Now soya beans can be transformed into other kinds of food

Soya beans belong to the vegetable family. They can be manufactured to have other products-By Diane Uwimana

Some of the soya bean derived products.©Iwacu

A soya bean is the only vegetable with complete proteins. According to Marguerite Kwizera, the Chairwoman of the Nurses Without Borders at Bujumbura in Burundi, soya beans are most often transformed in other sorts of food such as tofu, soya milk, sausage meat or other food ingredients. However, cooked soybeans can also be used as ingredients in soup, sauce, stew… It is worth indicating that soya proteins have recently attracted a lot of attention because of its ability to lower the cholesterol level.

Moreover, this food is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of dietary fibre, vitamin K, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, and a very good source of protein and manganese. She notes that the center has been created for preventing some chronic and deficiency diseases. “Most of people fall sick due to ignorance and poverty”, points out Kwizera. In her view, there are many accessible types of food but people don’t know how to balance them. Moreover, poverty comes to worsen the situation. “Soya bean is very cheap and doesn’t need other complements for transformation”, clarifies Kwizera. Milk can also be derived from soya beans and so are meat (meat skewers), butter, oil, soya bean flour, kebabs, etc. She mentions that soya milk can be transformed to get tofu, a substance like white cheese used in cooking. Marguerite Kwizera indicates that the soya derived products are made under costumers’ demand. The price varies according to categories. A meat skewer costs BIF 3000, oil (BIF 6000 per litre), sausage meat (BIF 6000), milk (2500 per litre), meatballs (BIF 500 a piece).