Tofu has been around for more than two thousand years. It’s central to entire cuisines, celebrated in longevity studies, and versatile enough to take on any flavour you throw at it. And yet, in the United States, nearly half the population claims to “hate” it.
To be fair, most people who try tofu either prepare it themselves without knowing anything about it... or they taste someone else's bad try. Tofu is wonderful but it does need to be prepared well.
I love it!😁 so versatile for cooking and baking!
That same number has likely never tried it but will perpetuate the falsehoods of tofu being a source of weakness and not cuisine.
Tofu takes some skill to cook properly. I’m guessing 90% of Americans have only had stir fry cubes of tofu added to fried rice against their will.
They have no idea how good it is 💚
I love kimchi, but many people I know don't like it. Other people's dislikes are based on a myriad of things, and yet their aversion does not move me.
How many people still cook from scratch, where they make 90% of their meals without over processed food? Most have no idea how to flavor tofu or anything else.
The first time we ate tofu, we steamed it and added it to a pasta dish. It tasted like a pencil eraser. Then I opened a cookbook… Now, we eat 3 or 4 blocks/week. I make a KILLER pineapple curry with tofu. I air fry it in small pieces and top our salads with it. I have tofu scramble once a week.
Only because it’s a signal of tribal identification. Tofu tastes like whatever you want it to taste like. People who “hate” it hate “elites.”
Not me!! It IS incredibly versatile!
It's the texture. 🤮
Silken and firm?
Relax. I eat tofu. I mean the texture in my mouth. Some people feel the same way about mushrooms.
I freeze it as soon as I get it home. Thaw it and proceed with pressing and marinate or season however you prefer. Freezing it improves the texture, imo. Hope this helps.
This is the way. Big tofu needs a PSA.
a million different ways to cook it. texturally too.
What's wrong with it? If you dont like to touch it you can try to cook it without touching it with your hands
I eat it whenever it is in a dish I have ordered. I'm just saying the texture is... yucky. Some people feel the same about mushrooms. It's all good.
Oh I get it, you're right it feels different from a person to another
I hated it until I realized I didn't have a clue what I was doing with it. I watched a few YT vids and I'm all good now> Team Tofu!
According to a recent YouGov survey, tofu ranked as the fourth most-hated food in the country – behind anchovies, liver, and sardines. It’s a strange list when you think about it. Anchovies, liver, sardines – all body parts of dead animals.
Ignorance
I love all of those things. My parents lived through WWII and did not play when it came to high protein, affordable food options. I was a teen in the 80’s when tofu was introduced to my diet. It’s so versatile, and sucks up the flavor of any sauce you add to it. It’s so underrated in the U.S.
Yet tofu, a block of beans, somehow earns just as much vitriol. The survey showed that dislike for tofu increases with age, race, and political conservatism. Middle-aged and older Americans, especially white Republicans, are leading the charge against it.
Gen Z and Millennials, meanwhile, are far more open to it. What does that tell us? That resistance to tofu isn’t really about the food itself. It’s about culture, habit, and identity.
Check politics too. I’m a younger genX (basically Xennial ) I love tofu I’m also liberal. I can definitely see maga types more against tofu. I ate it before I became vegan 11+ years ago when I was just vegetarian and eat it even more as Vegan. it’s awesome!
For many, tofu is seen as “other” – foreign, vegan, not part of the meat-and-potatoes narrative that dominates American eating. Hating tofu isn’t about taste. It’s a declaration of allegiance to a system where eating animals is normalised and expected.
Tofu’s reputation as “tasteless” is laughable. By that logic, pasta, rice, and potatoes would all be hated foods too – unless seasoned, they’re bland. The difference is cultural framing.
Potatoes are comfort food; tofu is branded “weird health food.” The truth is that tofu is a canvas: it absorbs marinades, crisps up beautifully in the pan, blends into sauces, and can replace eggs, cream, or meat depending on how you use it.
When people dismiss tofu, what they’re really revealing is their lack of imagination – or their unwillingness to learn a new way of cooking.
