1, according to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty, and once he was so hungry that he picked up the expired tofu discarded by others, fried it in oil and stuffed it into his mouth. The delicious taste is unforgettable. Later, he became the commander-in-chief and successfully hit Anhui all the way. As soon as he was happy, he ordered the whole army to eat stinky tofu to celebrate, and stinky tofu was widely circulated.

There is another folklore about the origin of stinky tofu. It is said that during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, an Anhui man named Wang Zhihe made tofu for a living in Beijing. Once, on a hot summer day, he cut tofu into small pieces, put it in a jar, added a lot of salt and pepper, and sealed it. Later, after a long time, Wang Zhihe forgot about it. When he opened the jar, it smelled so bad that the tofu turned blue-black. He tasted it curiously and it was delicious. In this way, stinky tofu was born.