this post was submitted on 04 May 2025
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Most of the experience, including your examples, is not specific to Germany. The notion that tofu is not for "real men" can be seen in other meat-heavy societies. Just like the idea that tofu is not a filling meal. In pop culture, it is often associated with weak traits (e.g. "soy boy"), and described as tasting bad or bland in general.
In Germany, a special permit was required until the 1990s to produce certain types of tofu. If you offer people something with tofu, many still turn up their noses or laugh because they think you're joking. I don't notice this as much with any other widely available food.
There is also far too much discussion about whether something can be called tofu sausage, tofu burger or tofu butter. But I think here we've passed the low point and common sense is slowly gaining ground.
Sometimes you still come across the false claims that tofu raises estrogen levels and that the rainforest is cut down to produce it.
Thank you for the insight. Yeah, I expected the "cultural" talking points to be pretty similar across the western countries, including Poland, where I live.
The vast majority of pro-meat arguments I hear are based on these conservative ideas mixed with a large dose of protectionism, so any progress tends to be very slow.
This topic got ridiculously politicized, so hopefully once people get tired of the debate they will be more willing to consider the economic/health/environment/etc. aspects, not just cultural.