If tofu is not at the top of your soy list, settle back and enjoy numerous other soy-based foods that should round out your menu. Most are readily available —many are already processed and cooked into ready-to-use products such as chili or hamburgers—and certainly easy to cook with. Soy products include the following:

• Soy sauce: Made from fermented soybeans, soy sauce is available as the traditional Chinese or Japanese soy sauce and also as tamari, a rich-flavored Japanese soy sauce made without wheat. Because of its sodium content, soy sauce is now available in low-sodium types—but some purists might not find the flavor as fully developed. The Malaysians and Indonesians also use thick, dark sweet or salty soy sauces in their cooking.

• Tempeh: An Indonesian soybean-and-grain product, tempeh is made by injecting the mixture with a mold, and after fermenting, the product has a salty flavor. It needs steaming, simmering, or frying before eating.

• Miso: A thick fermented and salted soybean paste ranging in color from white to dark brown, miso has been a Japanese staple from ancient times. It comes in hundreds of varieties, letting cooks select how they want to season stews, soups, dressings, and other foods. Miso requires lengthy aging and because it curdles if overheated, should be added to the cookpot at the end of cooking.

• Edamame: Shelled or still in the pod, edamame—fresh soybeans— can be readily found fresh and ready to eat or frozen at most well-stocked supermarkets. Although these are considered a Japanese food, the Chinese also enjoy edamame and call them maodou. According to the Soyfoods Council, the green soybean we know as edamame is actually just one of several soybean varieties. Edamame have long been enjoyed by the Japanese as a snack food.

• Soybean sprouts: Often mistaken for the smaller and tenderer mung bean sprouts, soybean sprouts are available at Asian markets, but rarely at Western ones. These are good in stir-fries.

• Soy “meat” alternatives: Meat alternatives from soy proteins combined with other ingredients, these products are meatlike—some even resemble seafood—in their appearance but not in their fat content. Many markets and health food groceries stock an array of these alternatives, such as soy “meat” crumbles, “sausages,” deli slices, “hot dogs,” “meatballs,” and “bacon,” as well as already-made meatlike dishes, such as chili. Although not really a meat analog, another soy product known as TVP, or texturized vegetable protein, is made from soy flour and cooks up quickly in dishes as a meat substitute.

• Soymilk: Made from soaked and ground soybeans, soymilks have proliferated, so you’ll even find unsweetened and sweetened soy-milk; chocolate, vanilla, and green tea soymilk; nonfat and low-fat soymilk; and soymilk in regular or aseptic packaging; the latter does not require refrigeration before using.

• Soy dairy-free products: It seems that each day a new soy dairy-free product hits the market. Vegetarians and vegans—and those who want a different kind of eating experience—enjoy soy cheeses in slices and shreds, yogurt (cultured soy), dairy-free frozen dessert, margarine, soy sour cream, and soy cream cheese. The cheeses come in many different flavors, from Cheddar to mozzarella.

• Soy nuts: Enjoyed like roasted cocktail nuts, soy nuts are either roasted or fried; some are seasoned and even coated in chocolate.

• Soy mayonnaise: This product resembles the standard mayonnaise, but without the eggs. You can make your own at home—look for recipes on the Internet.