Tofu is the most overrated ingredient ever
Asian cuisine; I absolutely love it. Green curry is my one true love, but I also ate myself silly in Bali. Satay, soto ayam, rendang, you name it. I even took a cooking class there and attempted to make these dishes just as delicious myself. But there is one ingredient that is my greatest enemy, and I literally haven’t eaten it a single time without being disappointed afterward. Tofu. What are you supposed to do with it?!
It tastes like nothing, looks like nothing and is actually just nothing. Before I had been to Asia, I did occasionally come across it in the Netherlands. In a poké bowl, for example. Or as a meat substitute in another dish. In any case, I don’t think tofu should be allowed to substitute for anything, because it is anything but a worthy replacement. If I replace the chicken with tofu at my regular Thai takeaway, I always regret it. First, I spend ten minutes picking out all those spongy pieces. And then I’m even more annoyed afterward, because its weird texture soaks up all my delicious curry, leaving me with less.
How can people enjoy this?
Look, I can understand that you don’t find tofu as unpleasant as I do. But how on earth can you actually enjoy this? It. Is. Nothing. That spongy texture you bite into. So soggy. And then there’s the flavor. Well, flavor… I can’t think of any other ingredient with such a meaningless taste. Even water tastes like more. And that takes some doing.
‘But what about tempeh, that’s delicious’
You’re of course entitled to think that, but that’s a completely different ingredient. Yes, they’re both made from soybeans, but that’s where the resemblance ends. Tempeh can actually be delicious, and at least then you have the feeling that you’re really eating something. But this soft piece of rubber is just pointless filler for your dish. Going vegetarian is absolutely fine: but then just go for more vegetables and please leave these chunks of nothingness out.
Whenever I express my disgust for tofu to the people around me, I invariably get the response ‘that it must not have been prepared properly’. Maybe. But even when it is prepared properly, it is still nothing. No one will ever convince me otherwise, and I’m going to make it my mission to banish tofu from the kitchen as much as possible. It doesn’t belong there at all. The trash can—that’s a good place for it!
Read also:
- Classic Japanese vegetarian ramen
- How to make your tofu taste like minced meat
- How to make tofu genuinely delicious
