I had no idea the significance of tofu in Portland until I walked into the door of Ota Tofu last month. And Ota Tofu was not in my plans at all. I was at a travel conference and I only had about 24 hours in Portland and I found a mural nearby I wanted to see (it was Attitude of Gratitude). This mural by Fin Dac includes live plants and is absolutely stunning. I’ve included it in this video on my instagram.
I don’t plan a lot when I travel. I find a few things I really want to see, maybe from photos I’ve seen on Instagram or in guidebooks and I pin them on Google Maps. Then I zoom into the area and search nearby for what else might interest me while I’m there. So when I zoomed in on the Attitude of Gratitude location, I found a few coffee shops, a new-ish bakery called Dos Hermanos which also had a giant mural inside and a Voodoo doughnut location I hadn’t visited yet (it was the one on Davis, and it’s exciting we’re getting a Voodoo location in Seattle soon too!). This is also how I found Ota Tofu.
Ota Tofu is the oldest tofu maker in the United States according to its website. It has been there since 1911. And I heard that the location is supposed to be moving soon but have not confirmed this (just in case you try to visit make sure you check the website before you go). You can read more about Ota Tofu on its site and it’s really interesting read. I just wish I had a cooler with me so I could have brought some tofu home. I walked into the building asked if I could take a peek at the tofu making process (they said yes!) and I bought a container of soy milk which I tried and thought was pretty decent. (it wasn’t sweet, and it had a good consistency). I’m not a big soy milk connoisseur but we do eat a TON of tofu in our pseudo-vegetarian household. (My husband is vegetarian, I eat as little meat as possible and we have two teenager boys who eat a lot and one has become a major carnivore because there is a Wendy’s near his school.) When I went you could only buy tofu and soy milk and the soy milk in the picture is the smallest size I could buy.
Are you a tofu fan? Have you ever thought about how tofu is made? I really didn’t think much about the process until I walked up and peeked in this shop. We really need to have more places like this where we can learn about our food.
(I’m not sure if this place uses Ota Tofu for it’s menu, but I was looking for places to eat Japanese food because I tried to get a reservation at the Tea House (Umami Cafe) in the Japanese Garden and could not get one for the time I needed, and someone told me to go to Obon Shokudo and I got a takeout bento there and it was delicious.
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
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