— Richard Dunn

Okay, so, um, good or bad. Well, um, yeah, these, uh, absolute, uh, terms, um, are sometimes difficult for me to, to work with. Um, so let's find some middle ground and, uh, let's just talk about this product and, uh, ultimately, you know, um, I'll ask you to make that decision for your particular situation. Okay? And, uh, so TVP, um, uh, at least as I know it is a soy based product. So concern number one would be that if a person has, uh, any aversion to soy, uh, this is not a product for them. But, um, uh, let's see. You know, I guess another shortcoming of TVP is that, you know, it is a processed, uh, product. You know, you've, you've got your soybeans that go through some, some, uh, various steps of processing before you end up with, uh, this textured vegetable protein, you know, which is this nice meaty, uh, textured, uh, but plant-based product that can be added to soups and stews and casserole and stir fries and, and that sort of thing. Um, it certainly is convenient and, um, uh, you know, provides satisfying toothsome this, um, which, um, uh, can be difficult to, uh, otherwise replicate in plant-based foods. Uh, so those are a couple of pluses, um, with TVP. Now, uh, I'm gonna, uh, you know, talk about, uh, a related item here. And, but I'm gonna get back to the, the, the topic at hand here, Richard. So bear with me. Uh, and what I want to talk about here is, and this is, uh, for everybody, right? Uh, this idea of developing your, your personal food philosophy, okay? And if we think about, you know, other aspects of our personal lives, uh, whether it's our, you know, religious or, or spiritual values, or, um, what we believe about education, um, the way that, um, uh, you know, we conduct ourselves around, um, work ethic, uh, and, and, and so on and so forth, right? These become very personal, um, sort of, uh, you know, uh, uh, uh, topic areas that, uh, identify our values and, and, uh, you know, our, our belief set. Um, and, and most of us, you know, have developed, um, uh, these values around these, these example topics that I just mentioned, but many of us have not, uh, developed a solid set of, uh, values and beliefs around food and, uh, just what it is that we believe, uh, about food, how we wanna conduct ourselves around food. Um, you know, eating after all is, um, I mean, it's, it's arguably, you know, the most, uh, personal and intimate act, uh, that we perform multiple times every day. Uh, at least that's the case for most of us. And, uh, yet, you know, we don't have this solid path that we're on. And so I encourage each of you to think about what it is that you believe around food and, uh, this, uh, you know, would bump up against, uh, the place of origin, seasonality, who's producing it, IE the care, right? Of the people producing your food, their wellbeing, right? What does that mean to you? And, and how does your, uh, purchasing decision affect those people? Right? Uh, and of course, there's nutrition, right? Is it, um, animal-based? Is it plant-based? Is it mostly plant-based? Uh, and so on and so forth. And, uh, am I gonna be a hard line about being plant-based, or am I gonna be gracious about food when somebody invites me to their house? And it's not exactly plant-based, you know? So these are all considerations that you get to make. They're all individual and, uh, highly personal topics. And, uh, so with that sort of a thing, you know, comes this idea of processed foods. And, uh, so, you know, Richard, you mentioned whole food plant-based diet. I, Um, you know, the, the foods that we eat, um, you know, even if they're mostly whole foods are probably processed, um, even a little bit, um, most of the time. And, um, uh, so thi, you know, things line a spectrum, um, and, uh, you know, so hence, I, I hesitate to identify something as good or bad, because there's a lot of possibilities for a lot of different people in the middle here. And this is where the, uh, the interesting answers lie. Okay? So, you know, I would, uh, encourage you to think about, uh, number one, uh, what goes into manufacturing TVP? What is it in the end? Um, you know, when you consume that product, and do you wanna consume it? If so, how much or how frequently, uh, do you wanna consume it? I think those are all relevant questions that are part of this, uh, you know, greater food philosophy, uh, theme that we're talking about right now. Okay. Um, so in other words, uh, you know, TVPI think could be fine for some people, um, but others might avoid it. And, uh, you get to find out, uh, what's best for you by, you know, investigating, um, you know, these different products and also where you stand on these things.