Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu

Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu

　　Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu: Also known as Shangzi Tofu, where "Shangzi" means hometown, referring to the area around Majin in Kaihua. "Tibetan" and "Shangzi" are homophones. When people from Majin leave their hometown, they always pack a few pieces of dried tofu in their luggage, so that even if they are thousands of miles away, they can still recall the taste of home.

　　The origins of Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu are unknown. As a plant-based protein, tofu is not easy to preserve in the summer heat. In ancient times, people in Kaihua, in order to preserve the hard-earned tofu, would dry it and place it in a jar used for pickling salted eggs. They made plant ash from bean pods, sesame, and bamboo leaves, mixed it with fried salt and oil, and used it to cure the tofu. After three days, the tofu was taken out of the jar, and thus the authentic Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu from Majin was born.

　　It is said that last year, the chief director Chen Xiaoqing visited Kaihua and stopped for a meal at a restaurant. Suddenly, he caught the unique aroma of Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu and followed the scent to the kitchen, where he discovered this extraordinary variety of tofu. With its grayish-black exterior and snow-white tofu interior, it had a particularly chewy texture and a flavor distinct from ordinary dried tofu. In Chen Xiaoqing’s words: “The texture is more resilient than hairy tofu, and the flavor is sharper. One bite and your entire mouth and nose lose all resistance. Delicious.” As the saying goes, "The hand that takes is short, the mouth that eats is soft." After his taste buds were bombarded by the Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu from Majin, the chief director immediately instructed the episode director Shen Xiaomin to go and find this tofu the very next day.

　　In a small mountain village called Jiangkeng in Majin Town, they found the farmer’s household that made Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu. After an inspection, Director Shen carefully considered the family’s image, setting, story, camera angles, lighting, and framing before finally leaving satisfied. However, things took a turn on June 5th when the production team decided in a meeting to move the content about Kaihua from the episode "Home Cooking" to "Seasons." With the change of episode, the director changed too, as did the selection criteria. And just like that, Tibetan-style Fermented Tofu missed its chance to appear in A Bite of China 2.