rather doubt “Project Soybean” will enliven “Atlas Shrugged” Part II or III, should those sequels ever be made. As for vegetarianism, it was a symbol of silliness, failure and poverty back in Rand’s day. To say that someone was a “vegetable” meant they were inactive and indeed nearly comatose. Those Ayn Rand admired not only had “meaty” ideas but the motive power to act decisively, effectively, appropriately and imaginatively on them. SIDEBAR The 2011 Soy Foods Market Report “Soyfoods: The U.S. Market Report” has come out and and it reports a “protracted slide” in soy milk sales as well as “lackluster performance in sales of tofu and soy infant formula” in the year 2010. The industry blames three factors: competition from almond, rice, coconut, hemp and other non dairy milks: “premium pricing” for many soy products; and “widely distributed information about the impact of soy on health.” That last factor makes me proud. Seems the decade-long campaign by the Weston A. Price Foundation is finally paying off. We’ve also been greatly helped in the past year by Dr. Joseph Mercola, who has reached millions through his website www.mercola.com, the world’s leading health and dietary website. Numerous other websites too have helped the message go viral. The soy controversy even aired on The Dr Oz Show on October 5 in a segment that featured Dr Oz, Dr Mark Hyman and me. Despite growing concerns about modern, industrial soy processing techniques, meat analogue sales saw a four percent growth in 2010 compared to 2009. The largest growth was in the soy-protein energy bar category with a whopping 18 percent increase in just the one year of 2010. According to Joe Jordan, Content Director of Soyatech, “Marketers of soy-based foods have been finding success in developing delicious meat alternative products with sophisticated flavor profiles. In addition, 14 energy bar brands appeared among the top 50 soyfood brands in 2010, indicating that this broad market affords many opportunities for creative food manufacturers to reach their key target markets.” What are the “current market drivers”? Soyatech thinks it’s fueled by three things: the consumer focus on convenience; widespread interest in meat-free foods; and new USDA food guidelines that “affect consumer understanding of—and interest in—the added value of foods made from the nutritious soybean.” In short, the good news is that soy sales are slumping, and the bad news is they are not plummeting. And it’s very good news of course that soy infant formula sales may have finally peaked. Meanwhile, we at the WAPF will continue to do our best to alert people to the risks of “convenience” foods that sooner or later create inconvenient health problems, and the malnutrition and health risks associated with vegan diets and soy-based and other meat substitutes.  This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Summer 2011. About the Author [authorbio:daniel-kaayla]
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written by kelly, Nov 11 2012
I see Ayn Rand on the opposite side of this argument. She would argue that government has an overriding interest in promoting the US soy crop and thus needs to distract the individual consumer from the true facts for the greater good (from a collectiveist perspective). The individual is being misled and not represented here except by the Weston Price group and Dr Kaayle. I applaud their courage, honesty and effort to share the truth.
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written by Laura, Jul 10 2012
Andy,
The attack on Ayn Rand is relevant because 1) character matters, and 2) people might make the mistake of conflating her horribly inaccurate philosophy with Dr. Price' conclusions and the message would be lost. Those in agribusiness who promote CAFOS (feedlots), factory farming, commercial pesticide/synthetic fertilizer us and GMO are the ones following Ayn Rand's philosophy that their own personal benefit, regardless of the cost to others, is their own highest good. Is that what WAPF wants to align with? I didn't think so.
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written by Andy, Nov 06 2011
An attack on Ayn Rand's character is irrelevant to the context used in this article. Stop distracting people from the merit of this message.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 July 2011 17:37 |
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