On the evilness of the dastardly tofu

[shanlung]

I was on this subject some time ago in my birdie groups that I plagiarised into my blog.

Since this is likely to be on the mind, especially of new age Taoists (old age taoists probably will not care a damn), I thought I should get on the soapbox here as well

 

From  

Mentality of parrot // Soya beans// Feather Plucking //Alcohol

 

12 aug 2010

 

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Soya beans

I saw this thread in "Think twice before feeding Soy Beans "
http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190576-Think-twice-before-feeding-Soy-Beans

Where Tarm quoted a paper on the evils of soya beans and that luckily the fermentation process was discovered by Chinese 2000 years ago which could remove those poison.

I felt compelled to enter.
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I almost feel embarrased in entering this thread.

By all the accounts posted such as,

Originally Posted by tarm
In men gynocimastyia sp? Which is formation of breast tissue in men. Sterility, lower testosterone, loss of sex drive. Fat accumulation. Enlarged prostate.

I should not have existed to write a reply.

Considering soy has been in the diet of Chinese over the last 3 thousand years, the cumulative impact on Chinese and other people such as Koreans and Japanese, we all should have faded away and dwindled to nothingness.

Yet, there might be 1200 millions of Chinese in the world. There might have been more, but Beijing restricted their Chinese to just one child. 130 million Japanese do exist too. And 75 million Koreas. Or 1400 million tofu and soya bean eaters in the world

Those researchers who wrote all those stuff must have a hard time explaining that.

I saw they all decided it must be because Chinese ferment tofu and abacabra! the Chinese saved themselves from extinction!

Fermented tofu and byproduct do exist. Largely as soya sauce. Soya sauce is just a sauce. Miso paste is a kind of 'condensed' soya sauce.

But those ferment soya is such a tiny part of the diet. But perhaps miracles do exist where those tiny amount of fermented soya went on to save the Chinese and other East Asiatic race from extinction and fading away.

Fermented soya also exist as fermented tofu. The other name for fermented tofu is 'Smelly tofu' or 'Stinking tofu'

Eating Smelly tofu is an acquired taste. I love eating Smell tofu as it is so delicious. The tofu is fermented to make it delicious and not because Chinese realised soya bean is poisonous and fermenting it takes away the poison.

The vast majority of Chinese hate smelly tofu with a vengence. They eat the regular unfermented tofu.

Westerners might like cheese. How many Westerners can stand blue cheese?
Blue cheese smell like roses in comparison to the Stinking tofu.

And why are there so few chinese who love Smelly tofu?

Surely, those who love poisonous unfermented tofu should have lost their sex drive and have lot less offsprings than those who ate the fermented smelly tofu?

Surely, the current Chinese race should be loving the smelly tofu if only smelly tofu allows them and their forefathers to procreate? Isnt that standard Darwin principle?
Or I gotten that wrong?

Its long known that unprocessed soy beans is poisonous.

The standard way is to soak and wash , soak and wash repeatedly soy beans before cooking.

This is what I have been urging since 2003 when I wrote on Tinkerbell Mash.

I do believe enough photos of Tinkerbell, Yingshiong , and Riamfada are available to see their state of health after all the years on Tinkerbell Mash.


I do not believe any commercial parrot pellets that use soy beans would do what I have done. A 3 days and 3 nights of soaking and washing of the soy before the cooking.

Morning with Harry & the decision// Sultan of Oman Palace// Tinkerbell Mash Batch 7
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/109957.html

But what do commercial parrot pellets makers care?

Didnt they use stuff like Ethoxyquin , originally used to preserve rubber , BHT/BHA , petroleum products , Propylene Glycol, de-icing fluid for airplanes to enable long shelf life for their pellets?

So excuse me for writing.

I should not have existed together with the hundred generation of my ancestors because of the evil poisonous soya bean we have been eating over the last 2000 years and more.

Neither do 1,200 million chinese could have existed. Especially when most of them hate the Smelly Tofu.

I have not known of a single Japanese who love Smelly tofu.

Do continue on this worthy discussion as if I never came here to write.

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Followed by 
Quote Originally Posted by Birdnut 
@Shanlung: Your post cracked me up. Thanks for sharing this alternative viewpoint. Certainly no one can say that your birds have not been in excellent health.

It sounds like you do agree that it is probably best to avoid the commercial products with soy, as surely they do not have the knowledge and have not taken the care to prepare the beans properly as you describe.


