1 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,639 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Food Stuff. I'm Annie Reeve and 2 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vocal Bomb, and today for all of our 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: vegetarian friends and frenemies, and also for every single one 4 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:21,919 Speaker 1: of you who wrote in with a listening request. We're 5 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: talking about tofu. Yes, well, and tofu is a little 6 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: bit more specific. Like people were like, hey, you guys 7 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:30,920 Speaker 1: just talked about an organ meat for like an hour. Uh, 8 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:35,480 Speaker 1: could could you talk about something vegetarian? And we were like, yeah, 9 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:38,519 Speaker 1: that's totally were absolutely, well, do that. We'd love to 10 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: I'd like a vegetable. Yeah, I love vegetables. You like tofu? 11 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: I love tofu two, especially when it's a deep fried, 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,800 Speaker 1: at which point it's you know, not necessarily a health 13 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: food anymore. But I've always liked the taste and texture 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: of tofu. My mom actually started me out eating it 15 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: when I was maybe like five or six. Um, she 16 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 1: was kind of a crazy hippie out Wow. My family 17 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: was the opposite. We were not allowed to have tofu 18 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: in my house. What oh my goodness. Hated it so much. 19 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: But I had this like really amazing tofu when I 20 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: was in China drinks sense, And I've been trying to 21 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: recreate it ever since, I think it actually might have been, um, 22 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: the dried skin like tofu skin. Okay, what was the 23 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: dish like? It was like it was served in a 24 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,479 Speaker 1: spiral um and it was thin noodles. What it looked 25 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,639 Speaker 1: like thin noodles And I don't know if anybody remembers 26 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: his bobbi um packages, Yeah, it looks like that. But 27 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: it was tofu and it was like textured on the 28 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: outside and it was so good. Oh man, it was 29 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: so good. And I've tried and tried and I got 30 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: kind of close recently. Um, I'm still looking. If any 31 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: listener heroes are out there and know what I'm talking about, 32 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:50,919 Speaker 1: that would be yeah. Yeah, if you have a recipe, 33 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: send it on it. So tofu what is it? Um 34 00:01:54,920 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: tofu or dofu and Chinese pinion is coagulated soy milk 35 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: that's pressed into blocks. And we will do a whole 36 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: other episodes on soy and or soy milk, probably because 37 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,839 Speaker 1: they are kind of big topics. Yeah, pretty huge. Um. 38 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: Sometimes almonds or black beans are used in place of soybeans. 39 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: I can't say I've personally seen this, but but but yeah, 40 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 1: Traditionally it's a it's soybeans. Yes, the literal translation of 41 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: tofu is being curd, but it's a Japanese word. Yes. Um. 42 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 1: It also goes by the equally appetizing bean cheese or 43 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: bean curd cheese, which is actually a super good scientific 44 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: description for it um but does not sound tasty. No, 45 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: it doesn't bean cheese. It can come in two main types, fresh, 46 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: which can be like soft or silken, extra soft firm 47 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: our extra firm, which sounds like mattresses now that I'm 48 00:02:54,600 --> 00:03:00,160 Speaker 1: saying it aloud mattress descriptors. Yes, or it can um 49 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: uh processed, which includes pickled, fermented, which you might know 50 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: is stinky, tofu um dried, frozen or fried. And then 51 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: there's also like byproducts such as tofu skin swipehulp, tofu burgers, 52 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: to pot ducts, to noodles, to cheese, tofu cream cheese, 53 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: tofu ice cream. You've seen the aisles, I'm sure, yes, 54 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: aisles might be a lot, but but but well, items 55 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: on multiple aisles. Yes, they're pervasive there throughout the store 56 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: and retail of tofu in the United States made two 57 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy four million dollars as there are some 58 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: two hundred and forty five thousand manufacturers competing in the 59 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: tofu industry, the largest ones in Japan, producing about fifty 60 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: tons per day. Wow, that is a lot of tofu. 61 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: I can't conceive of that much tofu. I'm like looking 62 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: at the size of this room and going way more 63 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: than this room. And that's about all all my imagination 64 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: has for you today. It's a popular red during cuisine, 65 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: as you probably knew, um, in part because it's pretty 66 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,200 Speaker 1: low key flavor wise, so you can customize it. It 67 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: can be savory or sweet or anything in between. That 68 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: also can be used in smoothies. Um. It's pretty low calorie, 69 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:17,839 Speaker 1: low fat, but high and iron and protein. Depending on 70 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: the thing you use for coagulating, like calcium or magnesium sulfate, 71 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: it can also be high in either of those things, 72 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: calcium or magnesium. Sure. Um. But speaking of coagulants, let's 73 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: talk a little bit about those things and how tofu 74 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: is made. Yes, let's start about that. So all you 75 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: really need in order to make tofu is soybeans and 76 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: water that have been made into soy milk, plus a coagulant, 77 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: and traditionally speaking, that coagulant is negari, which is an 78 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: extract of salty sea water. You evaporate that brine to 79 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: let the sodium chloride the table salt crystallize, then take 80 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: that out, leaving you with what's essentially a liquid solution 81 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,840 Speaker 1: of magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, and maybe a few weather 82 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:01,600 Speaker 1: mineral salts. You can also evaporate this to get a 83 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,600 Speaker 1: powdered form if you so desire, and some people do. 84 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,839 Speaker 1: These and other agents that are used as coagulants, like 85 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: um like like acids