Tofu (soybean curd)
Tofu (cuajada de soja)
- Date
- c. century II (discutido) · confidence low
- Place
- Huainan, Anhui, China
- Credited to
- Han dynasty China (attributed to Liu An)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A curd of soy milk coagulated with salts (nigari or gypsum) and pressed into blocks. It supplies cheap plant protein and became a base of the East Asian diet and of vegetarian Buddhism.
Tradition credits tofu to Liu An, prince of Huainan (2nd century BC), but this is a late legend. A relief in the Han tomb at Dahuting has been read as a tofu workshop, a contested interpretation; the first firm written mention is from the 10th century (Tao Gu).
What it led to
- Buddhist vegetarian cuisine of China, Korea and Japan
- derivatives: dried, fermented and fried tofu
- plant protein in Western diets from the 20th century