But why do you need to worry about the commercial parrot food lack of preparation of their soya beans ?

Should not one be even more worried of the icky stuff that they used to have long shelf life?
Ethoxyquin , originally used to preserve rubber ?
Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) ?
Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)?
Propylene Glycol, de-icing fluid for airplanes?

While unprepared soya beans are bad, I am a lot more paranoid on the above!

Go make your own mash aka Tinkerbell Mash and you have no need for all the worries.
You then have more time to smell roses instead. 

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And yet another from me.

There was a recent attempt by a group in Hongkong to ban the sale of Stinking tofu.
That ban failed. Stinking tofu fans may not be that many, but all converts are die hard converts.

Just that you know, you need to bring blue cheese near your nose before you can smell the blue chess.
You can smell stinking tofu stall from across the road!
Never mind how many lanes that road is (6 lanes in Taipei if you want to ask but dare not ask)

Unkind wicked people of un-elevated taste swear stinking tofu can be smelled upwind of the stall.

Those writers of 'fermented' tofu have never been anywhere near a stinking tofu (fermented tofu) stall in China, or Hongkong or Taiwan.
Or even talked to any Chinese and if they eat fermented tofu before they wrote of fermented tofu/soya bean saving the chinese race. 

Folks here might think I exaggerate on how bad fermented tofu smelled like.
I love this dish with all my heart and I found I was mild in that description as knowing how delicious fermented tofu is the smell, at least in my nostril, is wonderful as the precursor of enjoying that in my mouth and soul.

I checked on the web and was fascinated by the description by others

http://www.sfweekly.com/2001-07-18/dining/the-sweet-stench-of-success/

How stinky could it be?

As it turned out, pretty stinky. It was a stink that could make other stinks recoil in horror, a stink so mean it could beat a man senseless, drink his whiskey, then run a marathon through manure in his best suit. It was so dense we could almost see it hovering over our table during the brief period we spent acquainting ourselves with stinking tofu.


and
http://www.ellenskitchen.com/faqs/stinkytofu.html
Stinky tofu (also known by its Chinese name, Chou Dofu), a fermented tofu dish which has a very strong acrid odor, is sometimes politely called "fragrant tofu". Its smell has been described as "baby poo," "hellacious" and "sharply foul". Tourists in Taiwan or Hong Kong who follow their nose have no trouble locating a stinky tofu stand � street hawkers who sell it have been fined for breaking air pollution laws. .
.
.


Like the most fermented European cheeses, stinky tofu makes an unforgettable impression; non-native eaters find it either exotically tasty or unbearably repugnant. Twice-fermented stinky tofu, chou doufu ru, makes even stinky tofu smell good. Even many native eaters can't stand the smell.

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And another of my letter

judygram

:-)

Jayd,

I remain very good friends with folks that regularly clipped their birdies. It is not necessary to do the same thing and think the same way to be friends. That will be a boring world.

We will remain friends even if you run screaming and gagging away should we approach a fragrant tofu stall. During the time I was in Taiwan and Hongkong, never once could I get any of my expat friends to pop one piece into their mouth or even getting near one of those stall. They cross the road to walk on the other side.

I find it sad they never will experience one of the most tasty and yummy dish in the world.

Do resist the urge to run away and try just one tiny little piece should you come across those stalls. You will be a die hard convert after you experience that gastronomical delight.

Tarm,

I do not know of USA and the fetish there for soya burger or soya hotdogs . I guess thats part of Vegan mythology. I am a carnivore and love meat and to sink my teeth into those succulent meat dripping with juice. That said, one close friend of mine is a Jain where Vegans are considered as closer to being a carnivore.

Yet we are friends.

I am a carnivore as I have this aversion to hearing the tomatoes scream with pain when the knife cut into them or peas squealing for mercy when forked into the mouth.


Soaking, germinating, washing and soaking and washing and soaking removed much of the phytate.

I had been advocating this, and have been doing this in Tinkerbell Mash since I started in 2002 and not just on the soya beans.

Fermentation to soya was done to change and improve the taste. 2000 years ago, no one would have known what is a phytate even if that came marching down the street with a huge brass band.

As for that evil phytate, a lot of food stuff contains phytate, and not as if soy bean is the only evil one.

I am no expert. There are enough experts plaguing us with their thousands of papers.