or enzymes, work on the soy 86 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: milk in the same way that various coagulants work on 87 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: regular milk in order to make it clump up into 88 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: yogurt or cheese or et cetera. You can see our 89 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: yogurt episode for a full description of this, but essentially 90 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,960 Speaker 1: here's what's going on. So soy milk is an emulsion 91 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 1: of proteins and fats in water. An emulsion means that 92 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: these molecules are negatively charged, which means they're kind of 93 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:34,039 Speaker 1: keeping each other at arms length. You know, they're they're 94 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: giving each other space. And the coagulant works by acidifying 95 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:40,119 Speaker 1: the soy milk just enough to change the molecular charge 96 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: of the protein and fat molecules within Suddenly they're all 97 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 1: like like come in for a hug, body doing um, 98 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,239 Speaker 1: and they clump up, thus creating solid curds of protein 99 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: and fat and liquid whey which is water and some 100 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: water soluble proteins. In these our modern times, most large 101 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:01,559 Speaker 1: scale manufacturers skip the seaber line and just use straight 102 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: magnesium chloride or calcium sulfate a k a. Gypsum because 103 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 1: they might be making like three point five to fifty 104 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,480 Speaker 1: tons of to for per day, at which point you 105 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: know you're you're looking to streamline um and nagari, being 106 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: a natural product, varies in its chemical composition, so the 107 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: second half of this equation is the soy milk. Uh. 108 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,279 Speaker 1: To get soy milk, a factory will usually purchase dried 109 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: soybeans because they're cheaper to work with than fresh due 110 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 1: to the shipping weight and refrigeration costs and possibility of 111 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:34,919 Speaker 1: spoilage that you get with fresh soybeans, and the the 112 00:06:34,960 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 1: basic process of making this into soy milk goes as such. Um. 113 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: You rehydrate to your dried soybeans by soaking them for 114 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: a few hours, then mash slash put um along with 115 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,239 Speaker 1: some water to form a slurry that is the industry 116 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: term slurry. M m m m m. You heat that's 117 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: slurry to relax some of the soy proteins within it, 118 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,239 Speaker 1: then separate out the solid bean pulp from the liquid 119 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:05,119 Speaker 1: soy milk. Okay, And there are so so many ways 120 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: in which to accomplish this, and a huge amount of 121 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: industrial research goes into the best and or cheapest ways. 122 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: How the soy beans are treated in making soy milk 123 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: for tofu will hugely impact the flavor, like beanie or 124 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: funky versus kind of neutral that the color yellowed versus 125 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: a kind of pure white um, and the texture kind 126 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: of grainy versus smooth and silken. So do you haul 127 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: the beans before grinding? Do you use traditional Japanese stone 128 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: grinders or something a little bit more modern, although probably 129 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: also Japanese. Do you separate the solids from the liquids 130 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: prior to heating or afterwards? Do you concentrate the soy 131 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: milk after it's separated and before it's coagulated? If you 132 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: ever want a rabbit hole of food production techniques, Tofu 133 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: is so happy to provide so many questions, so much 134 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 1: research to do. Oh yes, but Once you've got your 135 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: soy milk, however you so choose to do it, you 136 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: let your coagulant make some soy curt at that point. 137 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 1: If you're going for very softer silk and tofu, you're 138 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: you're pretty much done. If you're going for firmer tofu, 139 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 1: you press the kurds to remove as much way as 140 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: you so choose. And um, tofu was packaged along with 141 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: some of that way to keep it moist and fresh. Ah, 142 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,679 Speaker 1: So that's why I always with it like a liquid. Yeah, okay, 143 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: you can pour that off and I don't know, like 144 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: drink it or use it in cooking or whatever you want. Yeah, 145 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: add some protein. I have to say. I thought there'd 146 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: be more ingredients in tofu, and I don't know why 147 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: I thought that, but um, apparently it's you can make 148 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: it yourself. And it's my personal wouldn't say easy, but 149 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: definitely within the realm of doing sure, like like like 150 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: labor intensive perhaps, Yeah, And I just don't have things 151 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: like you need a cheese cloth and some kitchen weights, 152 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: and I don't have these things. But we can get 153 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: you some cheese cloth. Any we can get you some 154 00:08:54,760 --> 00:09:02,200 Speaker 1: cheese cloth by by four o'clock. Okay, okay, okay, that's exciting, okay, okay. Anyway, 155 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: I was going to go into like how to make it, 156 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: but it's pretty much the same as what Lauren just discussed, 157 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: but on a much smaller kitchen scale, and you can 158 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: look up the recipes. There's so many recipes online. You 159 00:09:17,080 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: basically you make your own soy milk and then yeah, 160 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: you put in a coagulant and just wait for it 161 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: to to form up with some lights and you know, 162 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:28,680 Speaker 1: just just yeah, press it, you know. I mean again, 163 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:30,439 Speaker 1: it depends on what you want to do. And you 164 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: can make silky tofu, you can make firm tofu. It's 165 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 1: a little bit more intensive than than yogurt, and then 166 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:38,199 Speaker 1: it's slightly more than stirring because there are beans involved. 