Is all tofu bean curd made with rotten shrimp and maggots?!
Answers: I am a vegan and I love tofu bean curd. There is rarely a day goes by without my food having tofu in it. My favorite is the fried cubes that can be dipped in sauces. Yesterday, I was visiting with a friend from college who works in a tofu production and packing plant in California. I asked him if I could see how it was made and his boss said sure. Well, first I was shocked and dismayed to find that their tofu is made by soaking for hours in a brine broth of rotten vegetables and shrimp. I was further shocked to witness what looked like maggots in a certain batch. My friend told me this was fairly common in tofu production, and he never eats tofu. Can someone please tell me if this is just the one plant and not typical of all tofu production?
I know people make fun of me for not trusting products that are NOT labelled as suitable for veggies.
But this is what you get if you don't.
There is nothing to say Tofu HAS to be suitable for vegans, if you buy it without the label or confirmation from the maker, you are playing guesswork with your "veggie" or "vegan" claim
As for maggots, that is a local problem that may not be repeated in other tofu production plants.
It would depend on the particular manufacturer. When I was working my way through school, I used to work at an electrical repair facility. Across from the shop was a tofu business. One of the guys who worked with us commented that he had been to the tofu place and would never eat tofu again as long as he lived. We didn't believe it so he dared us to go look. I'm not going to describe what I saw because I don't like thinking about it.
If you decide to eat tofu, find out who makes the tofu you are eating. I will say that I saw no shrimp broth, but to tell the truth, I don't know what all was in the liquid.
I think this goes for a lot of food processing. If it doesn't matter to you, then don't bother. I already know that chocolate manufacturers allow a certain amount of insect fragments and larvae and it does not really bother me. If I were a vegan, however, I would be concerned about things like tofu and chocolate.
That is a common sight among smaller or "mom n' pop" makers. But it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and some do use shrimp broth as flavoring to the soaking liquid. Most however, use plain brine or water (but the water itself may be of dubious hygienic quality). Then mill/grind the beans to get the "milk. Then the liquid is cooked (under cooked soy bean milk is toxic) and again depending on the type of tofu being made, a coagulant is used to achieve the desired firmness. Then pressed or allowed to set. Some tofu varieties are allowed to ferment and some grow a :skin which is extracted then allowed to dry (fermented tofu and tofu skin, are Chinese delicacies). Note that the most common coagulant used is plaster of Paris.
For soy milk, some add sugar and other flavorings.
I find imported Japanese brands to be the most hygienically prepared because of the higher standards But some Chinese brands are also reputable.
Hi
I certainly hope not. I can understand it might need some sort of fermentation process, but the ones I get list salt not fish brine as an ingredient.
I get pureland tofu in Australia, certified organic and it's ingredients are listed as:
Organic beans
Mineral Salt 511
Nigari
Water Added
If I find out there is anything from an animal I will be reporting it.
I think they would need to say on the packaging if they used shrimp broth as some wines we get here say that "fish bones" may have been used in the production of the wine (as they can be used to filter it). So the fish may not be an ingredient of the wine, but still used in processing and they mention it on their labels. I would expect tofu would have to follow the same rules in Australia.
If you do not raise and process your own food you really have no idea what is in it no matter what the label says.
You're describing the process of making "stinky tofu" which is much different from regular tofu.
Check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinky_tofu
That is not 'stinky tofu' as someone else said. It is just that stinky tofu tends to use these methods as a rule rather than the exception.
I'm inclined to agree with exsft and ecocath. Their answers seems based on experience and logic rather than anger and hostility, like so many other answerers.
I've always thought it was hypocritical to point a finger of blame at certain people who eat meat or dairy products, yet it is ok to eat yeasts, maggots, and things cooked in meat or seafood broth.
Many of these people will tell you that the bottom line is to look at the label. They say that the label has to be honest and upfront. That is simply untrue. Much of our food and medicine supply now comes from countries other than our own. They don't follow labeling rules as strident as they may claim. That is why we are seeing so much news about this subject regarding China. Remember the dumpling type wrapping skins that turned out to be made with dirty rat infested cardboard boxes?
It's also untrue that labels are always truthful in the USA. After all, a manufacturer may not call an ingredient "shrimp broth", since there are no legal rules which say it has to do this. It may be called by the chemical composition's name.
It's easy to point a finger of blame at a person who eats meat and say that your meat has maggots. But that does not answer the question, does it? Nor, does it obscure the fact that some foods may have maggots and meat broth in them, without it being on the label.
It's time some finger-pointing people learn what the chemicals are actually composed of when they read the labels. For instance, many of them think Jello is vegan since the label admits no pork. But Jello has a very interesting history of pork in it's background, and cannot be made without it. The product is called by its chemical name on the label.
"People who live in Glass Houses should not throw stones."
Wow!
I have to agree with Michael H. If you have any doubts, learn about all the ingredients in the label. I will never ever again assume if it doesn't say meat or dairy that it is vegan.
EDIT ... Jello is made with pork???? :-(
tofu is actually made from soy beans. if you saw it being produced differently and with such unsanitary methods, then you should report that factory to the health or sanitation department.
That is the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard and if it's not then report the processing plant to the authorities.
tofu is soy. soy comes from soybeans.....
If it were brined with shrimp or seafood, it would have to be on the label, as all products made with common allergens have to have it clearly listed.
I suspect the anti-tofu business comes from anti-soy and anti-vegetarian propagandists. There are probably maggots (and worse) in the meat you eat.