Gut health has become one of the most talked-about topics in food — and one of the most misunderstood. It’s often framed around supplements, powders, or isolated ingredients, when historically it came from something much simpler: eating fermented foods as part of everyday meals.
Tempeh works because it follows that older model. As a traditional Indonesian fermented food, tempeh delivers protein, fibre, and the benefits of fermentation in a single, whole-food form — without relying on ultra-processing or functional claims.
Fermentation is not ultra-processing
Fermentation and ultra-processing are often confused, but they are fundamentally different.
Fermentation is a biological process. Microorganisms transform whole foods over time, improving flavour, digestibility, and nutrient availability. It has been used for thousands of years to make foods like tempeh, yogurt, miso, and sourdough.
Ultra-processing, by contrast, breaks foods down and rebuilds them using refined ingredients, additives, stabilizers, and industrial techniques.
Tempeh sits firmly in the first category. It starts with whole soybeans that are fermented using Rhizopus cultures, binding the beans into a firm, sliceable cake. Nothing is stripped away and rebuilt. The food is transformed, not engineered.
This distinction matters — because gut health depends on how foods are processed, not just what nutrients they contain.
Tempeh as whole-food protein + fibre
Unlike many modern protein products, tempeh is not a protein isolate. It is a whole-food protein.
Because it’s made from whole legumes, tempeh naturally contains:
• complete plant protein
• dietary fibre
• micronutrients retained from the original beans
Fibre plays a critical role in gut health by supporting beneficial gut bacteria and helping regulate digestion. Most animal proteins — and many plant-based protein products — contain little to no fibre. Tempeh delivers both protein and fibre together, the way foods traditionally have.
Research shows that tempeh fermentation improves protein digestibility and reduces anti-nutrients such as phytic acid, making minerals more bioavailable and the food easier on digestion compared to unfermented soybeans¹.
Gut health comes from meals, not supplements
Today, gut health is often marketed as something you “add on” — a supplement you take before or after meals.
Historically, it worked the other way around.
Fermented foods were eaten with meals, not separately. They supported digestion quietly, consistently, and over time. Tempeh fits this pattern perfectly. It’s meant to be cooked, shared, and eaten alongside vegetables, grains, and sauces — not consumed occasionally for a specific outcome.
Scientific reviews have linked regular consumption of fermented foods to improved gut microbial diversity and metabolic health². Importantly, these benefits are associated with dietary patterns, not single doses.
Tempeh supports gut health simply by being eaten often.
Why fresh tempeh matters
Not all tempeh is the same.
Fresh tempeh retains the integrity of its fermentation, texture, and flavour. It cooks better, absorbs marinades more effectively, and maintains the qualities that make tempeh satisfying and versatile.
From a gut-health perspective, freshness matters because fermentation is the foundation of tempeh’s value. When tempeh is over-processed or heavily altered, it moves further away from the whole-food context that made it effective in the first place.
At Tempeh Goodness, fermentation always comes first. We focus on fresh, traditionally fermented tempeh that fits naturally into everyday meals — not products that rely on fortification or functional positioning.
Why tempeh still works
Tempeh works because it was never designed to solve a single problem.
It delivers protein and fibre together.
It uses fermentation instead of refinement.
It supports digestion as part of meals, not as an intervention.
For more than 300 years, tempeh has remained relevant because it is practical, nourishing, and accessible. Those same qualities are why it continues to make sense today — especially as people look for food that supports health without complexity.
Gut health doesn’t need to be complicated.
Sometimes, it just needs better food.