167 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,079 Speaker 1: But but it's really the same principle pretty much, which 168 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: I had literally no idea about before we did the 169 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: research for this episode. I know, it's just one of 170 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: those things that never occurred to me to try to 171 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: make my own tofu. But it sounds um like it 172 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: can be finicky, but the rewards are great, yes, if 173 00:09:55,880 --> 00:10:00,160 Speaker 1: you succeed. So for all those kitchen adventurers out there, 174 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: why don't give it a try. Yeah, if you make 175 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 1: your own, let us know, let us know how it's 176 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:07,840 Speaker 1: different from store brand tofoo. Yeah. Absolutely, So that's kind 177 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 1: of the what is it portion? Um, Let's talk about 178 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: some history, but first a break for a word from 179 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsor. So Tofu, 180 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: despite being known by its Japanese name, most likely originated 181 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: in China sometime around two six to two twenty BC. 182 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,199 Speaker 1: That's the Han dynasty. If you're more familiar with the 183 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 1: dynastic version of timekeeping in China, Yes, and this is 184 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: the production of it. Probably originated there. Then it was 185 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,960 Speaker 1: probably discovered much earlier by accident, as a lot of 186 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: these fermentty type things are yes a pot. Other story 187 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: goes that around this time, a chef living in northern 188 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: China was testing out ways to spice up the popular 189 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 1: dish of soy bean soup by adding some unrefined sea 190 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: salt that had some naturally occurring coagulating nagari. But to 191 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: his surprise, is not to ours, uh, it curdled into 192 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: this gel tofu like thing that people loved. It was 193 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: delicious and sort of a fun. Spin off of this 194 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: story goes that a man was trying to fix something 195 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: for his parents who had lost their teeth and they 196 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: could only eat soft food. So he purated some cooked 197 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:40,959 Speaker 1: soy beans, but the parents to spit take after trying it, 198 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: saying that there were too many solid bits of bean 199 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: in there. So the sun tried again and he passed 200 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: the soup through some mesh. But that still didn't says 201 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: by the parents, who thought it had no flavor. No, 202 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: so he's on his last leg, and he reheated the 203 00:11:56,559 --> 00:11:58,680 Speaker 1: mixture and added some salt, and then he let it 204 00:11:58,720 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: cool and it for armed the tofu like jelly that 205 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: was probably tofu ish. And finally his parents were not 206 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: only satisfied, but very satisfied. And there you go. Another 207 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: legend that tells the tale of Lord Luan, a prince 208 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: of the Haunt dynasty, and according to this, he invented 209 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: tofu in and around one BC. Okay, yeah, this fellow 210 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:31,199 Speaker 1: was on the hunt for an immortality elix sir, so 211 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: he ventured alone off into the mountains to create this potion. 212 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: Um but alas he wasn't successful. Let me know of Hey, 213 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 1: whole tangent could happen right now, but it won't. His 214 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: experiments deadly behind a soft white substance, which he got 215 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: the pheasants to try, of course, because you could been poison. Yeah, 216 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:56,079 Speaker 1: he didn't want to die, but they declared it delicious 217 00:12:56,080 --> 00:13:01,439 Speaker 1: and non poisonous. Um. And this newly discovered non immortality 218 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:08,680 Speaker 1: alixir was named tofu or probably yes, but yes exactly. However, 219 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: this story didn't pop up until about a thousand years 220 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: after it was supposed to have happened, so historians think 221 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,839 Speaker 1: it's probably not true. Uh. And this is sort of 222 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:25,079 Speaker 1: a thing that sometimes in history, a popular invention story 223 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 1: goes to a popular historical figure. Apparently it's all I mean, 224 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:34,720 Speaker 1: I like the immortality. Oh sure yeah. Another theory claims 225 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:38,560 Speaker 1: that the Chinese picked up milk curdling techniques from the 226 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 1: Mongolians or the East Indians um. And the crux of 227 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 1: this argument is pretty much words. The Chinese word do 228 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: fu is very close to the Mongolian word rufu, which 229 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:54,160 Speaker 1: translates to spoil to rotten milk. Yes, there's actually not 230 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: that much evidence for any of those stories, not surprisingly really, 231 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: but those are like three popular origin stories of tofu, 232 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: since it was relatively simple and cheap to produce. However, 233 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: it originated, it became a favorite delicacy throughout China. There 234 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,760 Speaker 1: are descriptions found in writings and poetry from the Song 235 00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: and Yuan dynasty, which is nine sixty to twelve seventy 236 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: nine CE and twelve seventy one, respectively, and they indicate 237 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: that tofu production was by the most part standardized by 238 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: these times. Sudong Pole, a poet during the Song dynasty, 239 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: purportedly was inspired by his love of tofu to invent 240 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: the athlete named dish dung Po to fu sure. Sure. 241 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:52,040 Speaker 1: It was also used in traditional medicine to do things 242 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: like clean your spleen and replenish your cheat. Huh spleen cleaning. 243 00:14:58,520 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: I could use a good spleen cleaning, I'm sure, very spleeny. 244 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:06,040 Speaker 1: Ninth century Buddhist monks who were big fans of tofu 245 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: because they thought the vegetarian diet was better for the spirit, 246 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:14,480 Speaker 1: introduced the soya plant to Japan and Korea, although they 247 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: could have been in either of those places or both 248 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: of those places for much longer. Probably wherever you were 249 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: making soy milk happen, yeah, or or making ground soy 250 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: soup products. Thought, for at first, I thought you were 251 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: saying like from the ground ground soy supposed to air 252 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,960 Speaker 1: soyr fires. So I was like, oh, with our powers combined. 