Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
My old friend Henry Neufeld has a funny post following up on the link between soy products and homosexuality. He writes:
If Jim Rutz is right I should probably be gay, considering I'm a fourth generation vegetarian and was raised on a diet including a much higher portion of soy bean products than that of the average population.
Henry was raised 7th Day Adventist, you see, and they are largely vegetarian and eat an enormous amount of soy (especially in the form of texturized vegetable protein, used to make fake meat products; my dad used to buy them and I hated them). If Rutz' theory was correct, Andrews University should be like Fire Island by now, Loma Linda should look like the Castro district, and there shouldn't even be any 4th generation Adventists.
Comments
You need to warn us not to drink before you drop a line like that. I nearly ruined my keyboard. Too funny.
Posted by: Dan | December 13, 2006 3:22 PM
He didn't warn me either. Ed, after your comment on my blog I had to start wondering if old Kellogg was actually holding out on us all over in Battle Crrek, and besides working on corn flakes and hydrotherapy (depending on which brother), he was also dealing with artificial insemination, surrogate motherhood, and other such things.
Just to keep the faith alive, you know.
Posted by: Henry Neufeld | December 13, 2006 3:39 PM
Your dad bought all sorts of weird food products. I remember powdered milk (yuck, yuck, yuck) and canned beef. But his wife made the best beef stroganoff I've ever had--I still remember it nearly 30 years later.
Posted by: David C. Brayton | December 13, 2006 3:51 PM
He did buy all kinds of weird things. He was fascinated with vegetarian food, but not a vegetarian. I remember when we lived down by Berrien Springs, where Andrews University is and therefore a hub of Adventist products, he would buy these fake hot dogs in a can. It was just about the worst thing I've ever tasted in my life. Just vile. When it was Dad, Kevin and I living together, I learned how to cook purely out of self defense. Dad's idea of cooking was to take all the leftovers out of the fridge - chicken noodle soup, spaghettios, hot dogs - and just dump it in one big pot and warm it up. He called it "slumgullion". It's a miracle the man didn't kill me. I think him marrying Helga may have saved my life.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | December 13, 2006 3:57 PM
[...]there shouldn't even be any 4th generation Adventists.
No, don't you see? This just proves that The Gay Agenda™ has a shockingly effective recruiting team!
(Didn't I see this on an article at The Onion a few years back?...)
Posted by: SMC | December 13, 2006 4:24 PM
SOY IS GAY PEOPLE!
Sorry, had to meet my obscure reference quota.
Posted by: Mike Horn | December 13, 2006 4:33 PM
My wife has been doing low carb since before low carb had its rise and fall. Has done wonderful things for her blood sugar and overall health. She does miss her pasta though.
I am the primary household cook. For the past two weeks I have been threatened by two packs of shirataki noodles staring at me from the fridge. Two ingredients. Tofu and yam flour.
She swears people online say they taste just like regular noodles. Memories of...
This diet pop tastes just like regular pop. *spit*
Carob tastes just like chocolate. *spit*
This Atkins ice cream tastes just like regular. *spit*
This tofuturk*BLAM*....*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM* I didn't fall for that one.
Posted by: Sean | December 13, 2006 4:43 PM
Sean,
I won't claim that the tofu shirataki noodles are going to taste exactly like pasta, nor will I say that they will even feel like the pasta you're used to (it'll be more slick). But still give them a go.
Just watch out for the smell when you open the bag. It'll STRONGLY smell of fish, but some rinsing, boiling (and maybe an additional rinse), and maybe some patting to take the excess water away will take the smell completely away. Unlike pasta, it won't have a flavor of its own, but it will soak up the flavor of whatever sauce/soup you eat it with.
I think the people claiming it's like pasta for them are just happy to have noodles at all (and that they use flavory sauce).
Posted by: Monimonika | December 13, 2006 6:18 PM
If, as the WND article claims, soy products decrease penis size, thank God that I've been eating tofu for several decades now. Otherwise where would I buy my pants?
