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America doesn't know tofu

asteriskmag.com

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Re: America doesn't know tofu

#61

Post by wouldbecouldbe »

neuronic wrote: post #44
wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #31

The best meat replacer really isn't tofu, it's Seitan. It has the umami quality certain meats & cheeses have, you just need to have another bite, that I've not have had with other meat replacements. I've eaten the most delicious vegetarian chicken made of Seitan over a decade ago in a monastery in Xiamen. Still not sure why it hasn't made it's way to the West. Maybe because of the fact its basically pure gluten.

It has? At least in Germany I can easily find Seitan in stores in bigger cities and order copious amounts of organic Seitan online from German vendors. No marketing, but an example: https://www.korodrogerie.de/bio-seitan-400-g

yeah you're right, you can get it, but it's not actively used as the main ingredient for meat substitution both in recipes and commercial products. In China it was one of the main ingredients already for decades I think, if not longer. Here it became soya for some reason

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#62

Post by Snow_Falls »

gwern wrote: post #55
aragonite wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a reference to this :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushism#Education https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ej7ZEnjSeA

This is a good example of the difficulties with signaling and communication: anything which looks like an error is a 'thing you can't countersignal' ( https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ThhNvdBxcTYdzm69s/things-you... ). Snow_Falls is so contemptuous of Asterisk that he sees a blatant 'error' which 'somehow' evaded the writers and editors all this time, and assumes that this means they are that incompetent; he doesn't c…

I'm hardly contemptuous. If I had a higher opinion of asterisk, I would still assume it's an error as that's exactly what it looks like. Also, do you google the title of every article you read? Why would you say this as if that's something you expect me to do. I'm not american, Hacker News is full of us, why would you assume that a specific sentence with a grammatical error is "well known".

You don't outright call me acting in bad faith, but you sure imply it. I am not embarrased at all, though I am grateful for the other commenter explaining the very nation-specific joke.

edit: I checked the video, it's thirteen years old! I wouldn't even expect an american to remember that.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#63

Post by yftsui »

ecshafer wrote: post #36

This is a nice article, but it does have some parts that seem off base. First you can walk into any chinese grocery store (in america) and get 20 kinds of tofu, thats really not an issue, and chinese restaurants (in chinatown) will sell many kinds of tofu. The other is that the author makes the mistake of over emphasizing the vegetarianism aspect (which i think some comments here also are). Many chinese dishes with t…

He is not wrong, the picture in the article has 11 kinds of tofu, if I visit all 3 Chinese grocery stores in the Seattle area (Asian Food Center in Seattle, Ranch 99 in Shoreline, Jing Jing in Factoria), I could probably get 6 or 7 in total out of 11. T&T Supermarket in BC has a slightly better inventory, but I doubt they will have all 11 in stock. If you are not on the east/west coast, the selection will be even smaller and worse in quality.

The "20 kinds of tofu" you can get in any Chinese grocery stores are often slightly changed variants (i.e. silk, soft, firm, hard tofu are pretty similar), and usually poor in quality.

He did not exaggerate the vegetarianism aspect as well, if you visit Temples in China, affiliated / non-affiliated restaurants nearby boasts "vegetarian feast" aka "全素斋" , some even name it a culture as "素斋文化". They make Tofu taste like meat and looks like meat, it is definitely a big thing and you could search for photos on how close these food look like real meat/fish and the popularity.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#64

Post by rafram »

yftsui wrote: post #63
ecshafer wrote: post #36

This is a nice article, but it does have some parts that seem off base. First you can walk into any chinese grocery store (in america) and get 20 kinds of tofu, thats really not an issue, and chinese restaurants (in chinatown) will sell many kinds of tofu. The other is that the author makes the mistake of over emphasizing the vegetarianism aspect (which i think some comments here also are). Many chinese dishes with t…

He is not wrong, the picture in the article has 11 kinds of tofu, if I visit all 3 Chinese grocery stores in the Seattle area (Asian Food Center in Seattle, Ranch 99 in Shoreline, Jing Jing in Factoria), I could probably get 6 or 7 in total out of 11. T&T Supermarket in BC has a slightly better inventory, but I doubt they will have all 11 in stock. If you are not on the east/west coast, the selection will be even sma…

"全素斋"/"vegetarian feast" restaurants definitely exist in the US. Buddha Bodai in Manhattan's Chinatown is excellent, even for meat eaters.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#65

Post by csa »

yftsui wrote: post #63
ecshafer wrote: post #36

This is a nice article, but it does have some parts that seem off base. First you can walk into any chinese grocery store (in america) and get 20 kinds of tofu, thats really not an issue, and chinese restaurants (in chinatown) will sell many kinds of tofu. The other is that the author makes the mistake of over emphasizing the vegetarianism aspect (which i think some comments here also are). Many chinese dishes with t…

He is not wrong, the picture in the article has 11 kinds of tofu, if I visit all 3 Chinese grocery stores in the Seattle area (Asian Food Center in Seattle, Ranch 99 in Shoreline, Jing Jing in Factoria), I could probably get 6 or 7 in total out of 11. T&T Supermarket in BC has a slightly better inventory, but I doubt they will have all 11 in stock. If you are not on the east/west coast, the selection will be even sma…

> if I visit all 3 Chinese grocery stores in the Seattle area (Asian Food Center in Seattle, Ranch 99 in Shoreline, Jing Jing in Factoria), I could probably get 6 or 7 in total out of 11

Are you sure?

