Mandatory Blog Post #7 - You ams Tofu

Whether or not you have eaten tofu is irrelevant; we all know about tofu. We know about its spongy, rubbery texture that true meat lovers will refuse to eat until death. It is made from congealed soy milk that is pressed into bricks and served with savory and sweet dishes. Many people would call tofu tasteless and bland, but those people haven't had it prepared correctly.

Tofu can absorb the flavor of anything around it. You can put it in a broth to have a tasty meat-like substance for protein, it can be grilled with BBQ sauce for a smokey flavor and much more. It is a good replacement for meat, as it contains a lot of protein, low fat and low cholesterol. It really is a beautiful thing.

When most people think of tofu, they think of this picture to the right. It is a good picture and representation of the true reality of tofu...


But the tofu that anyone who has enjoyed a good vegetarian dish knows it looks like this picture. See? Tofu can look good.

Now, I bet you're wondering why I am talking about tofu in a blog about new media, well, I have come to the conclusion that we are tofu. All of us who use new media like Facebook, Twitter and some who use sites like 4chan and Reddit are tofu. The Internet culture created by these sites is absorbed into the user, much like a flavor.

There are barely moments in ones daily life where there is a lack of Internet culture, memes and references to YouTube videos. Because we have access to all of these sites on our phones and tablets, we are constantly taking in this culture. A funny picture posted on Facebook will be seen by several people sitting in one room and instantaneously they have something in common. Those few people may share that photo and several more would be engaged. It is constantly changing color and flavor, just like tofu.

Since tofu absorbs a flavor, its base flavor changes and is a mixture of the new and old. Those of us born at the birth of the consumer computer and Internet are the most like this soybean curd. We grew up learning everything the old fashioned way, but at some point things changed and we all typed our papers and learned from Oregon trail. We still have traces of our old flavor, but we were introduced to a new environment and had to take it in, we had no choice. Those who were born within this new age of technology are more like meat, they are what they always were; they know what they were raised to know.

People are just rubbery, squishy and white blocks of tofu waiting to be flavored. It is so easy to flavor a person and the Internet has allowed for that to happen in mass amounts. The ease of access of information allows for any flavoring to happen at a fast rate. So, next time you see someone eating tofu, don't feel grossed out, just remember that it is just a blank slate that has been changed by its surroundings.

P.S. Don't you think its funny that tofu is flavoring other tofu with its own flavor?