Tofu: The Most Misunderstood Food in America

How a 2,000-year-old food became a punchline in America's culture wars.

Somewhere in my overflowing box of vegetarian memorabilia is a faded bumper sticker from the 1990s that reads, “I Eat Tofu and I Vote.” Back then it was just a playful nod to vegetarian culture. I never imagined tofu would someday come to represent America’s political divide.

Somehow, this humble soy food has become a cultural symbol. Eating tofu can seem like an act of defiance against a political worldview that dismisses science, equates compassion with weakness, and regards unfamiliar foods with suspicion.

A 2025 YouGov poll put tofu just behind anchovies, liver, and sardines as the 4^th most unpopular food in the U.S. That reputation couldn’t be more different from its status in Asia, where it has been revered for centuries. The earliest tofu shops were established near Buddhist temples, and tofu-making remains an esteemed culinary craft practiced in small family-owned businesses throughout Asia.

Surprisingly, its journey to America started with Benjamin Franklin. He sampled tofu while in London in 1770 and was intrigued enough to send soybeans to a botanist friend in the American colonies, along with instructions for making what he called “Tau-fu,” or “Chinese cheese.” The experiment never caught on. And even after Chinese immigrants brought tofu to the United States in the mid-1800s, it took another century before it appeared in mainstream grocery stores.

Today, tofu has an oddly partisan identity. This is reflected in the YouGov poll which found that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they dislike it.

Conservative politicians have leaned into the stereotypes about tofu. In 2018, Senator Ted Cruz warned that Democrats wanted to turn Texas into California “right down to tofu and silicon and dyed hair.” More recently, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton referred to Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico as “Tofu Talarico” because Talarico has encouraged reduced meat consumption to address climate change. Paxton also called him “low-T Talarico,” invoking the familiar stereotype that caring about animals, the environment, or social justice is somehow unmanly. (I’ve written about the term soy boy,” a popular internet pejorative meant to imply that eating tofu makes men weak and effeminate.)

This is just one feature of the surprising amount of misinformation about tofu over the years. Here’s what the evidence actually tells us.

Tofu won’t alter your hormones.

Tofu is made from soybeans, which contain naturally occurring compounds called isoflavones. Although isoflavones have a chemical structure that resembles estrogen, they function in critically different ways. Decades of research show they don’t affect testosterone, estrogen levels, or sperm quality in men. In women, isoflavones may ease some menopausal symptoms and are associated with a lower risk of breast cancer, especially when soy foods are consumed early in life.

Tofu is an environmentally friendly source of protein.

Growing soybeans for direct human consumption uses far less land than raising animals for food. Most of the soy grown in South America isn’t destined for tofu at all; it’s fed to livestock. That’s one reason meat production, not tofu, is linked to deforestation in the Amazon. Tofu is among the most sustainable protein-rich foods you can consume.

Tofu’s mild flavor is its superpower.

Yes, tofu straight from the package is bland, but this allows it to take on the flavors of other ingredients giving it tremendous culinary diversity. That’s why it works equally well in spicy stir-fries, creamy desserts, savory scrambles, and rich pasta dishes.

Cooking with Tofu

If you’re baking or sauteing tofu, the first step is usually to press it to remove some of its water content. This allows the tofu to soak up marinades more readily. You can buy a tofu press for this purpose or simply place a block of tofu between two cutting boards or cookie sheets and pile your heaviest cookbooks on top.

For an even chewier texture, freeze the tofu first, thaw it, then squeeze out the water before cooking. The freezing process creates tiny pockets that absorb marinades exceptionally well.

Silken tofu, with its smooth, custard-like texture, is an entirely different product. It’s perfect for creamy sauces, puddings, dressings, and fruit smoothies, where it adds protein without changing the flavor.

Tofu’s greatest virtue is that it’s just plain fun to explore because you will never run out of new ways to prepare it. I eat tofu every day, usually twice a day and in 30+ years of doing so, I’ve never grown tired of it.

If you’re new to tofu, a stir-fried dish using a flavorful marinade is a good place to start. Here are three super easy and excellent marinades for Thai Curry Tofu, Maple Soy Tofu, and Peanut Tofu.

Then branch out. Blend silken tofu into a four-ingredient Chocolate Cream pie that no one will guess contains tofu. Make a Tofu Ricotta for lasagna or stuffed shells.

You could spend a week exploring recipes for scrambled tofu on the internet. I tend to keep it simple by sauteing onions and mushrooms in a little oil, adding pressed, crumbled tofu and then seasoning with with herbs and kala namak the sulfurous “black salt” with an eggy flavor. But you can get much more elaborate if you want. This recipe from Rainbow Plant Life gets rave reviews on reddit and this one from Thee Burger Dude looks good, too.

And, of course, tofu shines in traditional Asian dishes like General Tso’s Tofu, Korean Braised Tofu, Thai Basil Tofu, and Indonesian Baked Tofu with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Tofu has survived for more than two thousand years because it’s affordable, nourishing, adaptable, and delicious. And yes, today it’s also a little political. Those are all good reasons to include tofu in your diet.