I’m referring of course to the dark coloured cooking and seasoning ingredient from China. How do you refer to this stuff?
Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it as “soya” sauce in American English. I could be wrong, but I feel like it’s only ever been “soy.” I believe I’ve heard it in British English, but even there, looking at my British cooking videos, they all seem to say “soy” as well.
My wife says “soya” and I say “soy” so basically I’m looking for backup that I’m not crazy.
Me neither, nor seen it that way on any product label.
Wikipedia says that soy sauce is “also called soya sauce in British English.”
(My browser’s spellchecker is underlining “soya” in red. That proves it’s not a word. ;))
IME, ‘soya’ is a Canadian thing…might be general a Commonwealth thing, but I’ve never, that I remember, heard a Brit, Aussie, or Kiwi talk about the stuff, so I have no idea what they call it.
I say soy, but most of my family says soya. (And I used to…I have no idea why I shifted to the American word.) Confused the heck of of an American friend when they were visiting.
I’d be curious to know where your wife is from. I’m with Puly. Never heard it refereed to as “soya”.
I remember seeing (and probably saying) “soya sauce” and “soya beans” when I was younger (e.g. 30+ years ago), but I think I almost always see (and say) “soy” nowadays.
I’ve never heard “soya” in any context.
Soy — but thanks to my father (on whom be peace), I’m more likely to refer to it as “bug juice.”
Aussie here. No-one I know, of any ethnicity, says soya.
Although after I posted that I vaguely recall my English mother calling it that when I was a child. But I wouldn’t bet my life on it. She was born well before WWII.
German here. Technically, I should have voted “other” but that was no option. So I voted “soya” because here it’s called “Sojasoße” or “Sojascauce”. But in English, I’ve only ever heard “soy” for the plant.
Yeah, way back the beans were often called soya, but I don’t recall ever hearing or seeing soya sauce.
I say soy sauce. However, I have heard two different pronunciations of “soy”. One rhymes with boy, and the other with showy. This was central Indiana. Does this occur elsewhere?
In Northeast Indiana there’s a soybean crushing company called Central Soya. I’ve not heard soya used in any other context.
Only soy here.
I never heard it as anything but soy, soya is new to me.
There’s actually a radio show clip promo (you know the sort - where they play some of the bits they like best from the last few weeks’ shows) on one of my local stations right now where one host (vegetarian) is mocking the hell out of her colleague for saying ‘soya’ as in ‘soya milk’
The funny thing is he’s actually really not - it’s just a tiny little intrusive schwa popping in between the y and the m without his realising.
Anyway, yeah, soy. I do recall ‘soya’ being a thing, back when soy was new and weird. It’s listed in my memory banks as way old-fashioned, along with ‘avocado pear’ and ‘chinese gooseberry’
Had a Hawaiian girlfriend that pronounced it 'So-jew’. But Hawaii is another thread all its own…
Shoyu.
Shoyu (the proper Japanese name) for the Japanese version, dark or light). Soy sauce for the dark and light Chinese versions. Like the others, never heard either pronounced soya. Also, never just soy, which in my mind is meaningless. Soy-what? Sauce, beans, milk, power, protein?
When my brother went to Army training in 1970, at his first meal he asked if they had shoyu, and he said the other guys said: “Show you want?”. They also believed him when he and his Hawaii buddies told them pineapples grew on trees.