[I][You assume people don't eat meat because they can't afford it. I don't have the SAD-diet perspective, so I don't see it that way. I believe many Asians just didn't see the need to have a big hunk of meat at every meal and didn't see soy as being horrible. /I]
I'm going to step in here and comment. I lived in Indonesia for 12 years and it is true. Soy is often eaten by the poor as a substiitute for meat. ( tempe and tofu are both high in protein) I know they would rather have meat if they could afford it. The other thing is the soy products there are fresh, they shop daily at markets as most people (at least in Indoensia) don't have refridgerators. So maybe our soy products are more processed and that might have something to do with weight gain? Also asians main food staple is rice. Rice is less "heavy" than American food so that's another reason why they are thinner.
I don't know how to explain "heavy" other than, eating standard American diet makes me feel sluggish. I didn't have that problem with an Asian diet.
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