Things get weirder when you dig into how the study defined “ultra-processed” meat alternatives. Included on that list are tofu and tempeh, soybean-based foods that have been used in East and Southeast Asian cuisines for centuries. They bear little to no resemblance to products like Impossible and Beyond burgers.
That’s just absurd.
And:
But plant-based meats were virtually absent from the study: Just 0.2 percent of calories across the sample came from meat alternatives. The bulk of the plant-based ultra-processed calories instead came from what the authors describe as “industrialised packaged breads, pastries, buns, and cakes,” and “biscuits,” better known in the US as cookies — foods that have little to do with plant-based meats or other specialty vegan products.
Not a vegan but do eat tofu and how the hell is that ultra-processed. Seitan I’ve had but am less familiar with (it’s not seen here in rural Japan and also it turns out my body hates gluten so it’s off the menu) but I don’t recall the process of making it being that … “Ultra”
We make seitan at home, it’s the same steps as making homemade bread but boiled in flavor instead of baked. They’d probably put homemade bread on the list, too, though.
Yeah, I make my own sausages every now and then. I usually only make enough for that week, but they last in the freezer maybe a month. I’m sure they’d be on the list too.
I’m not sure about the definition, but Tofu could certainly qualify as heavily processed, if not ultra processed. Remember, this has nothing to do with industrial scale or the “healthiness” , but with the number and degree of steps needed to go from raw material to foodstuff.
That’s just absurd.
And:
Seitan has also been eaten in China for centuries
Not a vegan but do eat tofu and how the hell is that ultra-processed. Seitan I’ve had but am less familiar with (it’s not seen here in rural Japan and also it turns out my body hates gluten so it’s off the menu) but I don’t recall the process of making it being that … “Ultra”
We make seitan at home, it’s the same steps as making homemade bread but boiled in flavor instead of baked. They’d probably put homemade bread on the list, too, though.
Yeah, I make my own sausages every now and then. I usually only make enough for that week, but they last in the freezer maybe a month. I’m sure they’d be on the list too.
I’m not sure about the definition, but Tofu could certainly qualify as heavily processed, if not ultra processed. Remember, this has nothing to do with industrial scale or the “healthiness” , but with the number and degree of steps needed to go from raw material to foodstuff.