Consider the hypocrisy: flesh from cows, pigs, and chickens is seen as “real food” even though it only tastes like anything after seasoning, marinating, and cooking. Strip away the salt, fat, and spice, and you’re left with something nobody would eat raw.
Yet somehow tofu gets singled out as “flavourless.” The irony is that tofu is healthier, more sustainable, and doesn’t require killing someone to put it on your plate. In places like Okinawa, where tofu is eaten daily, people live some of the longest, healthiest lives on Earth.
But in the US, where animal protein is idolised, heart disease and obesity rates are through the roof. Hating tofu isn’t really about tofu. It’s about defending the mindset that animals are food, that eating their bodies is tradition, and that alternatives are a threat.
I do struggle with it. Spuds I love.
They say if you don't like tofu you've not had it prepared well. I've come across many instances of poorly prepared tofu and a few places that were delicious.
Spuds are awesome though 😅
This is the problem: me, preparing it.
I'll grant you that with pasta, except for pasta stuffed with various fillings. It's the sauces that make the dish. And, it's true, cooked past is a far more familiar texture than tofu to many people outside of east Asia. But potatoes and rice? Your point fails.
And potatoes absolutely are not tasteless even with little or no seasoning. Potatoes also are incredibly versatile, they're very familiar and adaptable, and they play a central role in the cuisine of many nations; far more than tofu.
Rice because it's usually either cooked with flavorings to make it tasty, or it's intended to be used as a bland counterpoint to highly flavored and often spicy food. In other words, its blandness is a welcome quality. A quencher. And its texture is familiar to almost everyone on the planet.
Guarantee if you sampled the most favourite you'd also find a lot of parts of dead animals.
I love tofu. It's a staple of my diet.
This company here in the UK make great Tofu & Tofu products like burgers, meatballs, cubes even scrambled. tofoo.co.uk
If it isn't prepared right, it's disgusting. The texture is so soft and slimy if cooked wrong (and honestly even sometimes when it's cooked right, in a certain way). I'm vegetarian and DO eat tofu but only in certain dishes because the texture makes me gag.
If you cook, try freezing it first. It changes the texture. bsky.app/profile/rasp...
It took me some time to enjoy Tofu and see how versatile it is. As has been mentioned, it's a vehicle for flavours. When you find a recipe or recipes that you like, we'll it's a game changer.
Yup. It's exhausting. They also claim to 'hate' vegan burgers. But whenever there's a study, they don't 'hate' them. They PREFER them. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
But they can always tell the difference youtu.be/yRWqMT_-ubQ?...
It was 'luscious and lovely.' I bet it was!😂 You heard it there from a "sausage expert." I will say he does look the part.
A CLASSIC!!
if anyone wants good recipes, search for the burger dude on social media. or visit theeburgerdude.com/recipe-index... :)
That's because they don't know how to "make" it.
Apparently I LOVE the top 4 things everyone else hates. Toss in Bleu cheese too🩵
Living in Texas, I‘ve noticed the people who dislike tofu usually haven’t even eaten it or didn’t know they were eating it. They just hate anyone who doesn’t eat animals. They tend to like killing animals too.
Stay safe.
Mapo Tofu is a dish with pork and tofu in a tangy gravy. Easy enough to make, and I use silken tofu to make the gravy seem thicker and more luxurious.
Amazed it is only half.
The texture is gross and it gives me nasty flatulence.
It’s nutritious, just not as “neutral” a flavor as you claim. Other countries like the UK, Canada and Germany consume at much lower rates.
It can be made to taste like chicken wings, burger patties, lasagna cheese, or chocolate pudding, seems like a neutral flavor would be required to fit all those criteria
Hooray that you find tofu neutral! Some of us have tried to love tofu, but don’t find it nearly as neutral as you do.
I eat it multiple times a week. 😋
1/4 of the U.S., voted for Drumpf… Freeze it or squeeze out the water and marinate it. A chef can ruin a filet or make sublime tofu. It’s on you.
