After reading an article in New York Times about mapo tofu (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/dining/mapo-tofu-goes-vegetarian.html?rref=dining&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Food&pgtype=article), a classic Chinese dish involving tofu and meat, becoming vegetarian, I have to say, my mouth started watering. I totally agree, even if you switch out the beef or pork for shiitake mushrooms, the dish will still keep you satisfied. With the rich black bean paste flavoring up the tofu, highlighting the natural taste, it is something that almost everyone will like. But as good as it is, I don’t think mapo tofu is not the ever healthy dish that New York Times hints it might be, vegetarian or not. It basically taking salad (tofu), a healthy ingredient, and adding fattening ranch(black bean paste) to it, leaving a concern about how good this dish is to your body.
After combining my personal knowledge of Chinese condiments with a bit of research, I figured out that Doubanjiang, or bean paste is “naturally” made through a process of fermentation, something that takes about six months to happen. But if the process takes that long to happen, then why is the sauce essential to Mapo Tofu found almost anywhere? I really don’t believe that all those little plastic packets of Pre-mixed Mapo Tofu sauce is made through half a year of hard work.
A little more research revealed that the sauce is now rarely made naturally, but by adding little bit of this chemical to make mold grow faster, and a little bit of that chemical to make some decomposing bacteria working faster, and even more bits of chemicals into the sauce to keep it from spoiling. All this adds up to a recipe that takes less than a day to finish, giving the customers an affordable but loaded with scary chemicals that does who knows what to your body. Even through natural processes, it’s a product with high sodium, and puts a lot of stress on human kidney, and also increases some people’s high blood pressure. If it’s that bad even through natural and traditional ways, then can you imagine how many times worse the chemically enhanced one will be? It definitely won’t kill you if you eat some once a month, which was probably what NY times was talking about doing, but this dish is not as healthy as you think it is. Then, on the package, the company puts the label “Fermented Black Bean Paste,” making customers believe that this fermented product will last forever, because it’s technically made from decomposed material. But it’s not true. MSG is usually added to the unstable bacteria, along with some other flavors and even artificial additives, which makes the paste stable, but actually makes it deteriorate faster. Not a lot of people know this, though, and end up eating bad bean paste that been sitting in the back of the fridges for years.
From the moment I finished reading this article, I thought I just had to tell some people the truth about Mapo Tofu, vegetarian or regular. Although a great Chinese dish for the whole family, it still is not the most healthy choice. So everytime you might want some Mapo Tofu, just keep the true nature of Doubanjiang in mind and eat wisely.
