W

hen we arrived in Indonesia 18 years ago, pizza was proudly served with the topping of the protein king '€” tofu. At first glance, I thought it was paneer (cottage cheese) and my happiness knew no bounds because Indians adore cottage cheese. Then my husband, who had arrived a year prior to me, introduced me to this new miracle food of Indonesia.

I still remember many mothers, including myself, introducing tofu to our children. We said it was cottage cheese. All children are usually reluctant to eat new food but because of the similarity in looks between tofu and cottage cheese, acceptance was easy.

I refer to the article, '€œTempeh, tofu strike affects stockbreeders'€, published in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 11, which enlightened us about the fact that the future of tempeh and tofu producers is in the doldrums. The cause for this is the hike in the price of soybeans.

I hope this will be resolved soon via the government'€™s idea to increase domestic soybean production to curb its dependency on imported soybeans. This is excellent, wishful thinking of the government, to let the protein king tofu rule the Indonesian market forever.

Tofu, which is also known as bean curd, is the most affordable source of protein in Indonesia. With a high nutritional value and low in fat, it'€™s the perfect food for health and weight conscious people of today.

There'€™s a belief that Buddhists introduced this healthy food to people because they believed that a vegetarian diet was healthier for the spirit, so they encouraged eating the protein rich tofu as an alternative to meat.

The best thing is that tofu is easy to digest and easier to cook. No special skill is required to prepare dishes of tofu, even the kids can be taught to fry tofu so the legacy continues and future generations are not deprived of this complete health package.  

Another feather in the cap of this protein king has been added by scientists who say that the soybean has regenerative properties '€” more specifically, the roots of soybean contain nodules that discharge nitrogen and thereby enrich the soil.

So this wonder food is healthy for both humans and the soil. Not only that, tofu waste products are used as livestock fodder as it'€™s cheaper than factory-made feed that is double the price.

In the end I would like to say we all wish that the troubles of tofu producers are as few and far apart as a grandmother'€™s teeth. We want the market to always be filled with this quality food.

Indu Nandal
Purwakarta, West Java