Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Handsome Tofu @ Nijiya market

I stopped by Nijiya over the weekend and found signs all over the store advertising Otokomae Tofu, which has been immensely popular in Japan for its smooth, rich flavor. It was already sold out and the next shipment won't arrive until this Friday, July 20.

I'm very curious about it since it's supposed to have a consistency similar to cheesecake, which makes me think it's like a dessert. But then again I'm sure they're just saying that to appeal to the average American, who'd rather have dessert than a block of mashed soy beans. More than anything, these guys have a very unique ad campaign, tying it with retro '70s mascot characters and funky Japanese rock music. You can find the characters dancing on their homepage and there's a very long-winded story which supposedly explains their product, though I think it's just a randomly written story about nothing.

"Otokomae" is a funny name for a product since it means "handsome." So~ if you eat it you'll grow bigger balls? A hairy chest? Yikes...
Digg this

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi.
The dessert-like tofu must be "Johnny".
I've tried it before in Japan.
It will probably taste like flan, if you drizzle a little honey on top.
"Otokomae" tastes good, but it's not like dessert.