Chapter 11 Trial stinky tofu

At the end of April 2000, the Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong government filed a complaint against a snack bar selling stinky tofu in Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok, for violating the Air Pollution Control Ordinance.As a result, the judge ruled that the female owner of the "Delicious Restaurant" was guilty of "pollution of the air" and fined her 12,000 yuan. The reason why "Delicious Restaurant" "polluted the air" was because the "stinky" smell emitted by the stinky tofu it sold made some residents living nearby unbearable.

The focus of the "stinky tofu case" is: how to define whether the smell of stinky tofu is unpleasant.At that time, the presiding magistrate accepted the "smell evidence" of four prosecution witnesses who "have normal body and sense of smell, without any allergies", that is, they agreed that the "delicious restaurant" issued a "strong odor"; In addition, the evidence also included that the clothes hanging to dry near the restaurant were stinky and had to be washed again, and some residents felt "respiratory and throat discomfort", which constituted an act of polluting the air and violated the "Air Pollution Control Regulations."

Dong Wu Ruiping, the female owner of the defendant "Delicious Restaurant", objected that the standard for measuring "smell" varies from person to person. Like durian, some people like to eat it, while others think it smells bad.Even McDonald's has a peculiar smell, so why target stinky tofu?At the same time, she said somewhat contradictoryly that if the stinky tofu is not smelly and the guests can't smell the smell, they will think it is not delicious. However, the testimony of a complainant who lived above the "Delicious Restaurant" was clearly against the defendant.The complainant said that although he also loves to eat stinky tofu, because he suffers from nasal allergies, the long-term smell of this smell makes him very uncomfortable and even disgusted.

Finally, the court pointed out in the verdict that stinky tofu is a popular Jiangnan snack, but while some people enjoy the delicious food, they must also consider the price that society has to pay due to air pollution, and the taste of the minority should not be at the expense of others having clean air s right.At the same time, the chief prosecutor also cited Australian and Scottish documents to explain that although the law has not yet specified how to measure odor, the nose is the most sensitive organ, and it does not need to use any instruments to measure it. It is a purely sensory matter.

Not prohibiting a food, but prohibiting the food from giving off the smell it should, may be the intriguing aspect of this case. The reason why stinky tofu is called stinky tofu is because it is stinky, and it is indeed stinky.This, no one denies. "No smell, no money" is the common commitment of stinky tofu sellers in ancient and modern times to their business reputation. In addition, the reason why stinky tofu can gain a foothold in the forest of traditional Chinese cuisine is that it has enough and endless customer groups in the market. Of course, opponents of stinky tofu have always existed.Their abhorrence of this kind of thing is composed of an exclamation point followed by a question mark: 1, it stinks; 2, there are people who like to eat such stinky things.

However, human beings have always had a hobby of smelling. The term "husband who chases odors" is derived from "Lu Shi Chunqiu": "If a person has a smell, his brothers and wives can't live with him, and he lives on the sea because of his own suffering. There are people on the sea who like their smell, day and night Can’t go after that.” Cao Zhi's "Book with Yang Dezu" made a moral high-level criticism of the diseased behavior recorded in "Lushi Chunqiu", which may be suspected by Wiener (H.) as "the defect and misunderstanding of the odor communication system". Explanation: "Everyone has their own favorites. The damaged fragrance of orchids and sunflowers is liked by everyone, but there is a man who chases the smell by the sea; the hair of Xianchi and Liuying is liked by everyone, but Mo Di has a theory of wrongness: How can it be the same!"

It seems that "everyone has his own preference" is indeed within the scope of individual freedom and should be respected.However, Cao Zhi also admitted at the same time that "chasing stink" is not "everyone's favorite" after all, but just a minority taste.Standing at the height of the universal principle of "the minority obeys the majority", Cao Zhi's statement is related to the judgment of the Hong Kong court in the "Delicious Restaurant" case, "you cannot sacrifice the taste of the minority at the expense of others' clean air." rights" have a high degree of consistency.

Of course, with regard to the proportion of people who support stinky tofu and those who oppose stinky tofu, we have not seen credible polls so far, so we should not rashly conclude that 100% stinky tofu belongs to a niche market.But we usually still want to believe that "Lanci Sunhui Zhifang" is basically "the favorite of all".This is actually treated as common sense. The mouth is the only normal entrance for food to enter the human body. The participation of the nose and eyes is nothing more than to add excitement to eating, which is a friendly performance.Therefore, "good taste and taste" has always been the basic evaluation standard for cooking.

