In a paper published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Dr. Chris Macdonald explored the best sources of protein currently available.
To answer the question, Macdonald had to build a new holistic scoring system that combines measures of environmental impact, health, affordability and availability into a single framework.
Applying the scoring system to 20 commonly consumed protein-rich foods, the analysis found a striking pattern: every product in the highest-scoring quintile was plant-based, while every product in the lowest-scoring quintile was animal-based. Tofu ranked first overall, while cheddar cheese ranked last.
The paper argues that many existing food rating systems focus on only one aspect of a product. While useful, these single-dimension labels can obscure important trade-offs and make it difficult to compare foods comprehensively.
TOFU DOMINATION
Link to open access article https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2026.1677796/full
What is even the point of preserving liveable Earth if the food on it will taste like polystyrene?
I notice that the replies are all “it’s not tasteless, it tastes like whatever you season it with” so yeah. Boring and without much taste, but carries flavouring well
Tell me you don’t know how to cook vegetables without telling me you don’t know how to cook vegetables
Vegetables are awesome. And the majority of legumes are awesome. Delicious and nutritious. But tofu… tofu is basically biodegradable polystyrene, yes.
Gotta disagree, but heyho :)
Tofu can taste like anything you want. It’s the way you prepare and season it that makes the taste