Doufu/Tofu

[Ian_Lee]

Doufu/Tofu is the substitute of milk for many East Asians. (Many Asians have digestive problem in drinking milk.)

I grew up eating Doufu and its products. In the summertime, a hawker would carry on shoulder a heavy bamboo pole with big bucket on one side. A dime would get me a big bowl of doufuhua (Doufu jello). The hawker would use a shallow scoop to get the doufuhua from the bucket and the wave-shape white doufuhua was very enticing.

In the wintertime, another hawker would carry a small wok with boiling oil inside and deep-frying choudoufu (stinky doufu). My British neighbor would call the cop right away because of the irritating odor.

Now in every market there is definitely a doufu shop. You can have soy milk, doufuhua, stuffed doufu with fishcake there. And of course you can buy raw doufu to take home.

Other doufu products are plenty. There is the Chinese cheese (fuyu), Bean Curd, soybean paste,…..etc.

Interestingly doufu is the last thing to crack in the hotpot under high heat. The softest thing is also the hardest thing.

In Japanese cuisines, there are even more tofu products. But the Natto – which many Japanese love as breakfast sidedish – is totally inedible to me.

But I heard Natto can keep you young. That is why so many Japanese girls look younger than their actual ages are.

In pre-war Japan, soybean is the principal source of protein when meat was really scarce. I heard that one of the principal reasons behind the Mukden Incident was Japan wanted to secure the stable source of soybean supply from Manchuria. Even today Japan has to import soybean from China and US since it does not grow soybean itself.

For Korea, they also eat tofu extensively like tofu hot soup.

But strangely I didn’t find any doufu dish in Vietnam cuisine.

Well, before Tofu was introduced into US, all the soybeans they grew in Illinois were used only for horse/cow feed. Now some researches in US said that too much tofu eating will accelerate brain cell aging. I don't believe such result since it seems just like a partial study funded by meat producers.

[林彪]

Tofu has a lot of powerful health-promoting substances in it. It's good stuff, and tasty too. When I was a kid I used to have bowls of sweet tofu for dessert in a Chinese restaurant. And I love soy milk and crispy fried tofu on rice.

I also find it hard to believe that tofu could have damaging effects on the brain. Maybe if you eat extreme quanties of it. But even then, I'm skeptical. Do you have more info on the study?

[Ian_Lee]

Read:

http://starbulletin.com/1999/11/19/news/story4.html

http://starbulletin.com/2000/04/03/news/story1.html

[tokyo_girl]

since it [japan] does not grow soybean itself.

Japan does grow soybeans but recently competition from cheap imports has cut domestic production significantly.

Last night on NHK TV they had a long segment on the rising world price of soyabeans. The rise in price was attributed to the cold Japanese summer, the dry American summer and the booming Chinese economy.

Apparently China is now importing soy-beans. Can you ecplain why a boom in the Chinese economy would mean increased soy bean consumption. I never thought of tofu as a luxury product... I can't imagine soy sauce consumption could rise much. I can't believe natto would be becoming popular...

[林彪]

Read:

http://starbulletin.com/1999/11/19/news/story4.html

http://starbulletin.com/2000/04/03/news/story1.html

Man, that creeped me out. I think I'm going to cut back on the soy milk.

[tokyo_girl]

I'd take the study with a grain of salt.

I have yet to meet a Japanese person who doesn't eat tofu.

I don't think Japan's rate of Alzheimers is greater than other countries.

Soy is eaten as soy sauce, as natto, as tofu, as soy beans, as miso.

It would not be very unusual for a lot of Japanese to eat it in 4 forms in a day.

Were it so terrible, following the logic of this article. alzheimers should be rife in Japan...

Every food has its detractors (usually from a rival food industry or animal rights extremists)

Personally in Japan I never buy American meat because of the

routine practice of feeding lot fed cattle hormone growth promotants

and anti-biotics....

[39degN]

In Japanese cuisines, there are even more tofu products. But the Natto – which many Japanese love as breakfast sidedish – is totally inedible to me.

