Tofu Culture in China

Emperor Hongwu’s Tofu

Tofu has been a famous dish for more than 600 years in Fengyang, Anhui province. When he was young and long before he became emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang (1328-98) lived as a beggar. A small restaurant owner in Fengyang took pity on the boy and often gave him some tofu for food. Years later, Zhu became the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), with the reigning title of Hongwu. Zhu missed the tofu of his hometown that he had eaten during his childhood, so he had the owner and cook of the small restaurant come to the palace to cook this dish for him. Since then it has been known as Emperor Hongwu’s Tofu.

Cured Tofu in Qufu

Cured tofu in Qufu is very famous around the world. It is a kind of traditional snack with special flavor. This kind of food can only be found in Qufu, the Confucius’s hometown, and it is so attractive that if you come to Qufu you must have a taste of it.

The process of making it is not very complicated. First, choose white tofu as raw material. Then, cut it into blocks which are five or six centimeters squares and one centimeter in thickness. Next, put them onto the iron gridiron and burn sawdust and rice chaff under the gridiron to smoke the tofu until it becomes brown or yellow. When the tofu has an oily gloss, it is done.