In the early days when I stood almost alone in the parrot world publicly flying Tinkerbell, experts of all sizes and shapes came running along to declare what travesty of parrot caregiver I was to allow Tink to fly. That they are 'experts' were enough argument for them.

Even more 'experts' came to tar and feather me when I advocate taking your parrot out on harness and leash in the early days.

Allowing birdie to fly and to take them out safely in harness and leash is so routine nowadays.

The world financial meltdown were brought about by another bunch of 'experts' with even more PhDs and affiliations.

We the laymen all over the world are good for nothing and good only to bail them out.

I am a student but I do like to think I am a well informed student.

Extract From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytic_acid

Phytic acid (known as inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6), or phytate when in salt form)

Food................... [% minimum dry] [% maximum dry]
Sesame seeds flour .....5.36 .................5.36
Brazilnuts ................. 1.97 .................6.34
Almonds ................... 1.35 ................ 3.22
Tofu ........................ 1.46 ................ 2.90
Linseed...................... 2.15................ 2.78
Oat Meal .................... 0.89............... 2.40
Beans, pinto................ 2.38 ................2.38
Soy protein concentrate 1.24 ............... 2.17
Soybeans ....................1.00 ................2.22
Corn ...........................0.75 ................2.22
Peanuts ......................1.05 .................1.76
Wheat flour ................. 0.25 ................. 1.37
Wheat ........................ 0.39.................. 1.35
Soy beverage............... 1.24................... 1.24
Oat ........................... 0.42 ...................1.16

Do notice the tofu , or precipitated soya bean that those experts said removing the phytates have more of that then the beans.

Luckily I love the fermented stinky tofu.

I and all who feed our birdies with brazil & almond nuts have even more phytates that soya. Why is there a campaign against the phytates in soya beans and not a campaign against feeding of brazil and almond nuts?

Do we have to cook the brazil and almond nuts before we eat them or give them to the birdie?

Note food stables like corn and wheat. The phytate in them are just marginally less than in soya. But folks do eat hell of a lot more of corn and wheat than soya in burger or soya hotdog. Is the phytate in corn and wheat different from soya ?


I was thinking of taking a photo of my chest to show my breast look very normal. But I think the mods here would scream and kick me out for doing that.

I thought also my fondness for stinky tofu disqualifed my breasts to be shown either.

I know you wrote in good faith doing the best that you think you can for your birdies and for all other birdies.

I am doing the same too.

Warmest regards

Shanlung

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The thread ended amicably.

Tarm confessed to being a carnivore too. I accepted his invitation for a steak dinner and to clink glasses of beer together should I be in his part of the world even if we do not agree on soya beans.

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and then more

 

more on mind & tofu // Dommie at Omer//kitties// Riamfada and 3 turns on dime

aug 17 2010

 

 

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Soya beans

I saw this thread in "Think twice before feeding Soy Beans "
http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190576-Think-twice-before-feeding-Soy-Beans

I continued and last letter below
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>^..^<


To the only person that I know here that could not be written with the 26 characters of the alphabet.

I thought this thread had ended with tarm doing a steak for me and I bringing the beer.

I had to come back on some of the inaccuracies in your writing.

My name is not revered. More accurately , I think I am regarded with some sort of fascinated horror as a kind of heretical madman who needed to be tarred and feathered. Only question is if thats to be done now and then, or all the time.

I was cute , very cute in my toddling days. Not that anymore. In a dark night, if good folks are caught between me and a fragrant tofu stall, they turn and walk towards that stall.

The arguments against soybean/tofu rested on its estrogen content and phytates.

When I first entered this thread, I felt like a bumble-bee buzzing into a symposium of theoritical experts expounding away with calculations and graphs proving to beyond shadow of doubt that bumble-bee just cannot fly. Yet there I was flying about their charts, bodies and clipboard not knowing that I could not fly at all.

The estrogenic ickky stuff, causing low sperm count, little or no sex drive, should have caused the Chinese and East Asiatic races to have faded away. The East Asiatic people is among the largest component of the human race despite supposedly having the low sex drive and low sperm count from the evil soybeans.

Unless they take the fermented tofu, which alas, to those without elevated taste buds, might well prefer the curse than the cure.

