The University has planned several events for students and faculty to celebrate National Soy Foods Month in April.

“Choosing soy is a way of expanding your horizons,” said Barbara Klein, co-director of the University’s Illinois Center for Soy Foods, 1101 W. Peabody Drive.

According to the Illinois Agricultural Statistics Service, Illinois usually ranks second in the United States in soybean production. In 2005, Champaign County ranked fourth in the state for production with 12,954,600 bushels. Products from these soybeans are becoming a part of the daily diets of many University students.

Amanda Baietto, sophomore in ALS, eats soy rice cakes regularly.

“Soy cakes are better than chips for you,” Baietto said. “I don’t really like greasy chips and stuff anyway.”

Another sophomore in ALS and long-time vegetarian, Kelly Campbell, chooses the soy-filled Boca Burgers as a meat substitute.

“People who aren’t vegetarians even eat them because they taste so good,” Campbell said. “That is where I get most of my protein.”

Along with high protein content, soy offers other health benefits. Klein said soy can lower the risk of coronary disease and some types of cancers. People who consume soy regularly also tend to eat a diet with less fat and cholesterol, Klein said.

To promote the growing popularity of soy foods among students at the University, the Illinois Center for Soy Foods has planned a formal soy-tasting event Wednesday with an international theme featuring ethnic cuisine made with soy. The event will also promote the center’s newest segment of “Soy in the American Kitchen,” a five-part cookbook series, entitled “Around the World with Soy.” The cookbook contains a collaboration of soy recipes from several different countries.

“There has been an increase in ethnic cuisine that you can see if you look around campus,” Klein said. “We tried to incorporate soy into recipes that have an ethnic flavor.”

On Saturday the center will hold a soy cooking demonstration and taste-test in the test kitchen of the National Soybean Research Center, 1101 W. Peabody Drive, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Products tasted will include tofu, soymilk, soy flour and textured vegetable protein. Registered participants will receive free recipes.

Soy-enhanced cookies will also be available for taste testing every Tuesday this month during lunch hour at the Beckman Cafe, the Law Commons, the National Soybean Research Laboratory’s main office and the Veterinary Medicine Small and Large Animal Clinics, said Cheryl Sullivan, a registered dietician for the Illinois Center for Soy Foods.

Klein said that students interested in the health and culinary benefits of soy should stop by the Illinois Center for Soy Foods in Bevier Hall to talk to staff members or taste-test products, such as the center’s hamburger made with both meat and soy.

“When people around the building tried it, they said ‘That is the best hamburger I’ve ever had,'” Klein said.