253 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:46,240 Speaker 1: Tofu was first mentioned in UH nine document by tau 254 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: Ku Tofu the word that is. At the time, people 255 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: in China gave tofu the nickname vice Mayor's mutton because 256 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: of this story of this guy that was too poor 257 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: to afford mutton so he bought to instead. But I'm 258 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: pretty sure the point of that story was actually frugality 259 00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: was a virtuous thing. He was doing it a good thing, 260 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: not not not like a not like Welsh rabbit, which 261 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: is just making fun of a number of levels of right, Okay, 262 00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:16,680 Speaker 1: I think it was positive, Like, yeah, he's making do 263 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: I think so. The first written record of a tofu 264 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:25,960 Speaker 1: dish served in Japan describes an offering served in eleven 265 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: eight three c e. At the Kasuga Shrine and the 266 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: upper class of Japan. They adopted tofu fairly quickly, and 267 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,720 Speaker 1: it was widely enjoyed by the fourteen hundreds. A Japanese 268 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: book published during the Edo period, which was sixteen or 269 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: three to eighteen sixty seven, had over one hundred foo 270 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 1: recipes in it. Yeah, and part of that was probably 271 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: related to the rise in acceptance of Buddhism. If we 272 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: go back over to China, during the Qing dynasty um 273 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: which was six to nineteen eleven, Emperor KHANSI reportedly gave 274 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:05,199 Speaker 1: his officials locally and strongly flavored tofu in place of jade, 275 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,160 Speaker 1: our gold, or the like while on an inspection tour 276 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: of southern China. I can't imagine expecting jade and getting 277 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: I can't say it would be upset necessarily defense on 278 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: now get the tofu was, and how hungry I was 279 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: at that current, Yes, but I just love that I 280 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:27,679 Speaker 1: know I'll get them tofu be perfect. At the time, 281 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:33,160 Speaker 1: tofu is mostly made in small shops using um similar 282 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: methods in both China and Japan all the way up 283 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: until the nineteen sixties. Yes, and then the Japanese Food 284 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:45,840 Speaker 1: Research Institute made a set of recommendations aimed at standardizing 285 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: and modernizing tofu, including things like using calcium soul fate 286 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,680 Speaker 1: as the thickener instead of nagari and using pressure cookers, 287 00:17:55,920 --> 00:18:01,920 Speaker 1: hydraulic presses centrifuges instead of doing everything annually. And as 288 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 1: you guess, the recommendations succeeded in speeding up tofu production. 289 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,320 Speaker 1: But what effect did it have on the tofu exactly? 290 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:14,119 Speaker 1: Some tofu producers refused to adopt it, thinking it negatively 291 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 1: impacted the flavor, and they still do everything by hand. 292 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: It's beautiful. I know. I want to do a taste test. 293 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:20,400 Speaker 1: I do too. I want to know if you can 294 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: taste like any difference. I imagine you imagine you probably can. Yeah. 295 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,119 Speaker 1: I would hope so, and I would guess. So. Maybe 296 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:31,359 Speaker 1: one day, Lauren, we'll get we'll get a taste test, 297 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: we'll know the truth. We'll have to go to Japan. Well, 298 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: we'll just want to tell we'll have to tell your 299 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:40,119 Speaker 1: boss that it's necessary. Absolutely, he won't be a largue. 300 00:18:40,119 --> 00:18:43,439 Speaker 1: I'm sure. The believed first written English use of the 301 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: word tofu, and it was spelled with a W at 302 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,679 Speaker 1: this point. O w F you by an American, was 303 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: in a letter exchange between Englishman James Flint and Benjamin Franklin. Yeah, 304 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,640 Speaker 1: bringing up in the tofy episode. Franklin had apparently been 305 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:06,400 Speaker 1: on the hunt for what he called Chinese cheese since 306 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 1: reading about it in the writings of Domingo Fernandez Navarette. 307 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,320 Speaker 1: His work. By the way, um Domingos work was first 308 00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:18,359 Speaker 1: published in sixteen sixty five, and it was translated into 309 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: English and seventeen o four, which is the first known 310 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: instance of tofu in an English language documentary. Written down 311 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:29,880 Speaker 1: but but not okay right. Earlier in the sixteen hundreds, 312 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,879 Speaker 1: Captain John Sarah's wrote of his time in Japan and 313 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 1: is thought to have been describing tofu with of cheese 314 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:39,479 Speaker 1: they have plenty, butter they have none, Nor will they 315 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: eat any milk because they hold it to be as blood, 316 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: nor will they tame beast. So the cheese was probably 317 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: probably tofu because without taming beasts, I'd imagine that it 318 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: would be difficult to get Yeah, milk cheese. Yeah, And 319 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:56,119 Speaker 1: I thought I wanted to include that just because I 320 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:58,679 Speaker 1: thought it was interesting that the kind of sounds like 321 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: vegetarian is um our veganism, Yeah, because they won't have 322 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:10,400 Speaker 1: any milk butter. Yeah. Yeah, interesting historical and also also 323 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,760 Speaker 1: I just love that there was just no concept of 324 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:17,400 Speaker 1: of a cradled product other than cheese. It's like, that's 325 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: that's what it is. This is a cheese thing. It 326 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: must be cheese. Yeah. Um. In the US, despite having 327 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: soybeans since the seventeen hundreds, um, and they were made 328 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: popular by Chinese immigrants during the Gold Rush of the 329 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: eighteen hundred's. The first tofu company, by the way, opened 330 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:42,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy eight in San Francisco. Tofu wasn't really 331 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,960 Speaker 1: that popular for a long time. There was a modest 332 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,920 Speaker 1: bump after soldiers returned from World War Two, some of 333 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: them with Asian cuisine and some with Asian spouses. Um. 334 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 