Chinese food, since Chinese workers who crossed the ocean in the Qing Dynasty opened the chop suey hall in the United States, has been going deep into the west through Chinese civilization for more than a hundred years. Chinese food words such as dim sum, fried noodles and tofu have been integrated into the daily life of westerners, and tofu has been included in the Oxford Dictionary of the United Kingdom.
Chinese classical tofu has not only become the specialty of Chinese restaurants in the west, but some western restaurants have also developed foreign tofu delicacies with the times.
In ancient times, the name of tofu was "fermented milk", also known as "Li Qi". It was officially called tofu until the Tang Dynasty and became a tribute several times. In the tenth year of Tianbao in Tang Suzong (AD 757), Jian Zhen and the monk traveled eastward to spread the method, and the technology of making tofu was introduced to Japan. Therefore, monk Jian Zhen was honored as the ancestor of Japanese tofu by the Japanese tofu industry. In Song Dynasty, tofu technology was introduced to Korea again. By the middle of the 19th century, tofu technology was introduced to Europe and America by western missionaries who came to China to preach. In the 20th century, tofu gradually developed into a worldwide food.
Clinton eats tofu
Dr. Sun Yat-sen once said: "Tofu is the meat of the poor". Beans are rich in protein, and their prices are much cheaper than those of chicken, duck and fish. People in Shengdou can't afford braised pork and sweet and sour fish, and the nutritional value provided by tofu and dried bean curd is by no means inferior to that provided by big fish and big meat. Before westerners' understanding of the value of tofu was uncivilized, they thought that tofu and bean sprouts were all poor people's "water", which was not as noble as steak and ham eaten by westerners. However, in the last 30 years, the situation has reversed 180 degrees, and Americans who can't live without steak and ham every day have begun to realize that tofu at the lower level is an excellent health treasure.
TOFU used to be called "China cheese" by westerners. Tofu was originally translated into English as "Bean curd". In the 1980s, Chinese vocabulary became popular in the West, and Tofu became very popular overnight.
Not long ago, the British Reuters News Agency sent a "secret message" from Washington, USA, confessing that the former US President Bill Clinton was troubled by heart disease, and the "imperial doctor" gave him a "last ultimatum". He had to change his bad habit of gluttony for French fries and hamburgers and ask him to eat more nutritious and hygienic tofu which can inhibit arteriosclerosis. Clinton weighs 225 pounds, and eating tofu has become her magic weapon to lose weight. Clinton's "eating tofu" is not news that affects international politics, but it expresses a clear fact, that is, how healthy and beneficial the ancient Chinese civilization is in the eyes of westerners and western doctors.
In October, 1999, the US Food and Drug Administration has listed soybean, especially bean curd made from soybean, as a healthy food with "reducing the risk of coronary heart disease". From this, the custom of "eating tofu" became very popular in the United States. China's ancient and civilized tofu conquered the United States with its unique charm, and became a world-recognized health care treasure with its remarkable advantages of high protein, high fiber, low calorie and low cholesterol.
According to the American market survey, in the past 10 years, the sales volume of tofu increased at the rate of 17% every year. In 1999, the sales of bean products in the United States exceeded US$ 2 billion. By 2005, there were more than 700 fresh tofu suppliers in more than 1,000 factories producing bean products in the United States/KLOC-0.
Americans have a lot of experience in combining Chinese and western food when eating tofu. In addition to copying Chinese food recipes, they have also "developed" many western-style tofu recipes. For example: appetizer tofu, salad tofu, iron plate tofu, dessert tofu, etc., all kinds. Some fast food restaurants have creatively created "Tofu Roast Duck", "Tofu Cake" and "Tofu Ice Cream", which are deeply loved by Americans.
Tofu Culture in the West
There are colorful tidbits in the heat wave of eating tofu. Last Thanksgiving, a tofu war swept across the United States. Get Fuzzy, a best-selling comic book collection of Xian Yi, young and old, depicts the protagonist in the comic book, two dogs and cats, who are engaged in a hot war between tofu and turkey nowadays, attracting American readers to jump for joy.
In recent years, scholars and experts they nest, such as "Research Report on the Nutritional Value of Tofu", "Bodybuilding and Fitness Collection of Tofu" and so on, have flocked to the market. Books and periodicals devoted to "eating tofu" recipes and how to cook them are even more numerous. Among these works that follow the trend, there is a unique monograph written by Ms. Hegel, an internationally renowned vegetarian advocate, entitled "Tofu's Journey to the West". The content of this book is detailed, besides expounding the nutrition and colorful cooking skills of tofu, it also takes a considerable length to explain the origin and interesting allusions of tofu.
The Washington Star once published a special article on the American tofu fever, saying that "tofu, like cheese imported from Europe earlier, has become the favorite food on the American table." Xiao Tefu, a famous chef, cooperated with a tofu chef with great interest, collected bits and pieces of tofu in the workshop and compiled it into a "Tofu Grand View". After it came out, it made a big profit, and it has been reprinted 24 times so far, with a sales volume of almost 500 thousand copies. In order not to let the chef specialize in beauty, Barna, a famous doctor, also published a book called "Health Food-How New Foods Save Your Life", the theme of which is to preach the medicinal value of China tofu. Another writer, Rubins, is more suitable to launch the book "Food Revolution", whose central idea is to take pains to confess the world: "Tofu is the most delicious food in the world."
Opportunity for innovation of Chinese restaurants
Westerners are rushing to eat tofu, and Chinese restaurants' Mapo Tofu, Braised Tofu and Peppered Tofu have all become the signature dishes that foreigners often order. However, the "tofu banquet" in overseas Chinese restaurants, in order to take care of the light taste that westerners like, adds a sweet and sour taste while adding less spicy and less salt. In Maui Island, Hawaii, a famous tourist destination, tofu has become a landscape to attract tourists. In the window of the restaurant on both sides of the island's pedestrian street, every household has prepared a large glass jar with tofu that looks like cheese suspended in it. Many western tourists are attracted by it and will sit down and taste a tofu feast.
Overseas Chinese restaurants have been booming since the 1970s, and by the end of 1990s, the competition has become fierce, and the direction of overseas Chinese food has become the focus of discussion in the overseas Chinese community. Reforming the menu to promote healthy recipes has become a way out that everyone generally agrees with. In fact, Chinese food has an advantage in the new concept of healthy eating, and there is much to be done. Westerners have become more and more fond of green recipes in recent years, drinking more soy milk and eating more vegetables and vegetable oils are popular, and vegetarians are becoming more and more fashionable. If Chinese restaurants can sensitively follow the trend of this era, develop new dishes with low calorie, low fat, low cholesterol, low sugar and low salt, and invite western nutritionists and food writers to taste and write columns to achieve the effect of publicity and promotion, I believe that going to Chinese restaurants "eats healthy and delicious food" will definitely become the "new favorite" of mainstream fashion in western society.