3 ms·

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, Ran

by yftsui 3y ago

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.

rafram 3y ago
"全素斋"/"vegetarian feast" restaurants definitely exist in the US. Buddha Bodai in Manhattan's Chinatown is excellent, even for meat eaters.
csa 3y ago
> 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.
- jrflowers 3y ago
  > 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)
inkyoto 3y ago
> 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.
- powerapple 3y ago
  The reason Chinese people would say it taste like meat is not because it "taste" like meat. it taste like what the meat dish is supposed to be. Our brain connects flavor with memory, and Chinese people would immediately connect the sensation with the meat dish they had before, that's why we say it tastes like meat. Gluten, Tofu, Mushrooms, there are many ingredients in Chinese cooking to replicate texture of meat.

by yftsui 3y ago

rafram 3y ago

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

csa 3y ago

> 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.

jrflowers 3y ago
> 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)

inkyoto 3y ago

> 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.

powerapple 3y ago
The reason Chinese people would say it taste like meat is not because it "taste" like meat. it taste like what the meat dish is supposed to be. Our brain connects flavor with memory, and Chinese people would immediately connect the sensation with the meat dish they had before, that's why we say it tastes like meat. Gluten, Tofu, Mushrooms, there are many ingredients in Chinese cooking to replicate texture of meat.