The estrogenic iccky stuff is also supposed to cause breast tissue to form. I find it fascinating that Chinese women seemed to have about the smallest breast sizes in the world. When I was in Taiwan, the amount of adverts hitting the air on how to increase the bosom of your girlfriend, or to the women on how to prevent the boyfriend from wandering away, flogging potions made from bananas, snake oil , and everthing else but soyabeans.

Westerner women were the rage in the East. More for their lungs and not for the looks.
I could not believe those Westerner women had a fetish for eating tofu burgers and tofu hotdogs.

With all the unfermented tofus with estrogens in them, the saddest part of that is Chinese women have the least oogle-able bosoms.


The phytates article in Wiki is not a contentious issue. Some topics in Wiki are so contentious that what you see there depends on who decided to edit there last.

At any rate, it was clear lots of other food stuff contained enough phytates even if tarm and I could not exactly agree on which got what.

We agreed washing and soaking and washing and soaking get those stuff away sufficiently.

I love to take up your offer on steak when I am in your part of the world.

http://www.sfweekly.com/2001-07-18/d...ch-of-success/
gave explicit directions to that restaurant in San Francisco that served that delectable tofu. After that steak with you, I will go with you to that fragrant tofu restaurant to let you know if they kept the standard up or toned that down for the Americans.

In Taiwan and Hongkong there are so many fragrant tofu stalls. Not all are the same.
The best I ever had was in Chiayi city where I stayed a couple of years with Tinkerbell and been back to even more years to be with my sweet Tink again.

That fragrant tofu tasted so delicious and meaty that you would have sworn it must be made from Kobe beef and the Spanish black pig combined together.

That stall could be smelled not just across the road, that stall could be smelled down the road as well.

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editted on 31 July 2011
In my Tinkerbell Summertime2011, I made a visit to this special stinking tofu stall. So those who want to see those photos, click on URL below.

Tinkerbell Summertime2011 -Being with her Part 1 // 30th June - 2 July 2011
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/129050.html
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From  

Tinkerbell Summertime2011 -Being with her Part 1 // 30th June - 2 July 2011
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/129050.html

 

 

 

Later that evening, we went to the stinking tofu shop that could be smelled down the road and not just across the road that I spoke about in 

Soya beans// Feather Plucking //Alcohol
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/118404.html

more on mind & tofu // Dommie at Omer//kitties// Riamfada and 3 turns on dime
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/118669.html




Proud owner



35NT a portion


My enjoying every bit of it at Mrs Yu father house nearby.
Recently in an episode of Andrew Zimmern in his Bizarre Food program, I laughed despite my cracked ribs when I saw him gagging and defeated by the wonderfully delicious stinky tofu that he tried in Taipei. I bet what I had in Chiayi was a lot more fragrant, and even more delicious.

 

 

Idiotic Taoist with a fondness of fragrant tofu

[Nungali]

I used to make tofu, worked one day a week making it, about half a day delivering it and had the other 5 1/2 days off. 

 

Those were the days !    LIved in a caravan, had a motorbike, always had a 6 pack in the fridge and a jar of home grown, enough money to get by, a couple of GFs, a river , rainforest and beach  ......   la la laaar .

 

Good old Tofu!  

 

its defunct now  ... council and marketing restrictions,  forced out of the market by new packaging, 'long term' shelf life , solid rubbery tofu   ( our one was the natural hand made variety, have to float it in water and change the water every day ... to much trouble for people apparently. It was never hard or rubbery though, sort of half way between silken and firm tofu, but you could still fry a slab for a burger ).   Still got the plant and equipment though ... just sitting there waiting  for someone inspired to restart it (it could be done, by just private marketing with locals ) .

Edited December 30, 2015 by Nungali

[Marblehead]

I have eaten my fair share of tofu but I can't remember ever eating any "stinky tofu" although I have heard of it before.

[shanlung]

Booting this up as I read here just the other day a kumbayahing on how evil and poisonous the tofu is being chockful of a e i o us and about to embark on a wankfest out to ban tofu for the good of everyone.

 

With a bit of trepidation  and palpation in my heart I might yet bring on top of me another burning  hiding  of postings

as it did not conform to political correctness and to the comprehension of the judge jury and executioner.

 

Too much thoughts cluttered my mind and luckily I decided on wuwei and do and be damned can be as good as do and be praised and exalted.

 

Idiotic Taoist as idiotic as ever

Edited January 28, 2016 by shanlung