SOY DOES DUTY AS EVERYTHING FROM MOUSSE TO FAUX MEAT.

Byline: Phil Davis Staff Writer

Many Americans are going to have a hard time swallowing the 25 grams of soy protein required to fight heart disease.

To meet the level the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says is required to scrub bad cholesterol out of arteries, it would take four servings of soy products a day - one serving at breakfast, another at lunch, then dinner, and a snack. That's a lot of processed bean product for a nation in love with meat and potatoes.

But there is hope.

Corporate America responded to the explosion of scientific interest in the health benefits of soy with a plethora of products - faux chicken wings, veggie corn dogs, veggie ground beef, tofu mayonnaise, soy milk and tofu ice cream.

``My favorite is the Tofutti ice cream,'' said 22-year-old Jessica Uribe of West Los Angeles. ``It tastes just like regular ice cream. It's amazing.''

She tried tofu a year ago and has since become a devoted soy convert. She's tried it all. Her only real dislike was tofu cheese, which she said didn't measure up to the real thing.

Mary Patterson, a customer representative at Follow Your Heart Natural Foods Market & Cafe in Canoga Park, said many of the dishes chef Dave Spain serves there would fool even the most discriminating non-vegetarian palate.

``Tofu is very versatile,'' she said. ``By itself, it's bland. But it takes the flavor of how you prepare it . . . We make a very delicious non-dairy chocolate mousse. You would never know it's made with soy. It's incredible.''

Dietitian Virginia Messina, a co-author of ``The Simple Soybean and Your Health'' (Avery Publishing Group; $12.95), said texturized vegetable protein - a k a veggie ground beef - is a great meat substitute in spaghetti, sloppy joes, lasagna and tacos. The substance has the texture of ground beef and readily absorbs any seasonings.

``A lot of people don't even realize it's not ground beef,'' said Messina, whose husband, Mark, wrote the first major scientific report on soy's potential role in cancer prevention. ``It simply does not get any easier to introduce soy foods into your diet.''

Another tasty recipe: Put some soft, silken tofu or powdered soy concentrate in a blender with some frozen fruit. Add a little sweetener if it isn't sweet enough.

Or, for the quickest way to reach the heart disease-fighting level of soy protein, make a fruit smoothie with soy powder, a concentrated form of soy protein that can be slipped easily into many drinks. A standard dose of the powder equals 15 grams of soy protein, more than half of the needed 25 grams.

Some soy yardsticks: A serving of soy milk has 3 to 4 grams of soy protein. A 3-ounce serving of regular tofu has roughly a dozen grams of soy protein. And a cup of cooked soybeans is roughly 30 grams.

For those who remain unconvinced, Messina shares her secret weapon: ``Take soft tofu and puree it in a food processor and add melted chocolate chips. Pour that into a pie crust and stick it in the refrigerator.

``It's a nice filling for a chocolate cream pie - not the most healthy way to introduce soy foods into your diet,'' she continued, ``but if you want to convince your family that this is food that is edible . . . this is a good way to start.''

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PHOTO Chef David Spain tosses a tofu-and-vegetable stir-fry at Follow Your Heart, a vegetarian restaurant and market in Canoga Park.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News