1: At the beginning of the twentieth century, soybeans were predominantly 335 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,440 Speaker 1: grown as a cash crop to regenerate soil in between 336 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:07,200 Speaker 1: crops um between useful crops exactly heavy scare quotes there, 337 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,919 Speaker 1: they were very heavy um also as food for livestock 338 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,400 Speaker 1: and to produce oil used in manufacturing are for culinary use, 339 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 1: especially as World War Two started blocking the trade of 340 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: other imported oils and fats. Yeah. By the nineteen fifties, 341 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:27,800 Speaker 1: American soybean production nearly equal to Asian soybean production, and 342 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: by the nineteen sixties the US provided of the world supply. However, 343 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: it wasn't until the nineteen seventies that more mainstream stores 344 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 1: started offering tofu in response to the growing popularity of 345 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: global cuisines and also high meat costs plus their eyes 346 00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: of vegetarianism and just general health awareness, tofu started to 347 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,320 Speaker 1: gain popularity, and today the US is one of the 348 00:21:52,359 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 1: world's largest soybean producers. I think it's like openness, but 349 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,119 Speaker 1: still the US consumes relatively low amounts of tofu compared 350 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: places like China, where tofu is a big part of 351 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: their culture. Oh yeah, there's all these beautiful legends about it. 352 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,399 Speaker 1: I mean, other than that those origin stories, right, Yeah. 353 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,520 Speaker 1: A popular one is about a poor but pretty lady 354 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:22,120 Speaker 1: who is known as being curd beauty what tofu she Sha, 355 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:25,520 Speaker 1: which comes from a story about a woman named she 356 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 1: Sha who was so beautiful fish froze and sank to 357 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 1: their deaths the site of her, and thus her name 358 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: came to mean beauty. So yeah, being curd beauty. Wow, 359 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: that's some like like collateral kind of kind of stuff. 360 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: That's intense, intense beauty. I can just imagine walking by 361 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,679 Speaker 1: the river and the fish died. Sorry, I didn't mean it, 362 00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: I can't go anywhere. Um. A man who sexually harasses 363 00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:00,080 Speaker 1: a woman is said to be eating her tofu. Yeah, 364 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: it sounds pretty dirty. Has something to do with a 365 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: beautiful tofu shopkeeper who men would keep coming to visit 366 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: the shop, less for the tofu and more for the woman. 367 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 1: Oh okay, I get it. Okay, that's not as dirty 368 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 1: as it sounds. No, yeah, that's that's good excellent. Um 369 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:20,920 Speaker 1: tofu is close to the Chinese word for luck, so 370 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,440 Speaker 1: it's a big part of Chinese lunar New Year celebrations. Um. Also, 371 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:26,720 Speaker 1: in certain parts of Chinese culture, it's considered bad luck 372 00:23:26,760 --> 00:23:30,159 Speaker 1: to eat meat on the lunar New Year. So so 373 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: I um substitutes would therefore be popular. I'm sure. Yeah. 374 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,080 Speaker 1: I also saw something about like a death ritual in 375 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: China where um you bring tofu to graves because it's 376 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: soft enough for the dead to chew. I could only 377 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 1: find on one place, so I was like, I don't 378 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:50,000 Speaker 1: know if this really I don't know if anyone else knows. 379 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:55,480 Speaker 1: Right In um Mapo, tofu translated means freckled woman. It's 380 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: supposedly named after the freckled woman who invented the dish 381 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: and served it at a good rice to loyal customers. 382 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: I can say that when I was in China, I 383 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,879 Speaker 1: definitely there are so many tofu options, Like there was 384 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 1: a dim sum place of tofu. What Yeah, it was 385 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: both dim sum and only tofu options. That's amazing. Yeah, 386 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,920 Speaker 1: and I remember the dessert being at the time it 387 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: was relatively new to tofu because, as I said, it 388 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: was not the thing in my house growing up when 389 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: they were like the dessert is also tofu. No, I 390 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:32,200 Speaker 1: had some reservations, but it was delicious. So that's a 391 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 1: tofu history of breached. Yes, we're wind. So now let's 392 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: take a look at some science. Yeah, but first let's 393 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: take a quick look at a word from your sponsor 394 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,680 Speaker 1: and we're back. Thank you sponsor. So the science segment 395 00:24:56,840 --> 00:24:59,640 Speaker 1: of this podcast episode is going to deal largely with 396 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: the with the health of tofu, the healthfulness of tofu. 397 00:25:04,080 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 1: But first, a really huge disclaimer. It's a huge one. 398 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: It's gigantic, folks, um, So humans scientists included, really like 399 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,480 Speaker 1: talking about soy food products. But whenever you see a 400 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: headline about the the healthfulness or the lack thereof of 401 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,239 Speaker 1: soy please do remember that soy food products is a 402 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: ludicrously large bucket of stuff, like like an ocean sized bucket. Really, um, 403 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,360 Speaker 1: because in addition to to tofu and its variants, you've 404 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:34,080 Speaker 1: got straight up soybeans as in like ed mam a um. 405 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:37,159 Speaker 1: You've got soy milks, soy soy protein that is created 406 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: for the sake of protein. Uh, soy protein that is 407 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 1: manufactured um for for food texture, and kind of crept 408 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:46,520 Speaker 1: into all kinds of products that you don't even realize 409 00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,160 Speaker 1: it's there, and on and on and on and each 410 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: of these foods involve working with soybeans in different ways 411 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,960 Speaker 1: that change the nature of their constituent molecules that the 412 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: soy protein isolates frequently used in mouse studies to determine 413 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 1: and soy's health effects are going to interact with the 414 00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:06,399 Speaker 1: body completely differently from if you just eat some fried tofu. 415 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: