{"id":42946,"date":"2026-04-09T09:51:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=42946"},"modified":"2026-04-09T09:51:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:51:45","slug":"mouthing-off-is-stinky-tofu-ban-for-us-restaurant-discrimination-or-just-lack-of-common-scents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=42946","title":{"rendered":"Mouthing Off | Is stinky tofu ban for US restaurant discrimination or just lack of common scents?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Is the freedom to stink a right or a privilege?<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">I started to ponder this question after a report last week that a Taiwanese restaurant in California had been <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">ordered to stop selling stinky tofu<\/span> after repeated complaints from a resident.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Let me emphasise that these objections came from just one unrelenting individual. The neighbours in the commercial plaza did not seem to mind. Staff at the beauty salon next door said they could not smell the funky fermented bean curd.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The restaurant\u2019s owner proclaimed that stinky tofu was a \u201ccherished taste of home and a source of cultural pride\u201d. But representation be damned. One single nosy complainer\u2019s persistence persuaded authorities to request that the shop mitigate the smell \u2013 requiring expensive equipment \u2013 or stop selling stinky tofu.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The result is that the family eatery has now dropped one of its most popular dishes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-0 e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Golden Leaf restaurant in San Gabriel, California, was ordered to stop serving its signature stinky tofu after complaints from neighbours. Photo: TNS\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/04\/08\/d83351ec-2290-482b-9dd7-40142a3e4e0d_657923af.jpg\" title=\"The Golden Leaf restaurant in San Gabriel, California, was ordered to stop serving its signature stinky tofu after complaints from neighbours. Photo: TNS\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1bj5zno e1gf69pb1\">The Golden Leaf restaurant in San Gabriel, California, was ordered to stop serving its signature stinky tofu after complaints from neighbours. Photo: TNS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Is this really fair? Or is it simply the required compromise in a multiethnic community? We all aim for an inclusive world, but can we occasionally exclude the bits we don\u2019t like from a minority group?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/article\/3349249\/stinky-tofu-ban-us-restaurant-discrimination-or-just-lack-common-scents?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is the freedom to stink a right or a privilege? I started to ponder this question after a report last week that a Taiwanese restaurant&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[6011,7882,4043,13160,6157,476,7512,15556,6489],"class_list":["post-42946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-ban","tag-common","tag-discrimination","tag-lack","tag-mouthing","tag-restaurant","tag-scents","tag-stinky","tag-tofu","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}