Tofu

Tofu
"Tofu" in Chinese characters
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	豆腐
Simplified Chinese	豆腐
Hanyu Pinyin	dòufu
Literal meaning	"bean curd"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin dòufu Bopomofo ㄉㄡˋ   ˙ㄈㄨ Gwoyeu Romatzyh dow.fuu Wade–Giles tou4-fu Tongyong Pinyin dòufů MPS2 dòufu IPA [tôu̯.fu] Wu Romanization deu去 vu去(Wuu Pinyin) [dɤɯ.vʊ] (IPA) Hakka Romanization teu55 fu55 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization dauhfuh IPA [tɐ̀u̯.fùː] Jyutping dau6fu6 Southern Min Hokkien POJ tāu-hū
Burmese name
Burmese	ပဲပြား (pebya/péprā:) or တိုဖူး (tofu/tiuphü:)
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	đậu phụ or đậu hũ or tàu hũ
Chữ Nôm
Thai name
Thai	, IPA: [tâohûː]
Korean name
Hangul	두부
Hanja	豆腐
Transcriptions Revised Romanization dubu McCune–Reischauer tubu
Japanese name
Kanji	豆腐
Hiragana	とうふ
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn tōfu Kunrei-shiki tôhu
Malay name
Malay	tauhu
Indonesian name
Indonesian	tahu
Filipino name
Tagalog	tokwa
Khmer name
Khmer	តៅហ៊ូ (tauhu)
Min Bei name
Min Bei	dae fu (Jian'ou dialect)

Tofu, also known as bean curd, is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is a component in East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines. Tofu can be soft, firm, or extra firm. Tofu has a subtle flavor and can be used in savory and sweet dishes. It is often seasoned or marinated to suit the dish.

Tofu-making is first recorded during the Chinese Han dynasty some 2,000 years ago. Chinese legend ascribes its invention to prince Liu An (179–122 BC). Tofu and its production technique were introduced into Korea and then Japan during the Nara period (710–794). Some scholars believe tofu arrived in Vietnam during the 10th and 11th century. It spread into other parts of Southeast Asia as well. This spread probably coincided with the spread of Buddhism because it is an important source of protein in the vegetarian diet of East Asian Buddhism.Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty described a method of making tofu in the Compendium of Materia Medica.

Tofu has a low calorie count and relatively large amounts of protein. It is high in iron, and depending on the coagulants used in manufacturing (e.g. calcium chloride, calcium sulfate, magnesium sulfate), it can have a high calcium or magnesium content.

The term tofu is used by extension for similarly textured curdled dishes that do not use soy products, such as "almond tofu" (almond jelly), tamago-dōfu () (egg), goma-dōfu () (sesame), or peanut tofu (Chinese 落花生豆腐 luòhuāshēng dòufu and Okinawan jīmāmi-dōfu ()).