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Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:46 am  |
Tofu's great divide: http://www.smh.com.au/news/relationships/tofus-great-divide/2007/02/21/1171733933910.html
February 22, 2007
HE SAYS
According to Wikipedia, tofu is of Chinese origin and is made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks. Then people actually put it into their mouths and swallow. Though, it helps if it's been steeped in something else first, I understand. I understand this because every time I ask anyone to explain the attraction for tofu they say "oh, it's great when it's soaked in X or Y or Z".
Is there any other food that behaves like this? What else is there that tastes of nothing but suddenly becomes wonderful if it takes on the flavour of something else? Why not just eat the something else? What if fish were like this? "Fish? They taste of sod all but if you boil them with soy sauce ..."
Let's be honest, it's a stupid food and you're all idiots for falling for it. And good on the Chinese for coming up with it. It's their revenge for the Opium Wars: "They gave us drugs, bombed and invaded our cities, made us give them Hong Kong at a vastly reduced long-term rent - in return we'll give them something that we coagulated in an old sock, tell them it's a very old and secret Chinese recipe, see how they like that. Then we'll sit back and laugh at them for hundreds of years, the morons."
Girls eat it. Ditto some men. Those men are vegetarians and all look like they need a blood transfusion. I rest my case.
Keith Austin
SHE SAYS
Apparently, a lot of men don't like tofu. They cannot stand, so I hear, the idea of eating a meal containing this food, with some going so far as to denounce it as a source of nutrition altogether. They actually seem fearful of tofu. Physically frightened of a portion of coagulated soy milk. Terrorised, even, of a cube of bean curd that is high in calcium, iron, magnesium and vitamin B, and may or may not have been marinated in soy sauce, ginger and chilli.
Granted, there has been much written in internet blogs about tofu causing the "feminisation" of men due to its oestrogen-like chemicals called isoflavones. That might not be such a bad thing. Soy is eaten by two-thirds of the world's population and we still seem to live in a world where sexism against women lives on quite happily. And scientists who have studied the effects of men eating tofu report it is no more dangerous than other foods. If men find themselves feeling feminised after a soy burger, if they sense an urge to moisturise, dress to look good and worry about having the right shoes, it's not all bad.
Lenny Ann Low |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:55 am |
| nyonyakay wrote: |
| Is there any other food that behaves like this? What else is there that tastes of nothing but suddenly becomes wonderful if it takes on the flavour of something else? |
Yes, but you're missing something here nyonyakay; the Chinese concept of cuisine also believes texture is an important constituent and they have a much wider array; some of which like cold and slimy and/or gristly/crunchy can remain quite repugnant to the western palate despite years of trying  .
There's a great book which goes into all of this in intriguing detail by a woman who studied alongside top Sichuanese chefs called Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:01 am |
 And I'm supposed to be Chinese .... |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:06 am |
| nyonyakay wrote: |
| And I'm supposed to be Chinese .... |
Apparantly you turn 1% Chinese every year you live in China so I suppose I'm 5% Chinese, but I think my small-town immersion gave that a boost, especially with the cuisine inflicted on me. Actually one of my mother's friends is overseas Chinese (since age 20) and she just flinches when I tell her what I've consumed - so maybe it works in reverse and now she's 60% English.
Where d'you live |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 3:09 am |
| I have spent the past 20 years in Sydney, Australia. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 4:24 am |
Good quality tofu tastes like soy beans and does not taste of nothingness. Just like soymilk, Chinese people love freshly made tofu and soymilk for their texture and TASTE. I personally love plain tofu with a little soy sauce and green onion (doesn't have to be marinated in it). I also love tofu dessert and I haven't lived in China at all! Well I lived in HK for about 3 years of my life from birth but at the time it was still rented out
Bird's nest tastes like nothing, even more so than tofu! And don't forget the wonderful texture of jelly fish (which also probably tastes like nothing if not marinated)! |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:48 am |
i actually like tofu now, but my BF would scream if i served it. (no chinese blood here that i know of though my eyes show there may have been a little cross-pollination way back when in russia.)
my first experience with tofu wasn't pretty though. i lived in a dorm on campus that cooked it's own food -- all vegetarians. we all had our chores to do and that week i'd drawn the lovely task of cleaning the loo. i went down to the sink in the kitchen to get the ajax and whatnot, but could not find the sponge. voila! it was there on the counter by the sink, a big gorgeous sponge. went upstairs to the bathroom, sprinkled ajax on the sponge and started scrubbing. the "sponge" immediately fell apart and as i was cussing up a storm with my hand in the toilet, there was this terrible scream from below. somebody had stolen that night's dinner.  i obviously did not admit to *anyone* what i had done and quickly flushed the evidence away.
as i said, i like tofu now.... |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:38 am |
I LOVE Tofu, and I've never been to China...
I'm the only person I know who loves it though, I must admit.
I love the texture of it, particularly.. I get a feeling of wanting that sensation of it in my mouth again, because it's slightly intangible.
I dont know if that makes any sense to anyone.. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:45 am |
| I loved Tofu too, before I was Chinesified. I wasn't referring to it as unpalateable - that's other unmentionables. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:25 am |
I had a dish in Chinatown once which I consider unmentionable, which you may think of as delicious.
