Regarding Tofu 3 -Murakami Asahi-do -Haruki Murakami-

In Paris, housewives don't stock up on bread. They go to the bakery each time they need bread, and if there's any leftover, they throw it away. I believe that's how meals are supposed to be, regardless of what others may say. The same goes for tofu. It's the sensible way for a normal person to think that you should eat tofu right after you buy it and not eat tofu that has been left overnight. The mentality of thinking, "Let's just eat it even if it's been left overnight because it's troublesome," leads to the injection of preservatives and coagulants. That's why tofu shops wake up at 4 in the morning, thinking that it should be suitable for morning miso soup, and diligently make delicious tofu. However, everyone eats bread in the morning (we do too) or uses preservative-laden tofu from supermarkets, so the tofu shops lose their customers. That's why genuine and proper tofu shops are disappearing one by one from the town. Besides, these days, it's hard to find people who wake up at 4 in the morning to work diligently. It's unfortunate. Speaking of tofu, the yudofu (tofu hot pot) I had in the vicinity of Kyoto's Nanzen-ji Temple when I was a child was incredibly delicious. Nowadays, even Nanzen-ji's yudofu has become completely commercialized and tourist-oriented, but in the past, it had a more rustic and simple flavor overall. Since my father's house was near Nanzen-ji, we often took walks along the canal, visited Ginkaku-ji Temple, and then sat in the tofu shop's front yard, enjoying hot tofu while blowing on it. It was a simple and humble shojin (vegetarian) cuisine for the common people, similar to the crepe stalls on the street corners of Paris. That's why I find it somewhat strange that a recent course meal costs 5,000 yen. After all, it's just tofu, isn't it? In the world of tofu, even though it's "just tofu," it keeps its place and continues to do its best. I really appreciate that aspect of tofu.