Tofu
The earliest people to write about tofu were writers from the Sung Dynasty in China, about 900 AD. Those Sung Dynasty writers thought tofu had been invented by a Taoist prince of the Han Dynasty, Liu An, about 100 AD, but there's no other evidence of that.
Tofu seems to have been invented by Taoists, but soon it became very popular with Chinese Buddhists, who were strict vegetarians and didn't eat meat or milk. Tofu can taste something like meat, and it has a lot of protein like meat, but it is made out of soybeans.
To make tofu, you take soybeans and soften them by soaking them in water. Then you squash them into a soybean mash - that mixes with the water to make bean milk. Then you add sea salt to the bean milk, and that makes it coagulate (clump together) into something that looks like plain yogurt, which is tofu.
Tofu can be cooked lots of different ways. You can fry it, or bake it, or eat it raw.
The Chinese god of war, Kuan-Ti, was supposed to have been a tofu-seller when he was a child (before he became a god). But Kuan-Ti was a child during the Han Dynasty, so either tofu was invented earlier than most historians think, or Kuan-Ti must have been selling something else.
To find out more about Chinese food, check out this book from Amazon.com or from your library:
Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes, by Nina Simonds and others (Children's Museum of Boston, 2002).
The Young Chef's Chinese Cookbook (I'm the Chef), by Frances Lee (2001). Fifteen easy recipes for kids, with pictures. Shows how Chinese food fits into Chinese culture.
The Food of China, by E.N. Anderson (1988, reprinted 1990). Not for kids, but it explains the history of food in China.
Main Chinese food page
Main food pageMain China page
Tell a friend about this page
Did Kidipede answer your question?
Yes, thanks! / No, can you help me?
