Soy Milk - Prevalence

Prevalence

Plain soy milk is unsweetened, although some soy milk products are sweetened. Salted soy milk is also consumed in China.

The drink is very popular in the hawker culture of Malaysia and many other Southeast Asian countries, with it being a standard offering accompanying meals at Malaysian Chinese stalls. In Malaysia, soybean milk is usually flavoured with either white or brown sugar syrup. The consumer also has the option to add grass jelly, known as leong fan or "cincau" (in the Malay language, adopted from the Chinese equivalents) to the beverage. Sellers of soybean milk in Penang usually also offer bean curd, a related custard-like dessert, known to the locals as tau hua which is flavored with the same syrup as the soybean milk. In Indonesian it is known as "susu kedele". In Vietnam, the soymilk as well as the soy custard may be flavored with ginger or pandan, a grassy herb with a mild coconut-like flavor. More recently (since 2008), other optional additions to soymilk have become popular among street vendors and drink stalls around Southeast Asia, including tapioca pearl, sweetened red bean, honey, and black tea.

Yeo's, a drink manufacturer in Singapore and Malaysia, markets a commercialized tinned or boxed version of soybean milk.

The drink is slowly becoming popular in India as well, where it widely sold in Tetrapaks by various brands like Staeta.

In the West, soymilk has become a popular alternative to cow's milk, with a roughly similar protein and fat content. Soy milk is commonly available in vanilla and chocolate flavors as well as its original unflavored form. In some Western countries where veganism has made inroads, it is available upon request at cafés and coffee franchises as a cow's milk substitute.