history of soy yogurt, soy acidophilus milk and other ... - SoyInfo Center

In Spanish: Instituto de Investigaciones para la Industria
Alimenticia–IIIA) near Havana. Catherine Murphy translated
the fi rst session and Dr. Gilberto Fleites translated the
second. Shurtleff took notes and asked quite a few questions,
but this was more the telling of a story than an interview. The
meeting was arranged by Pam Montanaro, director of the
Soy Cubano! program at Global Exchange, San Francisco.
She has met with Alvaro and Alberto many times before and
Soy Cubano! has helped signifi cantly to further development
of soybeans and soyfoods in Cuba. Soy Cubano! has given
Alvaro and Alberto several of Shurtleff’s books, helped
them to exchange correspondence, and arranged and paid for
Shurtleff’s present trip to Cuba. The atmosphere is relaxed
and friendly.
Alvaro begins: “We would like to tell you the complete
story, in depth, of the development of soyfoods in Cuba from
1984 to the present. You are the fi rst person to whom we
have ever told the story in this much detail. Please fell free
to ask questions.” Shurtleff explains that he is not interested
in commercial secrets. Alvaro laughs and says “Don’t
worry. We’ll let you know if you ask about anything that is
confi dential.” Cuba hopes to export some of the proprietary
technology and processes they have developed.
This phase of Cuba’s work with soyfoods began in
early 1984, when Fidel Castro obtained a Mechanical Cow
from Brazil. Note: This relatively small-scale soymilk
production machine was developed in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
by Dr. Roberto H. Moretti (of Vanguarda Mecanica and
the Dep. of Food Technology, FEA/UNICAMP) starting in
1976 and it was patented in 1979. By Nov. 1980, according
to Dr. Moretti, 80-90 Mechanical Cows were in operation
in Brazil. Fidel has long been interested in and concerned
about food, nutrition, and malnutrition worldwide, and
especially in developing countries. It was for this reason that
he obtained a Mechanical Cow–which cost about $40,000.
After 48 hours without sleeping, Alvaro and his collaborators
fi nished installing the Cow at the Food Industry Research
Institute (FIRI). They began using it with much enthusiasm.
One month later when the Brazilians arrived, they were to
surprised to see it in operation, making soymilk and various
products. Ten copies of the Cow were soon made at Cuba’s
Ministry of Mechanization. But despite much research
and attempts to fl avor the soymilk with various fruits, it
continued to have a strong beany fl avor. Soymilk from the
Cow was fi rst sold in 1984 at 15 outlets in Havana at nonrationed
dairy products stores in the “parallel market.” It
was not well accepted by the Cuban people, who ended up
feeding it to their pets. The product was withdrawn after
1 to 2 years, but scientists at FIRI began a new project to
study soyfoods and fl avor problems in greater depth. By the
beginning of the 1980s partially defatted soy fl our (expressed
under pressure, but not texturized) was being used in Cuba as
an extender in ground meat at levels of 2% to 5%.
In 1990 a series of disasters struck Cuba. Shortly after
HISTORY OF SOY YOGURT & CULTURED SOYMILK 410
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the dissolution of the Socialist/Soviet Bloc (Warsaw Pact
alliance) in late 1989 and early 1990, Cuba suddenly lost at
least 75% of its trade, which had focused on sugar bought
by the Soviet Union through long-term agreements at prices
well above the world market price of that moment. Food
production dropped due to a severe shortages of fertilizers,
agrichemicals, gasoline, and imported feed for animals.
What Cuba now calls the Special Period was phased in. The
situation grew even worse in October 1992 when the United
States passed the “Cuba Democracy Act” (often called
the Torricelli Act). The United States had had an embargo
on trade with Cuba since 1960, but the new Act became
essentially a blockade, in which the U.S. very effectively
pressured foreign nations and companies not to trade with
Cuba–in violation of the United Nations charter, the charter
of the Organization of American States, and virtually all
international law. The Torricelli Act also made it illegal for
Cubans living in the USA to send dollars back to relatives
and friends in Cuba.
In response to the Special Period, FIRI began to work
fi rst on the meat supply, by extending ground meat with
textured extruded soy fl our–which was 10 to 15 times
less expensive than meat on a protein basis. Initially Cuba
imported textured soy fl our from Mexico. Two extended
meat products were developed: Extended ground beef
was sold in the neighborhood meat/butcher ration shops
(carnicerias), and extended meat patties were sold at places
called Saz (a chain of popular cafeterias) on the free market.
One traditional meat product that Cubans love is
picadillo, which consists of ground meat, garlic, onion, and
lemon, and which is sold at the meat ration shops. Instead
of pure meat, FIRI now used a mixture of 70% textured soy
fl our and 30% ground meat. The seasonings in this picadillo
extendido largely masked the soy fl avor, but the reaction of
the Cuban people was not very good. Of course, they had
no idea of what was in the new mystery product, and how
much of it. They were used to pure meat, yet the nation was
paralyzed, so this was no longer an option. Even though food
was in short supply, there was a large excess of money, so it
was not an economic issue–the extended meat had to be sold
only at the meat ration shops if everyone was to get a fair
share.
The second extended meat product developed by FIRI,
the patties, were sold like a hamburger, between buns, with
catsup and mustard. The Ministry of Food Industry of Cuba
(MINAL) got a patty-forming machine named Koppens from
the Netherlands, and the patty-making operation was very
successful. MINAL then bought 15 more patty machines,
one for each province, and by 1990 Cuba was making
200,000 meat-soy patties a day. Continued. Address: 1. Ing.,
Director; 2. Vicedirector. Both: Food Research Inst. (Instituto
de Investigaciones para la Industria Alimenticia), Carretera
Guatao Km 3½, La Lis 19200, Havana City, Cuba. Phone:
21-6986 or 21-6742.