There are a diversity of snacks and street foods in Taiwan, which make people’s mouth water, and Stinky Tofu is one of the most representative Taiwanese street foods. Its unique strong odor is generated by the process of fermentation. Many foodies are attracted by its odor. The more stinky the merrier.

The origin of Stinky Tofu is allegedly a beautiful accident. It was said that during the rule of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, a tofu merchant saw a more lucrative investment in making a lot more tofu, and yet, the business did not go well that day. To prevent the tofu from spoiling, he came up with an idea to sprinkle salt and seasonings over them to prolong preservation, and the tofu turned out to be vastly stinky but accidently tasty. Stinky Tofu is thus passed down from then.

Soak fresh tofu in stinky brine for a period of time, through the growth of microbes such as bacteria and fungus, the strong stinky odor is thus generated.



We visited the stinky tofu stand across our school, and the owner of the stand is Chen, Ping-Cheng, who is in his twenties. He fervently shared his toilsome experience as an entrepreneur in details, told us how stinky tofu is made and showed us tofu related fusion cuisine that he came up with. We formed a more profound knowledge of stinky tofu and we want to thank the owner for his fervent reception.

After the interview, we bought stinky tofu to share with our classmates, and they all had a great time enjoying the food.