Tofu is a favored Chinese dish. Its lightness makes it suitable for all kinds of cooking. It is an economical, nutritious, and tasty delicacy. It is a popular and healthy food not only in China, but also in East Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, and its popularity is growing around the world.
It is said that tofu has been used in China for over 2,000 years, but how did it come about and how did it become so popular around the world?
Origin of tofu
According to legend, it was during the Han Dynasty that Liu An, the King of Huainan, started to grind soybeans into soy milk every day at his mother’s suggestion since she could not chew her food. One day on Bagong Mountain he accidentally poured gypsum into the soy milk as he was grinding the soybeans which made the milk coagulate into tofu. Since then, Huainan has been known as the home of tofu. However, the detailed practice of making it was not recorded for the first time until Li Shizhen’s “Compendium of Materia Medica”.
In the “Compendium of Materia Medica”, Volume 25, Grain Division, Tofu, it states: “All black beans, soybeans, white beans, peas, mung beans, etc., can be prepared this way. Soak the beans in water, mill, and crush. Strain the dregs and fry with a salt brine, alum leaves, or a sour paste vinegar precipitation on the kettle to collect it.”
It was later introduced to Japan and it spread throughout Asia. It is a food with a long history in East Asia and at present, the product development is diversified. Many preparers of it continue to improve on it to meet the market demand providing us with various kinds of tofu to eat — braised, homemade, mapo, and stir-fried with vegetables — are all common tofu dishes on the dinner table of the general public. It works well with a wide variety of ingredients.
Tofu comes to the West
In 1770 Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s founding fathers, wrote a letter from London (with some soybeans) talking about “Chinese cheese.” This is one of the first documented references to tofu in the West.
It is said that Li Shizeng, an educator in the Republic of China, made tofu a widely accepted food in the West.
Li Shizeng was born in the late Qing Dynasty. In 1902 Li Shizeng accompanied Sun Baoqi on a mission to France. After arriving in France, Li Shizeng did not want to continue his family’s tradition of returning to the imperial court as an official. Instead, he attended the agricultural school in the city of Montaigne in north-central France. Then he entered the Pasteur Institute and the Faculty of Science at the University of Paris to study biological evolution. He also studied the functions of soybeans and published a monograph on soybeans in French, making him the first Chinese to publish academic papers in France.
In 1908, he established a factory in Paris, applied for the world’s first patent for soy milk, and held a beautiful luncheon with tofu as the theme naming the dishes “soy cheese” and “vegetarian ham.”
In June 1909 Sun Yatsen came to Paris and visited Li Shizeng’s tofu processing factory. When Li Shizeng saw that Sun Yatsen was already middle-aged but still had a glow to his complexion, he couldn’t help but ask him what tips he had for maintaining his youthful appearance. Sun Yatsen said he relied on a special “four-item soup” to maintain his health and well-being. Sun’s “four-item soup” is a combination of the best of four vegetarian foods: cauliflower, mushrooms, tofu, and bean sprouts.
Li Shizeng was the first person from East Asia to think like a Westerner about soy foods, and he played a key role in tofu’s spread from East to West. American soy food researchers and authors William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi praise Li Shizeng on their website, Soy Info Center. They have also written and published consumer-oriented reference books on various soy food recipes, commercial production manuals, histories, and more. These books introduced soy foods such as tofu, tempeh, and miso to a wide range of Westerners, and largely contributed to the establishment of soy food manufacturers that began in the West in the late 1970s.
Tofu in America
Few people in the United States are as obsessed with tofu as Mark Messina, a physician who was introduced to it in the 1970s. He is now the director of nutrition science and research at the Soy Nutrition Institute, a nonprofit corporation whose members include major food brands, scientists, and soybean growers with the goal being to promote soy foods. According to him, the scientific consensus has changed dramatically as research has evolved. While animal studies in the 1990s suggested soy might be harmful to women with a history of breast cancer, studies today suggest it may actually be beneficial. He recommends consuming half a cup of tofu and soy products two to three times per week, especially for young girls.
Translation by Eva