Because it’s gross slop that has no flavor and a bad texture. It’s like gruel but with more soy
what do you even consider good food? who even has had gruel in real life? i mean, jesus christ what century are you from?
Obviously not tofu
It soaks up with lots of flavor, I love pork tofu!
In France, tofu is gaining ground. Popular with young people and organic fans, its consumption is rising alongside the plant-based market and national soy production. Not mainstream yet, but clearly on the rise!
The French market for plant-based food products grew by 8.8% in 2024 compared to the previous year, reaching a value of 537 million euros.
A 2019 study revealed that 32% of French people consumed tofu, placing this product behind soy drinks (39%) and soy-based desserts (35%).
It's the texture for me. I don't like eating what feels like a wet magic eraser, I'm sorry.
It only tastes that way if you cook it that way. I like it when it's the consistency of chicken.
Probably in other western countries as well. Tofu is bland to the point of almost being tasteless. It has an odd texture. It's completely understandable why those unfamiliar with it would dislike it. Frankly, in the hands of someone who doesn't know what to do with it or flavor it, it's terrible.
However, for those who understand how to use it and impart flavors to it, it's terrific. It's a matter of familiarity, experience, and expertise. Perhaps mixed in with a bit of open-mindedness. Not mysterious or surprising at all.
The issue with tofu for me at least it is presented as a meat substitute. It is not. It’s very much its own thing. I do need to try using it more.
Yeah, people attach some moral superiority to it, for all the reasons the above person mentions. Why can’t it just be that someone likes steak the same way they did when they were 11 years old and never heard of tofu?
More of a vegetarian diet is healthier. And I’ve enjoyed tofu when prepared well. Part of the joy of being alive is tasting new things. I’m quite fond of steak. But I learned to cook it well early. Tofu is going to require some experimenting.
Try this: Freeze, thaw, drain, chop, coat and cook it. Or drain, chop, freeze (separated cubes on a tray to freeze then combine in freezer bag until ready to use), thaw, coat and cook it. This gives it a firmer texture and it more easily absorbs sauces or marinades. youtu.be/QijDgL1PI5o?...
Yeah, but for a lot of people food is a comfort, and trying new things just isn’t in the equation. And if that’s what someone prefers, who cares? To each their own. They know it’s not as healthy, they know it requires killing animals, but none of that matters to them and that’s ok.
No judgement here. I’m big on my comfort food too. Went to a diner a couple of weeks ago got a chopped steak. Offered A-1 for the first time in ages. Immediate transport to family dinner at Bonanza, age 11. Hit me out of the blue, that combo did.
Yeah, so you’d probably agree that the idea people continue to enjoy meat over tofu doesn’t have to be blamed all the negative factors, proposed by the original poster.
I agree with bad press and inability to be used properly. Most people’s introduction my age was the Tofurkey and my God that was terrible. There needs to be balance. OP is a bit…unbalanced. 🤣🤣
Yeah, I just feel like vegetarian stuff should accept it’s vegetarian. I’ve enjoyed many a black bean burger, but when someone says oh this veggie burger is just like a real one, when it is objectively not, I end up holding a grudge against the food lol
Black bean burgers rock. Perfect example.
Vegetarian challenge is always protein. Tofu is a solid protein. That’s why it keeps coming up.
How much protein do you think you need?
More than you get from a diet of leafy greens, less than a pound of steak every night. Tofu is a complete protein, which makes it an important part of a plant-based diet. Tempeh was another. (Ex-wife’s first son went vegetarian at age 3 for two years because cows are cute.)
Most people eat too much protein, including vegans. The Myth of complete protein has been debunked endlessly since it was thought up in the 70s.
Sure, but some folks who love their tofu can’t seem to grasp that some others just prefer a steak. When it comes to food, each their own should be a motto everyone lives by.
There are many bad tasting tofu brands out there and very few excellent ones. We eat House brand Extra Firm now but really miss Bountiful Bean (Simple Soyman) from Milwaukee. Bake it and toss it in a stirfry or curry, or with mayo and eat like chicken salad. Great source of calcium.
Has to be served properly.
They’ve never had it prepared well.