Chapter 18 eat tofu

On May 23, 1935, Qu Qiubai concluded his final work "Excessive Words" like this: "Farewell to everything in this world! Finally...Russian Gorky's "Forty Years" "The Life of Cremo Samotin", Turgenev's "Rodin", Tolstoy's "Anna Karl Linina, Chinese Lu Xun’s The True Story of Ah Q, Mao Dun’s Shake, and Cao Xueqin’s are all worthy of re-reading. Chinese tofu is also delicious, number one in the world. Farewell!” Four weeks later, Qu Qiubai sang "The Internationale" in front of the pavilion in Zhongshan Park, Changting, Fujian, and died calmly.

In addition, Gorky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Lu Xun and contradictions were all very revolutionary symbols at the time, but tofu, why is tofu in the end? As a professional revolutionary who was "unfortunately involved in historical entanglements", Qu Qiubai's true state of mind at that time is naturally elusive to my generation. Say a few more "redundant" words on this, and only for tofu. Except that Changzhou, Qu Qiubai's hometown, is famous for producing "preserved egg tofu", I have not been able to verify the special significance of tofu to Qu Qiubai himself and the Chinese revolutionary situation from 1931 to 1935, but I always think that, Among all the daily foods in China, only tofu has an existential character.No matter in the Chinese diet or the Chinese context, tofu is a symbol of homely, poor, ordinary and out-of-the-world, and because it is used by Buddhism, it adds a bit of Zen to the ordinary.

Wrote: "Seeing through the boundless body, the dust of all realms rests on its own; realizing the realm of indestructibility, the heart and the moon are alone. Splashing tears', with such a warm heart, how can I get the cold wind and moon." Still tofu.What is even more unimaginable is that Jin Shengtan would say something like "Eating shark fin and abalone together tastes like bird's nest" before being beheaded. More than 60 years have passed, except that there are probably still people who are reading it, and the rest is tofu.It is impossible for anyone to understand the implication of "Chinese tofu, the best in the world", just as the preface to "Excessive Words" sighs: "Those who know me say that I am worried; those who don't know me say what I want." Let's just eat Tofu bar.

It is generally believed that the method of tofu came out as early as the Warring States Period (see Wang Ji's "The Original Meeting of Things" in the Qing Dynasty), but there is a well-documented case in Huainan in the era of Emperor Wenwen of the Han Dynasty (about 160 BC). "Huainanzi" compiled by Wang Liuan (the grandson of Liu Bang) and his disciples. "Materia Medica" also said: "The method of tofu began with Liu An, the king of Huainan." According to legend, tofu is a kind of tofu that Liu An and alchemists accidentally obtained when they used soybeans, brine and other materials to make alchemy in Bagong Mountain, Shou County, Anhui today. By-products, therefore, tofu should not be classified as "agricultural by-products" or "non-staple food", but should be called "medicine by-products".

Although tofu quickly evolved from a "medicine" brand name to a "jian" brand name civilian food after Liu An, but when you think about it carefully, among the many Chinese home-cooked foods, tofu is actually a kind that is not very "Chinese". A very "chemical" monster.Since Liu An and his "pharmaceutical group" are the mortal enemies of Confucianism, although it cannot be asserted that there is a strong anti-Confucian impulse in the nature of tofu, there is a strict rule in ancient and modern sacrificial ceremonies: that is, absolutely not Use tofu.

In addition to the strong chemical atmosphere in the birth process of tofu itself, its seventy-two incredible transformation methods are even more jaw-dropping.The process of making tofu can be described as shocking step by step. First of all, at the beginning of the first intimate contact between gypsum and bean juice, and the real tofu has not yet formed, a delicious "tofu brain" was born in an emergency. The thin layer of serous film formed on the surface of the white paste can become completely unrecognizable yuba. Cut the tofu into pieces and place them in a bamboo basket to freeze overnight and then dry them in the sun to become frozen tofu. In addition, water tofu, dried tofu, fried tofu, moldy tofu, soy milk, dried tofu, fermented bean curd, stinky tofu... all these can not help but remind people of a word that has nothing to do with eating and drinking: demon surgery.

The deliciousness of tofu lies not only in its inherent cleanness, tenderness, refreshingness, and smoothness, but also in its ingenious skill of being invisible but capable of various shapes, and tasteless but able to absorb all kinds of flavors.For example, poor tofu is always compared to fat but vulgar meat, or in other words, it is always endowed with an ambiguous sense of flesh.In fact, as long as you think about the shape of a cube of tofu and its trembling posture, you will believe that obscenity is inevitable.The so-called "white as pure jade, as fine as curd fat", the so-called "taste like chicken pig, chicken pig is not as beautiful", and so on.

For vegetarians, tofu and various soy products are the best substitutes for meat.Vegetarian ham, vegetarian abalone, vegetarian chicken and vegetarian duck are all made of tofu.Therefore, it is quite challenging to serve a vegetarian who is tired of eating tofu. It is no wonder that Pan Yikang, the chef of Hong Kong's "Kung Tak Lam", once said with emotion: "The most difficult thing to cook vegetarian dishes is to find some shapes and meat. Similar material.” Really speaking from experience. Dr. Sun Yat-sen was a revolutionary and a physician who advocated vegetarianism throughout his life. "Sun Wen's Theory" repeatedly talked about the benefits of vegetarian food: "Husband vegetarian food is a wonderful way to prolong life, which has been recognized by scientists, hygienists, physiologists, and medical scientists today. Chinese vegetarians must eat tofu. Those who eat tofu, The meat of real plants is also. This thing has the function of meat, but not the poison of meat."

It is very likely that Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary ideas, medical knowledge and vegetarianism came from Japan.Since the prevalence of Buddhism, the emperors of all dynasties have issued orders to ban meat.It was not until the fifth year of Meiji that the "meat ban" inherited by the emperor from the Tokugawa family that had lasted for 1,200 years was lifted because of the need to do Western affairs.I guess that Japanese tofu is not only extremely developed, but also can compete for the market of China, the hometown of tofu today, which is probably related to the long-term prohibition of meat in history.

In addition to the sensual "tofu nao", there is also a famous snack in Wuzhou, Guangxi called "Moldy Tofu", also known as "Guangxi Pork Liver". Although I have never eaten this kind of "Pork Liver", but In fact, it seems to smell a gay or bisexual smell.