Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

America doesn't know tofu

asteriskmag.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 153 posts

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#91

Post by tazu »

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…

> saying you're making tofu for dinner is interpreted ideologically in the rural US

Saying you're "making tofu for dinner" would be interpreted as a vegan/vegetarian dogwhistle by most rural Americans, rightfully so. I've made many dishes with tofu and meat for rural friends and family (without mentioning tofu at all), and they loved it, to the point of asking me where to buy it for their own dishes.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#92

Post by hombre_fatal »

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.

Don’t forget TVP aka soy chunks. This twitter account uses it exclusively in their recipes for meaty dishes, https://x.com/tofumasque/status/1725857452392898849 (videos)

I think the US is so meat-centric that seitan (for those who even know what it is) and tofu/soy are commonly seen as some sort of weirdo/hippy/vegan/activist food. I suspect the reason 90% of people who arrive at seitan who aren’t involved in a cultural that already eats it are arriving there because they went looking for a meat replacement, not just for an addendum to their American diet.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#93

Post by yumraj »

> Coriander seeds, originally prohibited to distinguish Chinese Buddhists from Hindus opposite the Himalayas, are also a no-go.

Huh? Never heard of this and didn’t find anything on searching online. Would love to know more..

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#94

Post by jrflowers »

csa wrote: post #65
yftsui wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

You make a good point. My friend from San Jose always describes himself as being from the Seattle area. Sometimes he calls San Jose “Shoreline Washington” (apparently something locals say)

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#95

Post by MilStdJunkie »

solardev wrote: post #68
MilStdJunkie wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, they sell them premade, but it's the same as a graham cracker crust, but made with oreos. You can make 'em yourself too - 10 oreos, 2 tbsp melted butter, 2 tbsp sugar in the food processor, whir until crumbs, then press into a pie tin until it looks like a crust, and bake @350{deg} for 8m. You'll probably want to let this cool a bit before spooning in the tofu stuff, and it's never a super good idea to put hot stuff in the fridge - it makes an "island" of potentially unsafe storage temperatures..

Tragically, another great ingredient, Famous Chocolate Wafers, was discontinued this year . . icebox cake lovers are still recovering.

https://www.southernliving.com/discontinued-nabisco-famous-w...

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#96

Post by scheme271 »

yumraj wrote: post #93

> Coriander seeds, originally prohibited to distinguish Chinese Buddhists from Hindus opposite the Himalayas, are also a no-go. Huh? Never heard of this and didn’t find anything on searching online. Would love to know more..

That seems a bit odd since the tibetan plateau and the Himalayas already provide a great barrier between Hindus and Chinese Buddhists. I don't think there was a lot of movement between the two based on stories like journey to west.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#97

Post by 1letterunixname »

Honestly, I only use plain extra firm silken tofu in pad thai. It browns easier and stays together better when scrambled in stir-fry than regular tofu. Also, it has a more palatable texture for Western eaters.

Another thing is availability. Grocery hypermarts like Whole Foods are embarrassing monocultures that lack diversity. Hell, they don't even sell basic pita bread of any kind at their flagship store in downtown Austin. WF maybe a bad example because many shoppers are more often about conspicuous consumption rather than quality, diversity, or choice and it's run by a ruthless corporation that only cares about maximizing profitability per shelf area.

While Trader Joe's (Aldi Nord) at least sells pita bread, they also don't carry the variety of Asian-store-like SKUs of different forms of tofu, seaweed, or sauces. Whether a particular city can sustain a particular ethnicity or regional grocer not served by mainstream and counterculture stores requires sufficient density of demand from recent migrants and adventurous foodies to keep it going. I don't think expecting TJ's or WF's to carry many types of tofu is itself reasonable if there's not enough demand or the store is particularly small (most TJ's are relatively small).

Go to almost any mainstream grocery store in America, and you will find it difficult to find a simple international ingredient like canned tahani. Most American grocery stores are provincial and so expecting them to offer different forms of tofu is several steps away from their current reality.

Here's to a hope there are more ethnic alternative stores like what Pier 1 imports was.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#98

Post by yumraj »

scheme271 wrote: post #96
yumraj wrote: post #93

> Coriander seeds, originally prohibited to distinguish Chinese Buddhists from Hindus opposite the Himalayas, are also a no-go. Huh? Never heard of this and didn’t find anything on searching online. Would love to know more..

That seems a bit odd since the tibetan plateau and the Himalayas already provide a great barrier between Hindus and Chinese Buddhists. I don't think there was a lot of movement between the two based on stories like journey to west.

> .. the Himalayas already provide a great barrier between Hindus and Chinese Buddhists. I don't think there was a lot of movement between the two based on stories like journey to west.

Not sure if you're referring to Buddhism in general or Chinese Buddhism specifically.

Buddha was a Hindu by birth and was born in Lumbini, present day Nepal, so India side of the Himalayas, and spread in India before spreading out to the rest of the World. [0]

From the Wikipedia: He was born in Lumbini, present-day Nepal and grew up in Kapilavastu, a town in the Ganges Plain, near the modern Nepal–India border, and he spent his life in what is now modern Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are in India.

Buddhism first spread in India, when many Hindus became Buddha's followers, and then to the rest of the World.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#99

Post by inkyoto »

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…

> 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.

That is not tofu, though, that is mock-meat, mock-fish, mock-chicken etc made entirely out of gluten and is highly processed.

Mock-whatever does, indeed, have the texture of and is flavoured according to what it «mocks». Tofu, on the other hand, can't be substantially textured, hence the choice of gluten.

Re: America doesn't know tofu

#100

Post by tracker1 »

My biggest concern is the push towards attempting to legally restrict animal consumption. I can't handle legumes and have intolerances to a very broad spectrum of foods. Ruminant meats and pasture raised eggs are about the only things I can consistently eat without issue.
Post reply on HN