The oral cavity and the nasal cavity belong to two different sensory systems. As the main tasting tool, the taste buds’ ability to perceive taste in the oral cavity is actually very low, so low that there are only five basic taste types: salty, sweet, bitter, spicy, and sour. , In other words, the mouth cannot perceive the bad smell, the bad smell is the right of the nose.A normal nose can distinguish more than 4,000 odors by virtue of the moist and fatty yellow-brown tissue in the nasal cavity, 10 million receptor cells in each tissue, and six to eight sensory cilia ejected from each cell .However, for the nose, there is actually only one basic odor in food, which is the unique odor of sulfide, which is caused by microorganisms in the atmosphere, which is collectively referred to by the laboratory as "rotten egg smell".

As a fermented food, stinky tofu is the spoilage produced by the decomposition of protein in tofu under the action of microorganisms.Sometimes, makers add rotten eggs in order to intensify its smell and speed up the fermentation process. "Fish is hungry but meat cannot be eaten", but stinky tofu does the opposite. If it doesn't stink, it can't be eaten. Although the effects of microorganisms on the human body are both harmful and beneficial, and odor substances are chemically only simple compounds, they can make us produce the longest memories and the richest current feelings. People hate.Stinky tofu is stinky, so disgusting.This is so natural.

In addition, the degeneration process of the human sense of smell is actually the history of the sense of smell being socialized, trained and educated.In human social life, fragrance not only brings biological pleasure, but also represents concepts such as elegance, health, and politeness. On the contrary, odor embodies vulgarity, corruption, and impoliteness, which is a taboo of civilization.If you eat stinky tofu in a civilized society, can you be more guilty? It is such a smelly thing, but people who love it think it is "fragrant".It seems that the ultimate goal of the so-called "smell-chasing husband" is actually incense. The field of smell may be small, but the world of "fragrance" is very large. "Fragrance" does not only belong to "the fragrance of orchids and sunsun". Salty, sweet, bitter, spicy, and sour can all bring the feeling of "fragrance".Stimulation can also produce fragrance, and seeking it in danger, opening and closing, thrilling.The smell is first smelled strongly, but because the mouth cannot feel the smell, once the smell enters the mouth, together with condiments such as oil, chili sauce, and sweet noodle sauce, the mildew, smell, and sourness of stinky tofu will be steaming. Among them, it is completely fragrant. This is the whole reason why fried stinky tofu is called "fried stinky tofu", and it can be used as a paradoxical name like "Tianxiang tofu". "It smells stinky and tastes good", there is no food that is more entertaining than stinky tofu, and there is no food that can fascinate those who love it like stinky tofu. Kipling said, "Smells break your heartstrings more than sights or sounds." Stinky tofu is a popular Jiangnan snack, the judge pointed out in the judgment of the "Delicious Restaurant" case.In fact, "Jiangnan" is mainly in Shaoxing, Ningbo, Zhejiang. Among the huge family of stinky food in this area, in addition to stinky tofu, there are also stinky wax gourd, moldy thousand sheets (louver), stinky cowpea, stinky winter bamboo shoots, and so on. Fried stinky tofu, which is mainly sold on the street, is not only loved by people in the south of the Yangtze River, but its "flowing smell" can be smelled as far as Hong Kong in the south and Heilongjiang in the north.Even Beijingers who have always regarded "Wangzhihe stinky fermented bean curd" as authentic flock to it.A netizen named newkuzi said on a certain BBS: "On the National Day of 1994, by the Tongzi River of the Working People's Cultural Palace, the Shanghai New Asia Hotel set up a frying pan, and it turned out that the stinky tofu was brought in by air to sell. After hearing the news, there was already a queue. There was a long line of three dragons that could not see the end, and many people were still carrying lunch boxes and small pots, and they seemed to want to buy a pot before they would give up." Beijing's time-honored brand "Wangzhihe" has a history of more than 300 years, and it competes with Nanshou with "stinky fermented bean curd" packed in jars or small clay pots.The recipe provided by Mr. Wang Zengqi is: "Use Wangzhi and stinky tofu to paste pancakes, boil a pot of shrimp rice skin and cabbage soup, delicious rice!" A few years ago, Shanghai's "Xianqiangfang Chuancai" created the first "black stinky tofu", which is a pot of fermented pure soybean black tofu made from northern Jiangsu, with a layer of black mold on the surface that is two minutes thick, plus The soup base made of Jinhua ham is slowly heated with an alcohol stove, and eaten in a side stove.The characteristics are: the hotter the more smelly, the smelly ones are also. Taiwan's stinky tofu is not only handed down from the mainland, but also has evolved into hundreds of stinky tofu dishes in addition to the traditional fried, steamed, and braised.From a roadside stall to a specialty store, it has also been put on the table to make a full feast of stinky tofu.The "Douqi House" in the fifth section of Nanjing East Road, Taipei City, even serves the "Douqi Afternoon Tea" that makes the British cry.