Tofu Curtain

The Tofu Curtain is a term coined to describe a cultural and socioeconomic divide between regions of the Pioneer Valley along the Connecticut River in Massachusetts. The term derives its origin from the political and ideological Iron Curtain that separated communist Eastern Bloc countries from Western Europe during the Cold War. The insertion of "tofu" asserts that a high proportion of vegetarians reside on one side of the divide, and associates left wing politics with a health food lifestyle.

While the Tofu Curtain most often refers specifically to a region of Western Massachusetts, other tofu curtains have been named along similar socioeconomic, educational, and/or ethno-racial divides in various locations both in the United States and elsewhere.

The line of the Tofu Curtain runs roughly east-west along the Holyoke Range. To the north is wealthier Hampshire County, home to the Five College Consortium of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges, as well as the University of Massachusetts. To the south is Hampden County, comprising the mostly working class cities of Holyoke and Springfield, as well as their surrounding towns. While this southern part of the Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley is the second largest metropolitan region in the state, areas of it are economically depressed, with a deficit of available jobs and average household incomes ranging from $14,000 to $24,000 annually. Meanwhile the more rural and collegiate areas to the north are home to a preponderance of worker cooperatives and small businesses that often manufacture and sell natural products (such as tofu) to a more affluent population.

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