A stew of tofu and pork in a spicy sauce, mābō dōfu is a Japanese interpretation of mapo tofu, a dish that originated in China’s Sichuan Province. Believed to have been invented by a “mapo” or pockmarked old woman, who ran a stall in Chengdu in the 1860s, the original has a distinct spiciness and tongue-numbing quality that are characteristic of Sichuan cuisine.
Robust and spicy Chinese cuisines like Sichuanese were almost unheard of in Japan during the postwar period, although mildly flavored Cantonese cuisine was already popular by then. That changed in 1952, when Kenmin Chen, a chef from Sichuan who had immigrated to Japan and taken up Japanese citizenship, introduced a milder and less spicy version that he thought was better suited to Japanese palates at the time.
Chen demonstrated his version on shows such as NHK’s “Today’s Cooking,” and the dish quickly caught on. The main ingredients — tofu and shredded or minced pork — were also inexpensive items that were popular with housewives, and the dish’s milder flavors also paired well with Japanese rice. Chen went on to tweak several spicy Sichuan dishes for the Japanese palate, and came to be known as the Father of Sichuan cuisine in Japan. (His son, Kenichi, and grandson, Kentaro, also continued his legacy by becoming top Sichuan chefs.)
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