Speaking of fried tofu, and it's gonna sound real dull 416 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,160 Speaker 1: when I just say it out loud, um, but any 417 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: fats that you add during the cooking process of a 418 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: soy product like tofu are also going to interact with 419 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: your body. Yeah, it's the same thing as you know, 420 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,520 Speaker 1: sugars and salts and whatever. The nutritive properties of any 421 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: single human food product are really hard to suess out 422 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 1: because it's neon impossible to control human diet enough to 423 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,920 Speaker 1: create a really good clean study. And on top of that, 424 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 1: human bodies all digest and process food just a little 425 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,879 Speaker 1: bit differently. We are. We are all unique snowflakes in 426 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:46,720 Speaker 1: a lovely strange way. Um, but okay, let's talk about 427 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,879 Speaker 1: tofu and nutrition. Let's do it. As Annie said at 428 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 1: the top of the show, tofu is a relatively high 429 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,239 Speaker 1: in protein. It's kind of mid range in fats and 430 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 1: low in carbohydrates. That means that it's filling and also 431 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: that it won't spike or crash your blood sugar. Good times. 432 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:02,840 Speaker 1: They're the facts that are in tofu are pretty good 433 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: for you. They're mostly mono unsaturated fatty acids a k a. 434 00:27:06,359 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: The stuff that's been shown to lower bad L d 435 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,719 Speaker 1: L cholesterol levels in your body, and tofu itself contains 436 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: no cholesterol. It's a fairly high quality protein, especially for 437 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:18,920 Speaker 1: not being an animal product, which means that it contains 438 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,600 Speaker 1: relatively high amounts of all of the essential amino acids, 439 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,639 Speaker 1: which are the ones that our bodies cannot produce and 440 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 1: thus that we have to get from foods. It is 441 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,840 Speaker 1: always best, especially when designing a vegetarian diet, to eat 442 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,360 Speaker 1: a variety of different foods that you can intake all 443 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: the stuff that your body needs over the course of 444 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: a day. M hmm, everything the body needs. Yes, And 445 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 1: unfortunately we don't have that that slurry of matrix stuff 446 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:48,159 Speaker 1: so institutionately or unfortunately. I think there's a debate to 447 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: be had either way. I guess you could just drink 448 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,360 Speaker 1: a whole lot of soilent um. I don't actually recommend 449 00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:58,480 Speaker 1: that either, Sorry, soilent you're not. It's not terrible, it's 450 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,320 Speaker 1: it's quite fine. Um, Yes, eats, some eats, eat some 451 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: different vegetables, is what I'm saying. Yes, tofu still the 452 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 1: good soys and nutrients that an he was saying, and 453 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,000 Speaker 1: uh speak speaking of the nutreats and tofu. It's best 454 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,840 Speaker 1: to buy it in opaque or semi opaque containers because, 455 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: as with dairy products, exposure to light will degrade some 456 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: of tofu Tofu's nutrients um, such as omega three fatty acids. Though, uh, 457 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,040 Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if your local Asian market 458 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 1: makes it in house and packages it in clear pint 459 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:30,440 Speaker 1: containers like mine does. Yeah, maybe tries some of that sometime. Anyway, 460 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,800 Speaker 1: it's probably delicious. Probably you're not losing a whole lot. 461 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:37,160 Speaker 1: But Lauren, you might be saying, does SOI cause cancer? 462 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,280 Speaker 1: I was saying that were you. You were very quiet 463 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: about it, but well, you know, thank you for playing along. Um, 464 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: eating eating tofu will most likely not cause cancer, and 465 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: it may actually help prevent certain kinds of it. Okay, 466 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: so this is gonna be one of my weird medical tangents, Yell. 467 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: One of the things that soy products in general contain 468 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:02,000 Speaker 1: is particles called isoflavans, which are chemically similar to estrogens. 469 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: They're similar enough that isoflavans can fit into some cellular 470 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: receptors that were designed for estrogen in your body like 471 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,479 Speaker 1: a skeleton key into a lock, Okay, thus acting like 472 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: estrogens in certain circumstances. For example, breast tissue cells contain 473 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: estrogen receptors, and sometimes when a little chunk of estrogen 474 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: locks into one of those receptors, it causes a chain 475 00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: reaction that encourages cancerous tumor growth. This is the trigger 476 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,800 Speaker 1: of about seventy of breast cancers. Um Though, the full 477 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: process is really super complex and researchers are still studying 478 00:29:36,920 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: how and why it happens, but that's the basis of it. 479 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,520 Speaker 1: That's the first first little stick in the in the 480 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:47,440 Speaker 1: full long chain, long chain of how it does. However, 481 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:51,960 Speaker 1: isoflavians can block it from happening, because if isoflavans get 482 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 1: to those receptors first, the estrogen has nowhere to go. 483 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: It can't lock in and set off that tumorous reaction. 484 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: Isoflavans can also spurs else to produce a protein that 485 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: binds to free roaming estrogen in your body. Meeting that 486 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: estrogen will have a hard time locking into any kind 487 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,880 Speaker 1: of receptors at all, and isoflavans can even prevent estrogen 488 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: from forming in fat tissue in the first place, which 489 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: is one of those cancer causing kind of things. Research 490 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: into a variety of soy products, not just TOFU has 491 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:25,120 Speaker 1: shown either no correlation with cancer or correlation with lower 492 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:30,760 Speaker 1: rates of cancer in humans and mouse studies. However, two 493 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: types of soy protein isolates have been linked to cancer. 