I can't believe natto would be becoming popular....

frankly, i do not really know what "natto" is, but several days ago, i met a promotion of natto food in a supermarket, not interested in it at all though.

personally i like lots of doufu products, for example, （炸豆腐的）麻辣烫, fried choudoufu, 皮蛋豆腐, i think doufu is a real asian food, caucasians would't enjoy it, and neither vegetables(我不是兔子! they said ) ...

[tokyo_girl]

Natto is a strong smelling sticky fermented soybean.

http://metropolis.japantoday.com/biginjapanarchive299/267/biginjapaninc.htm

[39degN]

hum~~i would try it later maybe...

[sunyata]

soybeans bad for the brain? i doubt it...that's like saying Chinese civilization has been technologically behind because of eating tofu...

never tried natto, but it looks yummy

oh, by the way, 39degN, I think a lot of westerners like doufu and vegetables...personally, i don't know what else i would eat without doufu and veggies, because I don't eat much meat.

but you are right, there are also plenty of foreigners who don't like tofu or soybean products at all...i think they are missing out, some people are just too narrow-minded

[eric]

eeeeewww

=)

korean tofu soup is nice tho. but i could do w/out the tofu haha.

[tetsuo500]

Natto is great!!! It may take a little while to get used to, but once you eat it a few times and get used to the taste it's really good. Good with raw egg. Also good in bi bim bab.

As for tofu being bad for your brain, I'm just going to say that everything is bad for you in excess. Tofu probably has a million good effects on your body before that one study, and I guess being high in estrogen. So there's no real reason to cut back.

Also Japanese people eat lots of tofu and soy products, and they have amongst the highest life expectancies in the world......so yeah..... I think eating tofu would be a lot better than eating a Big Mac any day.

[Ian_Lee]

One reason why Tofu is not that welcomed in the West may be owing to the difficulty of its preparation.

Tofu is basically a bland and soft (though highly nutritious) food item that has to be mixed accordingly with other stronger flavor sauces/meat/seafood to be tasteful.

Doufu was invented in 200 B.C. in China (I would say ancient Chinese were very intelligent in inventing doufu since the process is quite complicated) and exported to Japan in the 8th Century.

Other than Natto, Okara is another tofu product that no Chinese would like. Okara is the residue left after soybean is ground into Tofu. During the poor days after the war, Japanese lined up to buy Okara in front of the Tofu factory.

But now Japanese still eat it even they are very well-off. I would say they are more thrifty than Chinese on this aspect.

[sunyata]

speaking of inventing doufu....

I heard that it was invented by the daoists in the process of searching for the golden pill of immortality. They tried many things, including vaginal secretions and eventually came up with doufu.

Is that true or just a legend?

[39degN]

oh, by the way, 39degN, I think a lot of westerners like doufu and vegetables...personally, i don't know what else i would eat without doufu and veggies, because I don't eat much meat.

vegetarianism?

speaking of inventing doufu....

I heard that it was invented by the daoists in the process of searching for the golden pill of immortality. They tried many things, including vaginal secretions and eventually came up with doufu.

Is that true or just a legend?

oh, man! too far~~~

[Ian_Lee]

Even though most non-Japanese abhor natto, non-Chinese also abhor tofu products like choudoufu (stinky doufu) and Chinese cheese (fuyu).

For choudoufu, the steaming kind is even ten times more stinky than the deep frying kind. Go try it once with empty stomach so that you will not vomit what you have just eaten.

For fuyu, foreigners abhor it as much as they do towards the Thousand Year Eggs (Pidan).

But the best fuyu should be like cheese -- with worms living inside.

[sunyata]

But the best fuyu should be like cheese -- with worms living inside.

Never had cheese with worms inside....what kind is that?

oh, 39degN, I heard the "daoists inventing doufu" story from my Chinese teacher...I don't think he was kidding

[bjgodefr]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1257583.stm

Read this article. Soy is good for the brain!

[shibo77]

Didn't Lu An invent tofu by accident, 2000 years ago?

-Shibo

[Ian_Lee]

Finally I finished the three one-gallon Silk (popular brand of US soy milk) Milk that I bought from Costco.

It tastes awful because of the vanilla flavor that is added.

Why can't American consumers drink just soy milk without any flavor added?