×Tofu Pudding (Douhua)

Why you must eat itSoy milk, ground and strained from the beans, is loosely set with brine or gypsum. A spoon draws no clean edge; it splits softly and slides apart. The warm bowl takes a brown-sugar syrup, the cold one iced sugar water. The taste is pale — only bean scent and a faint sweetness, little garnish. It is scooped from a large pot at the front, eaten there or carried off in a lidded bowl. In Rua do Cunha's sweet shops it sits beside firm tofu and soy milk. A light bowl for a footsore pause.