494 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 1: These are man made extracts of soy proteins and and 495 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: this type of stuff does not wind up in our food, 496 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,840 Speaker 1: but they are similar to the stuff that you can 497 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: get in like soy supplement pills um so maybe you 498 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:51,560 Speaker 1: don't take those until more research is done, but tofu 499 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,600 Speaker 1: is fine on the cancer front. Also, these iso flavians 500 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: have not been shown to affect hormone balances or hormone 501 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:04,280 Speaker 1: activity in dudes. So go forath and eat tofu without 502 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: being worried about cancer or low sperm counts. Yeah, it's 503 00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's what I love about food. Yeah, 504 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 1: sometimes you worry about low sperm counts sometimes when you're 505 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: discussing it. Food is so vital to so many things 506 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,719 Speaker 1: you just don't even you don't even think about another 507 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: thing that you might be thinking about. Should I be 508 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:32,880 Speaker 1: worried about GMOs? Should I know? Okay, well, okay, not 509 00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,920 Speaker 1: in terms of nutrition. There is and this is a 510 00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: strong statement, my friends, but I'm but I'm prepared to 511 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,120 Speaker 1: make it zero evidence that genetically modified food, as a 512 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:47,320 Speaker 1: large and incredibly multitudinous category, acts any differently in your 513 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 1: body at all than conventional food. Mm hm. Take a 514 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 1: moment and let that sink in. Yeah, okay, that the 515 00:31:56,040 --> 00:32:00,120 Speaker 1: one squidge area that I've read about is potential allergen concern. 516 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,600 Speaker 1: There there was a case in of um tree nut 517 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 1: allergic patients having reactions to GMO soy because the genetic 518 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,040 Speaker 1: bits that had been put into the soy had been 519 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:15,680 Speaker 1: taken from brazil nuts. Okay, but since then researchers and 520 00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: producers have forgotten a lot more careful about allergies in 521 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: that way. And even that one squidgy little bit of 522 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: concern is evidence that GMO foods act in your body 523 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,400 Speaker 1: exactly the way that regular foods do. That bit was 524 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: an allergen and it caused an allergic reaction, not mysterious. 525 00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: Please do not be scared of eating GMO products merely 526 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: because they're genetically modified. Seriously, we will we will do 527 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: a whole episode about this sometime. But that's that's the takeaway. 528 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,960 Speaker 1: There is an environmental aside here, though, oh is there 529 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: m Because some genetic modifications are designed to make crops 530 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: less bothered by by herbicides, which basically lets growers spray 531 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: herbicides with wild abandon, which is generally bad for the 532 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,760 Speaker 1: humans and other living things in the area. If you're 533 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:06,680 Speaker 1: concerned about those practices, do you know, go out there 534 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: and inform yourself, you know, do research about the specific 535 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: growers of various GMO products and uh and make your 536 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: make your consumer choices accordingly. But I'll say it again, 537 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: please don't be scared of eating GMO foods just because 538 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,080 Speaker 1: they're genetically modified. Right, Even though people weren't poking the 539 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:28,280 Speaker 1: inside of cells with the inside of other cells for 540 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: the past few millennia. That's that's the new thing. Um, 541 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: we have been genetically modifying our food bye more traditional 542 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:41,800 Speaker 1: methods since we've been farming. Yeah, I mean, just be informed. 543 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,960 Speaker 1: We're always a proponent of being informed, which makes sense, 544 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: you know what we're doing. Um. I have a friend 545 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 1: who's like tangentially in this field, and she has very 546 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 1: strong opinions on this. You would imagine, I'm sure. Yeah, 547 00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: oh man, maybe maybe we could get her to to 548 00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: come talk to us or something. She'd talk talk all right. 549 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,600 Speaker 1: She sounds usually when people say this it's sarcastically. But 550 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: I bet she's really fun at parties. Yeah, anyone who 551 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,360 Speaker 1: will talk GMOs of me at a like cocktail party. 552 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,719 Speaker 1: It's automatically we should be friends. Oh but going back 553 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: to the environmental thing, hey, is tofu environmentally unfriendly? Man, 554 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:35,320 Speaker 1: you're giving me all these frightening questions. Um, the answer 555 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 1: is like, m okay. One of the arguments for vegetarian 556 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: or largely vegetarian eating is the the impact of raising 557 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:47,800 Speaker 1: meat animals, right, because because you know, the calories that 558 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,200 Speaker 1: you get from a steak. A lot more um water 559 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:54,880 Speaker 1: and thyme and food product has gone into growing that 560 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 1: steak than would go into growing any ear of corn 561 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 1: or a to or whatever it is that you're growing. 562 00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:04,840 Speaker 1: Soy being not a tofu, you don't just grow tofu 563 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:10,160 Speaker 1: like that image. So, yeah, the meats carbon footprint is 564 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 1: really significant. Precisely how significant depends on a whole bunch 565 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:15,799 Speaker 1: of different factors in whether or not you're including them 566 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:19,280 Speaker 1: all at once. That's also a topic for a whole 567 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: episode unto itself. So you know that that's an argument 568 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:24,839 Speaker 1: for like, maybe replace some of some meat and some 569 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:28,600 Speaker 1: meals with some tofu. Mondays less mondays exactly that kind 570 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: of concept. However, in some countries, like say the United Kingdom, 571 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:37,400 Speaker 1: where most of your soy is being imported, the transport 572 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,920 Speaker 1: and manufacture of soy and tofu is also not really 573 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 1: great carbon footprint wise. Sorry, Okay, all your faiths are problematic. Okay, 574 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,919 Speaker 1: well be informed. We have to live by our own 575 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,319 Speaker 1: our own motto. Yeah, yeah, does Does that Does that 576 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,720 Speaker 1: clear everything up? Does that make everything just just perfectly muddy? 