Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Stinky Tofu

This is the No. 7 most searched keyword on Yahoo China today (280229 searches in one day). Actually, I omitted some part of the keyword because it was too disgusting. I wanted to give you a warning before you continue reading.

If you thought my recent blog entry about Beijing's fake pork buns was rather shocking, then please be mentally prepared for something that is 10 time worse.

This time it's Shenzhen's stinky tofu. The tofu is not fake, unlike the pork buns in Beijing. However, the tofu is made under extremely unhygienic conditions.

Stinky tofu is basically fermented tofu. The tofu is soaked and fermented in a special brine to give it it's strong odor. It really tastes much better than it smells. Think Limburger cheese.

Although I quite like stinky tofu personally, I never bothered to find out how it is made. Now I know.

One report from Singtao reveals that in the Nanshan district in Shenzhen, illegal tofu manufacturers use chemical powder, kitchen waste water/oil, snails, dead flies and rotten meat to make that special brine. One proud owner says that in order to increase the product differentiation of his stinky tofu in the competitive market, he adds a little fecal water for the extra touch. The investigators were so disgusted they vomited while doing the search.

I don't think I will ever eat stinky tofu again, at least not in China. Yuck! By the way, the complete keyword is "Stinky Tofu Fermented with Shit Water".

Read this original report from Singtaonet.com (Chinese)

http://www.singtaonet.com:82/society_focus/200707/t20070717_577665.html

1 comment:

mhel said...

I tried the Notorious Stinky Tofu when were in Taipei, you might want to check out also my hilarious story.