I’m pretty sure you can get all but the Jianshui one (I actually don’t know what this is) at 99 Ranch in San Jose.

The catch is that someone might not know what these various tofus are if they don’t know what they look like uncut and/or they don’t read Chinese.

> The "20 kinds of tofu" you can get in any Chinese grocery stores are often slightly changed variants (i.e. silk, soft, firm, hard tofu are pretty similar)

This is definitely not true at 99 Ranch. There are way more than that.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#66

Post by [deleted] »

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #31

The best meat replacer really isn't tofu, it's Seitan. It has the umami quality certain meats & cheeses have, you just need to have another bite, that I've not have had with other meat replacements. I've eaten the most delicious vegetarian chicken made of Seitan over a decade ago in a monastery in Xiamen. Still not sure why it hasn't made it's way to the West. Maybe because of the fact its basically pure gluten.

[deleted]

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#67

Post by globular-toast »

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #31

The best meat replacer really isn't tofu, it's Seitan. It has the umami quality certain meats & cheeses have, you just need to have another bite, that I've not have had with other meat replacements. I've eaten the most delicious vegetarian chicken made of Seitan over a decade ago in a monastery in Xiamen. Still not sure why it hasn't made it's way to the West. Maybe because of the fact its basically pure gluten.

Tofu isn't a "meat replacement". It's just tofu. You can get the umami quality with soy sauce or just pure msg.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#68

Post by solardev »

MilStdJunkie wrote: post #56
ecshafer wrote: post #36

This is a nice article, but it does have some parts that seem off base. First you can walk into any chinese grocery store (in america) and get 20 kinds of tofu, thats really not an issue, and chinese restaurants (in chinatown) will sell many kinds of tofu. The other is that the author makes the mistake of over emphasizing the vegetarianism aspect (which i think some comments here also are). Many chinese dishes with t…

Yeah, saying you're making tofu for dinner is interpreted ideologically in the rural US. Along with your choice of beer and snack chips. I'm not surprised that ideology (and anger!) has been commoditized in the states; after all, if there's a single founding principle in our nation, it's staying out of my way unless your way involves me making a buck. But it's more than a little depressing how easily people get schno…

What does "scoop into Oreo cookie crust" mean? Like spoon the mixed glop onto individual Oreos? Or do they sell some sort of pie crust made of Oreo cookies...? Have a hard time imagining what the finished product is.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#69

Post by solardev »

downut wrote: post #48
ecshafer wrote: post #36

This is a nice article, but it does have some parts that seem off base. First you can walk into any chinese grocery store (in america) and get 20 kinds of tofu, thats really not an issue, and chinese restaurants (in chinatown) will sell many kinds of tofu. The other is that the author makes the mistake of over emphasizing the vegetarianism aspect (which i think some comments here also are). Many chinese dishes with t…

Right. I've been eating tofu in the US all my adult life, since about 1983 or so. Everywhere I've lived (FL, GA, NC, AZ, CA) it's been available in standard grocery stores, generally with several varieties. Asian markets, as you note, have many varieties. I have a number of vegetarian tofu recipes I like but... my favorite Ma Po tofu recipes (there are innumerable versions) have meat in them. I really dislike how com…

> until I discovered Fuschia Dunlop

What's that? A purple tire? A recipe?

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#70

Post by solardev »

flakiness wrote: post #45
liveoneggs wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Tofu is just another food. Being only for vegetarians is just bad marketing. :) I have some stuff in boxes that live in the panty next to the rest of my beans and just use it whenever.

+1 As a Japanese, I was surprised that Tofu is almost always treated as a meat alternative in the US, even in many Chinese restaurants. Where is Mapo-tofu :face-with-rolling-eyes: But I would consider the tofu-as-meat-alternative "marking" a success, given the massive adoption compared to other Asian ingredients which are pushed to the small Asian corner of the grocery stores.

Do you not have mapo tofu where you live? Out West it's in a lot of Chinese-ish restaurants, usually with meat, and usually done poorly (sadly). I wish I could find a good one... easy enough to make at home though.
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