Who invented Mapo tofu with soul?

Mapo Tofu was founded in the first year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1862), and there is a store named "Chen Restaurant" next to Wanfuqiao in Chengdu. Chen Chunfu (Chen), the owner, died long ago. The small restaurant was run by the proprietress, whose face was slightly numb and she was called "Chen Mapo". At that time, Wanfuqiao was a river crossing Fuhe River, where coolies often stopped to point. People who patronize restaurants are mainly oil porters. Chen has a unique cooking skill in making tofu. Cooked tofu tastes delicious and has outstanding quality, which is deeply loved by people. The cooked tofu she created was called "Chen Mapo Tofu", and her food store was later named after "Chen Mapo Tofu Shop".

The history of Chen Mapo's creation of Mapo tofu is recorded in books such as Jincheng Ci and Hibiscus Flower. "Jincheng Zhuzhi Ci" says: "Mapo Chen Shangming, tofu is best baked, the curtain on Wanfuqiao is moving, and the husband is drunk." According to Chengdu Survey, Chen Mapo's tofu was listed as a famous food in Chengdu in the late Qing Dynasty.

Chen Mapo: Mrs. Ma's surname is Wen, and she is the seven girls in the sauce garden of the North Gate Fire Temple. Her nickname is Jojo. Jojo has a pair of watery eyes and a delicate figure. However, God was narrow-minded and sprinkled some white pockmarks on her pink face, but she was so charming.

At the age of seventeen, I married Chen Zhihao, the fourth shopkeeper of Shunji Timber Company. After the wedding, the young couple showed unusual love. Because of this, eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law spread some gossip intentionally or unintentionally in jealousy. I have always liked her mother-in-law, and gradually scolded her for being left out.

After sharing a small amount of cash and three dollars, the husband and wife left the Chen family's lair.

Three blocks of houses, one lives by itself, and the other two are rented to the original mutton shop and tofu shop. Four people went to Majia Mill, 20 miles away, to be in charge of a news room.

The following spring, Sister-in-law Shuhua left her parents in a rage because she quarreled with her second aunt and took refuge in her fourth aunt. Majiamio area is full of oil mills. People in the triangle area near Chengdu are mostly engaged in the cultivation and oil extraction of rapeseed, which is called rapeseed, and most of these rapeseed are concentrated in Majia to extract oil. The shopkeeper is kind and sincere. A year or two later, he has risen from the steward of weighing and distributing oil to the clerk of buying and selling. As long as he handles the incident well, he is extremely sympathetic and kind to those poor porters, and will never let the coolies pay their blood and sweat in vain.

The place where her family lives is the only way for the Ma family to run into the city. Most porters use this place as a transit point. In order to appreciate the kindness of the four shopkeepers, they often send something of their own in return. Although he refused again and again, the poor paid more attention to courtesy than benevolence, so after receiving it, Jojo always bought some mutton from the store on the left, some tofu from the store on the right and cooked a plate of two side dishes in return.

This happy life has just passed ten years, but the unfortunate fate has fallen on her. On July 15th, the 27th year of Guangxu, four shopkeepers in Majiadu, Jintang capsized. Since then, she lost her beloved husband and her dream of life.

Shuhua saw that she was lonely and had a sense of dependence for ten years. Although she is nineteen years old, she is still reluctant to leave her fourth sister-in-law who loves her very much in trouble and get married. Aunt and sister-in-law open the door to make a living and work hard for their livelihood. Fortunately, this relay station still has people coming and going every day. Those "vegetable farmers" who plant oil and "porters" who sell oil as coolies, whether they are familiar with or just know each other, are very grateful to the four shopkeepers for their kindness in those years. Watching them open their stores, they still come to rest every day. Some bring some food, some order food, and the empty-handed ones are in two stores next door. Buy some mutton and tofu, wash them and cook them, and then you can have a full meal. Everyone deliberately left a bite, enough for aunt to have two meals in the morning and evening.

During this period, Qiao Qiao developed a special skill of cooking tofu, and Qiao Qiao's reputation of minced meat tofu (mutton) spread throughout more than ten counties of a government in western Sichuan.

It was thirty years of Guangxu, and the social atmosphere was conservative. When women appear in public, they will inevitably be criticized by others. Chen Wen's two relatives and friends thought it was a great shame and went to the door to dissuade them, but they were determined. The shop was open every day and tofu was still burned every day. Later, she simply announced to the two companies that she would close the store as long as she paid 5,200 silver to "live". When it comes to asking for money, my brother-in-law has to keep his mouth shut and hold back.

From then on, my aunt cheered up and greeted the business wholeheartedly. Sister-in-law chops meat and cooks, and sister-in-law cleans the table and washes the dishes.

In this way, year after year, the store has expanded and the business is booming, but their youth has slowly passed away in a pair of "Little Golden Lotus". In order to avoid gossip, the store is a "five-foot child with no answer." Tofu and mutton should be bought by the guests themselves, and there is no dispute about the temperature and meal cost paid by the guests. They are overworked. In the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934), Mr Shuhua fell ill and had to find a distant grandchild to help him. Less than a year later, my aunt died.

Some people called her Qiao Girl, Si Shaonai. Some people call her Mrs. Chen Si, the shopkeeper's mother. Mapo is the signboard she earned after her death: hemp is the beautiful and exquisite memory of others; Grandma, it is the young Gao Deshao's title of respect for her.