This is easily the most frequent question we get at our educational outreach events. The answer we sometimes give is "Everywhere," and though it seems flippant, it's true.

To expand on that answer: almost every whole plant food, whether fruit, vegetable, grain or legume, gets at least 5 to 10% of its calories from protein. Some plant foods get a much higher percentage of protein, like tofu (40%), garbanzo beans (23%), broccoli (36%) and asparagus (32%), to name just a few. (These figures are from a chart in John Robbins' May All Be Fed.) Since mainstream nutritionists recommend that we get about 8% of our calories from protein, it follows that eating a wide variety of plant foods will readily satisfy our protein requirement.

What about "complementing" proteins to get essential amino acids? Frances Moore LappŽ wrote about the need to do this in her 1971 book Diet for a Small Planet. But it has since been discovered that, as long as a variety of protein sources are eaten over a 24-hour period, complementing is not necessary. Even LappŽ conceded this in the 25th anniversary edition of her book. Besides, complementing is an almost inevitable result of eating a variety of plant foods in one meal, and is seen in many ethnic dishes, such as bean tortillas and burritos, rice pilaf, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

What's more, most Americans get more protein than they need, even 2 to 3 times as much. Too much protein has been linked with kidney problems, certain cancers, and osteoporosis. As Neal Barnard, M.D. writes in Eat Right, Live Longer: "A meat-based diet is disastrous for bones. . . . The problem is not just the amount of protein in meats but also the type. Meats are loaded with what are called sulfur-containing amino acids, which are especially aggressive at causing calcium to be lost in the urine. So instead of meat sauce on spaghetti, if you were to top your pasta with chunks of vegetables in a tomato sauce, the antioxidants in those veggies are only part of the edge they bring you. Grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits easily provide enough protein for your body's needs but avoid the excess."