THE BEAN CURD (TOFU) SELLER in OLD JAPAN by Okinawa Soba (Rob) Via Flickr: OK. I admit it. I hate Tofu. Always have, always will. On the other hand, my wife and kids eat it like there is no tomorrow --- Soft or Hard, Chopped or Stir Fried...alone or mixed with anything... and just plain fried by itself. From squiggly-wiggly Tofu....to burnt, crusty Tofu. And that great sacrilege of deserts.... Tofu Ice Cream. Just down the road from a house I lived in for years on Okinawa was a roadside Shrine dedicated to the GOD OF TOFU. The God of Tofu. Only in Japan, the "Land of Eight Million Gods" (yaoyorozu no kami 八百万の神), which in figurative Japanese really means "Land of an Infinite Myriad of Gods". And that includes the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent TOFU --- the all-knowing God of eternal blandness that depends on the sacrifice of untold numbers of innocent soybeans to support his very existence. Oh well. Better the Japanese God of Tofu than that insidious and evil "Demon of Post Nasal Drip", who the American Pentecostal Missionaries just down the road were --- by invoking the mighty name of Jesus --- trying to cast out of their Church members who had the Flu. Amazingly, these cases of Demon Possession seemed to have been effectively dealt with in the name of Jesus. The offending minions of Hell were cast out of the Flu sufferers, and returned to their fiery abode in the center of the earth. That is to say, these poor church members who had their demons of sickness cast out, actually saw their cold and flu symptoms completely and miraculously cleared up ---- only three short weeks after they had gotten prayed for !!! Hallelujah !!! (And to think that some people say Demons aren't real, and prayer doesn't help !) Time for some TOFU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ca.1890s large albumen print. Attributed to SHINICHI SUZUKI the Younger, whose studio closed in 1896. Photo #1016 RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/