For some reason I ordered crab porridge.
  
I dont think I've ever been so horrified by anything presented to me on a plate before, or since.. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:30 am |
Catski - Well, that would be a Cantonese (Guangzhou) special and I really like all their porridges.
It's really organs and particularly external, sensory ones (not bothered by guts), especially cold that I'm referring to.
Oh and add sinews to that. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:45 am |
"Molly eats nostrils"
I have this in my head now sung as a playground taunt..
The porridge must be an aquired taste, or texture.The slimy/glutinous axis isnt one I've learned to appreciate.
My father used to eat fried brains, stuffed heart and tripe. And of course sweetbreads and pig's trotters.
England seems to have become quite squeamish about food these days. Probably due to the invention of the turkey dinosaur. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:49 am |
| And I thought I would eat anything. No offense. |
_________________
53 and starting to show it |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:55 am |
Catski - Don't taunt me
That's another fabulous book (you can see I take a bit of an interest in this area) about the divergence of French and English cuisine over the centuries and the reason why we turn our noses up at guts whereas the French are happy gobblers. Can't remember the name of it - highly recommended. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 11:10 am |
| la vie en rose wrote: |
i actually like tofu now, but my BF would scream if i served it. (no chinese blood here that i know of though my eyes show there may have been a little cross-pollination way back when in russia.)
my first experience with tofu wasn't pretty though. i lived in a dorm on campus that cooked it's own food -- all vegetarians. we all had our chores to do and that week i'd drawn the lovely task of cleaning the loo. i went down to the sink in the kitchen to get the ajax and whatnot, but could not find the sponge. voila! it was there on the counter by the sink, a big gorgeous sponge. went upstairs to the bathroom, sprinkled ajax on the sponge and started scrubbing. the "sponge" immediately fell apart and as i was cussing up a storm with my hand in the toilet, there was this terrible scream from below. somebody had stolen that night's dinner. i obviously did not admit to *anyone* what i had done and quickly flushed the evidence away.
as i said, i like tofu now.... |
Shouldn't this be in the topic on how to get rid of rings in your toilet?
(I can't believe you did that! ) |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:20 pm |
| thx for the info. |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 4:45 pm |
I was impartial to tofu until I went to Taiwan and first smelled then learned about "stinky tofu". Bleh I almost wanted to barf. I could smell it blocks away! Then I saw a program on how it was prepared and in such filthy places too with flies buzzing around everywhere. Double bleh. Who eats that?!!!!!  Anywhoo. I won't go near "stinky tofu" but I can still eat normal tofu if served to me. Don't go out and get it for myself anymore but don't push it to the side of my plate if in a stirfry either. Now "stinky tofu", I wouldn't go near that with a 10 foot poll (wouldn't need to 'cause the stench would find me anyway. LOL ) |
_________________
Global Butterfly & Certified Aromatherapist/Holisitc Therapist with a passion for travel and natural health.  |
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Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:07 pm |
I LOVE TOFU!!! Fried tofu + Soy sauce + Rice = 
My DH, his brothers, my brothers, all love tofu. |
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Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:57 am |
| The stinky tofu's like a dairy free version of blue cheese - nice! |
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Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:28 am |
| Molly wrote: |
| The stinky tofu's like a dairy free version of blue cheese - nice! |
And ... it's great with congee (rice porridge), pickles, offal and other unmentionables, yummmmm |
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Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:38 am |
| nyonyakay wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| The stinky tofu's like a dairy free version of blue cheese - nice! |
And ... it's great with congee (rice porridge), pickles, offal and other unmentionables, yummmmm |
mmm... YummmmM!
And tofu doesn't really have a smell.. unless it's marinated into something stinky or something..  |
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Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:19 pm |
| nyonyakay wrote: |
| Molly wrote: |
| The stinky tofu's like a dairy free version of blue cheese - nice! |
And ... it's great with congee (rice porridge), pickles, offal and other unmentionables, yummmmm |
weirdo's.
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Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:41 pm |
| I LOVE tofu! I've been a vegetarian since I was a kid, so I got used to tofu early on. DH is Chinese American, so he likes tofu too. There's just to much to do with it--- stir fry firm tofu, put soft tofu in smoothies, etc etc... Tofu doesn't necessarily need to be eaten with other stuff either. There's a very fresh, very delicate form of tofu called yuba in Japan, and it's made fresh right at your table in the restaurant and eaten right away by itself---- delicious! |
_________________
27, sensitive/reactive/acne prone skin, dark brown hair, blue eyes, possibly the palest woman alive... |
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Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:30 pm |
| Molly wrote: |
| The stinky tofu's like a dairy free version of blue cheese - nice! |
Blue Cheese is nowhere near as bad as stinky tofu. I can actually eat blue cheese and don't mind the smell at all. But I seriously cannot come within 4 feet of stinky tofu without feeling the need to vomit. Stinky is just to kind a word for it. LOL |
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Global Butterfly & Certified Aromatherapist/Holisitc Therapist with a passion for travel and natural health. |
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Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:34 pm |
| I take it you are referring to its fine bouquet? |
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