577 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 1: The world is very complex. I think that's the takeaway 578 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,240 Speaker 1: that we can that we can garner here. I believe 579 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:09,880 Speaker 1: that is all we have for you today. On tofu. 580 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:14,640 Speaker 1: I hope that uh vegetarians, that this kind of makes 581 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:18,200 Speaker 1: up for say, did you just just a little bit um? 582 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:19,880 Speaker 1: And of course there are lots of other soy products. 583 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:21,439 Speaker 1: We touched on a few of them here and there, 584 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,320 Speaker 1: but I would love to do whole episodes about Tempa 585 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 1: or um, all of their not though. Man, yeah, we 586 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 1: probably will excellent, yes, but now it's time for a 587 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:39,719 Speaker 1: listener man. Yes. So Lindsay wrote in in response to 588 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: our Gin and Tonic episode, and she said, I just 589 00:36:42,680 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: listened to the Gin and Tonic podcast. You spoke about 590 00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,319 Speaker 1: the British government enacting laws to protect people from gin 591 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 1: by making it more expensive, which in turn led to 592 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:55,759 Speaker 1: illegal and improperly distilled gin resulting in death reminiscent of 593 00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:59,440 Speaker 1: our own war on drugs. This reminds me of Costa 594 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:03,840 Speaker 1: Rica their Cassa Guarro. Costa Rica took a different approach 595 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:06,360 Speaker 1: when they were having a rise in deaths from improperly 596 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,440 Speaker 1: distilled moonshine liquor that was disproportionately affecting its poorest citizens. 597 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,920 Speaker 1: Their approach was to nationalize the production of garrow, a 598 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:19,320 Speaker 1: sugarcane derived liquor and keep it very inexpensive to undercut 599 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,239 Speaker 1: illegal operations. Obviously, you have to be a little bit 600 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:24,960 Speaker 1: skeptical when the state takes control of an industry. But 601 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,279 Speaker 1: this approach didn't incarcerate a vulnerable community like the War 602 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,279 Speaker 1: on drugs and stymied a public health crisis. Yeah. I've 603 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:34,120 Speaker 1: never heard of that, and I thought it was really interesting. Um, 604 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: and I went to the website and it looks just 605 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:40,040 Speaker 1: like any old it's like any stuff, any old liquor website. 606 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,960 Speaker 1: That's that's fascinating though. That's a I mean, good good 607 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,200 Speaker 1: on them. I feel like most stories that you hear 608 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:51,480 Speaker 1: about that kind of thing don't don't don't end happily. Yeah, yeah, yes, 609 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,640 Speaker 1: thank you Lindsay for writing in. Definitely very interesting to 610 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:59,000 Speaker 1: hear about that. Emily wrote in about our pineapple episode. 611 00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:01,960 Speaker 1: She had a lot of facts, but a lot of 612 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,480 Speaker 1: pineapple related facts, but this is one of them. My 613 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,080 Speaker 1: final pineapple thought came to me when you were talking 614 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:11,840 Speaker 1: about how expensive they were. I thought of the musical Cabaret, 615 00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:14,920 Speaker 1: in the stage version of Cabaret, not the movie. The 616 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,360 Speaker 1: Adorable Grocer Hair Schultz gives his crush a pineapple. In 617 00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,239 Speaker 1: the song it Couldn't Please Me More? And the song 618 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,720 Speaker 1: she sings things like, oh, this gift is too extravagant, 619 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:27,520 Speaker 1: and he keeps telling her that she's worth it. It 620 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:30,160 Speaker 1: culminates with him saying if I could, I would fill 621 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:34,479 Speaker 1: your entire room with pineapples. It's an adorable love song 622 00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:38,239 Speaker 1: about how expensive pineapples were in nineteen thirties Germany. That 623 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:40,120 Speaker 1: song is probably one of my favorites from the show. 624 00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 1: It really subments the love they have from one another. Anyway, 625 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,799 Speaker 1: enough of me rambling on about pineapples never enough. But 626 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,960 Speaker 1: I I think I've seen cabaret before, and I think 627 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:54,680 Speaker 1: I just wrote that off as like some kind of 628 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:57,359 Speaker 1: weird reference. I wasn't getting Yeah, sure, I was just like, oh, 629 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,520 Speaker 1: you know, well whatever, Yeah, I'm sure pine apples were 630 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 1: hard to get and like Nazi Germany. But but but right. 631 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,000 Speaker 1: But knowing the history of pineapples, it makes it so 632 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:11,239 Speaker 1: much more poignant. I know, I appreciate it so much 633 00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,719 Speaker 1: more now. So thank you for that, Emily. I had 634 00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:17,879 Speaker 1: totally forgotten about that. And thank you to everyone else 635 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 1: who has written us in or sent does things. Um, 636 00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:26,040 Speaker 1: you guys just have so many cool stories, please keep 637 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,800 Speaker 1: them coming. Yes, yes, M. We have an email address 638 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:32,840 Speaker 1: food stuff at how stuff works dot com. We're also 639 00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:37,680 Speaker 1: on various social media platforms. You can find us on Facebook, Facebook, 640 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: and Twitter at food stuff hs W and also on 641 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:46,640 Speaker 1: Instagram at food stuff. And we also have a lot 642 00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: of very fun videos. I think they're fun anyway you 643 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:54,400 Speaker 1: can find. You can find some of them on Facebook, 644 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:58,759 Speaker 1: you can find them on Amazon Prime for free in 645 00:39:58,800 --> 00:40:02,800 Speaker 1: the US with commercials and if you're a Prime member, 646 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:05,480 Speaker 1: no commercials, or you can find them on our very 647 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 1: own website, how stuff works dot com. HM. So yeah, 648 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:11,000 Speaker 1: check check those out, you know, give give a give 649 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 1: a mental high five to our sound engineer, Tristan McNeil, 650 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:17,439 Speaker 1: and we hope that lots more good things are coming 651 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 1: your way.