The Origin of Mar-Boh Tofu
1 min readPeople often wonder how”Mar-Boh”and”Tofu”can go together when they first hear the dish Mar-boh tofu.It’s a long story.
It was said that in the first year of Tongzhi Period in Qing Dynasty（1862），a Ms Chen opened a small restaurant near Wanfu Bridge outside Chengdu.Lying across the state river，Wanfu Bridge was a very busy wooden bridge back that time.Thus there were lots of people having dinner in that restaurant，and most of them were bearers carrying oil and peddlers.They always bought tofu and beef，and then scooped some vegetable oil for Ms Chen to process.After some time，Ms Chen developed a unique cooking technique，which made excellent tofu with wonderful taste and color，and was very popular among local people.Chen’s Tofu was well known then.
Because there were pocks（Mazi in Chinese）on Ms Chen’s face，she was called “Chen Mar-Boh”.Gradually，they started calling her Tofu”Mar-boh tofu”.And the name of”Mar-boh tofu”spread so fast that many people came to taste it.
According to Chengdu Chronology，Chen’s Mar-boh tofu had been on the list of famous foods in Chengdu since the end of the Qing Dynasty.It has been more than 140years since Mar-boh tofu came into being，but because of the tireless efforts of her heirs，it has been prosperous and famous overseas.It wins gourmets’praise at home and abroad.
