Making Polenta Does Not Need to Be a Big Deal

It’s all about the slurry

Before we get into cornmeal, I want to mention tofu, and ​today’s episode of Food with Mark Bittman​ with tofu evangelist — and one of the authors of ​Broken Cuisine: Chinese tofu, Western cooking, and a hope to save our planet​ — ​George Stiffman​. George started on his tofu journey when he went vegan and described to us his initial resentment of the vegan movement; he saw just three main options: subtractive vegetarianism (ham and cheese sandwiches, no ham), substitutive vegetarianism (meat-based dishes with plant-based proteins), and traditional vegetarianism (hummus and falafel; peanut butter and jelly).

This sent George down a rabbit hole, and he was lucky enough to end up living in China through a language exchange program, where he cooked in Buddhist restaurants, went to Chinese university, lived with — as he calls them — “local godparents,” and apprenticed in a 5th generation tofu factory. And that’s how the tofu obsession started. Fascinating conversation, fascinating guy.