Tofu
Tofu the Japanese popular food!
Hi. I’m Yukako who lives in the northern part of Europe, and teaches and tells people about Japanese traditional culture such as tea ceremony, kimono, etc. offline and online.
When I stay abroad, the most thing I miss is food, especially tofu. We have various types of tofu in Japan, such as a silk tofu (kinugoshi tofu), a firm tofu (momen tofu), a deep-fried tofu (atsuae), etc. It’s hard to purchase a good tofu in Europe, so I assume many of you who haven’t been to Japan don’t know what a real tofu looks like. Let me introduce “our tofu” briefly today.
Tofu has won not only Japanese hearts but also people all over the world. There are many Japanese restaurants appearing in the world, and the tofu is also known widely.
Tofu is said to have entered Japan from China in the Nara period (710 – 794). It has been popular as part of the shojin-ryori vegetarian cuisine along with Zen Buddhism. It had become a staple of the Japanese diet by the mid-Edo period (1603 – 1867), and common food eaten by everyone from daimyo lords to general citizens.
In Kyoto, tofu is a staple food and eaten in a hot pot. This dish is called “yu-doufu” (tofu in a hot pot). There are many restaurant and a price range is from $15 to $50 depending on restaurants. However, it’s too expensive for me to eat out this dish! I encourage you to make one yourself!! You can purchase tofu at the supermarket or local tofu shops, and you boil them in a hot water with a piece of kelp leaf. You can make this dish by just $5 for a lot of amount.
I hope you can find new interest toward Japanese culture! See you in the next article.