How did "Mapo Tofu" get its name? In Chengdu, Sichuan Province, there is a legend that in the Qing Dynasty, during the Guangxu period, Chengdu Wanbao Sauce Garden, a shopkeeper surnamed Wen, had a face full of pimples daughter called Wen Qiaoqiao, who married her husband, Chen, an oil mill in Majia Mill. She was married to Mr. Chen, the owner of an oil mill in Majia Mill, and 10 years later, her husband died in an accident while transporting oil. After her husband's death, life became a problem for Qiaoqiao and her sister-in-law. Every day, oil workers and neighbors brought rice and vegetables to help them. Qiaoqiao's neighbors were a tofu store and a mutton store. She mixed minced mutton with tofu to make mutton and tofu stew, which had a spicy flavor that the neighbors tasted and thought was delicious. So the two sisters converted their house into a restaurant, with a store in the front and a home in the back, and served their customers with lamb and tofu as their signature dish. Tuck store price is not expensive, good taste, business is very prosperous. Qiaoqiao did not remarry after she was widowed, and always relied on the business of mutton tofu to make ends meet. After her death, people called the mutton tofu "Ma Po Tofu" in her honor, and it is still called "Ma Po Tofu" today. Now, "Ma Po Tofu" has become a home cooking everywhere, and across the ocean, loved by foreign friends. Legend 2 The legendary Ma Po was originally named Chen and specialized in making tofu for a living. Qing Dynasty Tongzhi years, Chengdu Wanfu Bridge is a gathering place of merchants, Mrs. Chen opened a bean curd store here, because of her point pulp skills, made of white and tender tofu, burned bean curd dishes and a unique flavor, therefore, the more business is doing more and more red hot. Unexpectedly, this has aroused the jealousy of the boss's wife of a tofu store across the street from her. One day, a guest with two pounds of minced beef just chopped up to Chen old lady store, the door to the tofu store owner's wife on their own young and a few poise will be to the guests of the dark eyes, the guests of the surprise will forget the packet of minced beef and walked to her door, Chen old lady to see this scenario in the heart of the angry and annoyed. At this time and into a few guests, they look at the table of minced beef they said they want to eat beef fried tofu, Chen old lady did not want to use someone else's minced beef, but the guests are in urgent need of food, but also the minced beef and tofu with the dishes to the guests to eat, I did not expect that this dish is fragrant and flavorful to eat more and more people, the business is exceptionally hot, unceasingly. The owner of the food store across the street was angry and red, so she badmouthed Mrs. Chen in front of her customers, calling her an ugly bitch and a pockmarked woman. Mrs. Chen was a generous person, in the face of all this, she did not care, do not show, down to do their own business, and later, she simply hung up a big signboard "Chen Ma Po Tofu" on the head of her house. Later, the store became more and more famous, and the popular dish of Mapo Tofu became famous all over the world, making it the most famous tofu dish that is popular among the people. Legend has it that Chen Ma Po Tofu (or Ma Po Tofu as people used to call it) was founded in the first year of the Tongzhi reign in the Qing Dynasty (1862) in Chengdu, by the Wanfu Bridge in the north of the city, under the original name of Chen Xing Sheng Restaurant. The owner of the restaurant, Chen Chunfu, died early, and the small restaurant was run by the owner's wife, who was known as Chen Ma-po (陳麻婆). In those days, the Wanfu Bridge was a wooden bridge across the Fu River that was not very long, but quite wide. On both sides is a high railing, the top is catching fish, painted with gold and blue color paintings of the bridge pavilion, the bridge is often traffickers, carts carrying sedan chair under the hard labor of the people in this rest, playing tip. Patronizing "Chen Xingsheng rice store" is mainly a footman picking oil. These people often buy some tofu, beef. And then scoop some vegetable oil from the oil basket and ask the boss's wife to process it for them. Day long Chen's cooking tofu has a unique set of cooking skills. Cooking tofu color and flavor. Unusual and y loved by the people, Chen's cooking tofu from this famous. Seekers rush to the end of the Qing Dynasty, there is a poem for proof: Ma Po Chen's still famous, tofu baked to the most exquisite flavor, Wanfu Bridge curtain shadow movement, and put the spring wine drunk Mr... Scholars and scholars would often come here. Some good people saw the pockmarks on the face of the owner's wife and called her "Mapo Chen Tofu". The story spread and became a popular one. The name of the restaurant became "Chen Ma Po Tofu". According to "Chengdu Overview", Chen Ma Po Tofu was recognized as a famous food in Chengdu in the late Qing Dynasty. Due to the continuous efforts of Chen Ma Po Tofu's successive generations of heirs, Chen Ma Po Sichuan Restaurant has been flourishing for more than one hundred and forty years. It has become famous both at home and abroad, and is highly praised by gourmets both at home and abroad. Mabo Tofu was created by Liu's wife, Chen Senfu (said to be Chen Fuchun), the owner of a small hotel in Wanfu Bridge in the northern suburbs of Chengdu in the early Qing Dynasty. Liu's face had pockmarks and she was known as Chen Ma Po. The roasted tofu she created was called "Chen Ma Po Tofu", and her small food store was later named "Chen Ma Po Tofu Shop", which was published by the Chengdu General Newspaper Company in 1909 (by Fu Chongru in the Qing Dynasty). "Chen Ma Po's Tofu" was included in the list of 22 "Famous Food Shops in Chengdu" together with the Bao Xi Guan Zheng Xing Yuan and Zhong Tang Yuan. The history of Ma-Po Chen's creation of Ma-Po Tofu is described in books such as "Jin Cheng Bamboo Words" and "Hibiscus Records". In the late Qing Dynasty, the poet Feng Jiaji wrote in his Jincheng Zhi Zhi (锦城竹枝词)："Ma Po Chen is still famous for her baked tofu with the most exquisite flavor, and the curtains by the Wanfu Bridge are moving, making Mr. Chen drunk with spring wine". Because of its outstanding reputation, Mapo Tofu has been spread throughout the country, and even Japan, Singapore and other countries.