Kristine, I'm with you about the soy. But with one exception--apparently tempeh and miso are ok, because they're fermented, and for some reason that makes them safer than the non-fermented soy products. I got this info from a pretty well informed person at Whole Foods, BTW, who said that the absolutely worst kind of soy is the soy protein isolate that's in the processed foods. And if you're staying off soy because you're being cautious about the estrogen (that's why I'm trying to avoid it), unless you're at very high risk of breast cancer, it's ok to have one serving of the fermented stuff a day.

As for cooking for a vegetarian, I guess you could rely mainly on peanuts and nuts for protein (and also seeds). There are lots of terrific African recipes using peanuts.