Posted by: AndyS | December 13, 2006 7:28 PM
Ed, You didn't like the canned, meatless, hotdogs?!? Those were great, I still occasionaly buy them for nostalgia.
I honestly never understood all the looks dad gets whenever he mentions slumgullion. I was under the impression it was a joke.
David, I wish you could try my stroganoff. I use mostly her recipe, with the addition of extremly fine chopped bacon and a little bacon grease. These days it would be far superior to my mom's, she does everything with low-fat ingredients. Even as I have recently "blossomed" by about twenty pounds, I refuse to destroy good food in the name of low fat.
Sean - You might try making pasta yourself. If it is not essential to avoid all carbs (don't know, see above, I'm not into dieting) mixing 1 part amaranth flour to 5 parts soy flour and adding ground, dried, spinach until the mixture is light green, makes a great pasta base. The amaranth flour gives it a strong, nutty flavor, when diluted with soy flour gets close to the flavor of semolina. The spinach (or any dried veggie) covers the remaining difference. The key is to make sure the soy flour is very fine and the dough is thoroughly kneeded. Experimenting with pasta making is also a lot of fun.
Posted by: DuWayne | December 13, 2006 8:25 PM
DuWayne wrote:
LOL. See, this was before you came along. Once he married your mom, she did all the cooking. As I said, it may well have saved my tastebuds. Although there were times when her cooking frightened me too. I learned to tolerate beef heart. And I ended up liking the creamed spinach, despite the fact that it looked like it had been through someone already. I just wish I could replicate her cheesecake, which is still the best I've ever tasted.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | December 13, 2006 9:41 PM
Following up on Mike Horn's comment:
Soylent Queen
Posted by: Emory K. | December 14, 2006 12:21 AM
Dr. Weill has an article on soy, for the interested.
Posted by: Daniel Morgan | December 14, 2006 5:30 AM
Whoa, I didn't like the choplets. I love the cutlets, but the choplets were just repulsive.
I have to say, that I'm not too keen on jello in any setting. Adding carrots and cabbage would cause me to politely decline. I do hope you get the opertunity to try the creamed spinach Ed is talking about. Over fried noodles it is just amazing. Though it is rather far from astheticly pleasing.
Duwayne says he liked it, but DuWayne's always been a bit weird.
As far as my tastes in food go, that can be blamed squarely on dad. Were it not for his admonishment to try everything, I would never have discovered that I love some truly bizzare dishes. Such as grubs, sauteed with butter and garlic - odd, but really good - were it not for dad, it is unlikely I would have ever tried them.
Still can't bring myself to try kimchee though. The one thing that I just cannot force into my mouth, the smell is just too repulsive.
Posted by: DuWayne | December 14, 2006 1:24 PM
My father used to make slumgullion.
His other specialty was S.L.O.P.
(stewed leftovers on potatoes)
Posted by: khan | December 14, 2006 3:29 PM
I realize that I'm commenting on a thread that's gone very cold here, but I was thinking about the soy/gay story over the weekend. In the midst of all of the appropriate giggling over this, I'm a bit surprised that nobody has mentioned what a departure this is from the usual position of the religious right on this issue. This type of effect would clearly mean that homosexuality has a biological origin rather than being a lifestyle choice. Nothing odd about this group citing bad science, but citing bad science to make a claim contrary to their stated position is odd even for them.
Posted by: DougT | December 18, 2006 8:25 AM
Well I think they may be right actually. I ate soy once, and afterwards I found myself caring more than usual about grooming matters and idly wondering whether or not that particular shade of Plate Mortlake Cream I had painted my walls really went with the curtains after all. This seemed like more than just a worrying coincidence at the time, so I expunged myself of The Gay by making an inappropriate comment about a female colleague's hemline, and going home to to drink beer and watch some footie whilst scratching my knackers. I feel this cure has been effective, but I won't be touching soy again.
Well, not without at least wearing a condom, anyway.
Posted by: Matthew Young | December 18, 2006 8:33 AM