"Strategies of the Warring States" records: "What the people eat consists largely of bean meals and leaf soup.…
"Strategies of the Warring States" records: "What the people eat consists largely of bean meals and leaf soup." Soybeans, then called shu, were a native Chinese staple. However, the term "tofu" (doufu) appeared much later, first seen in the Northern Song text "Records of Strange Things" by Tao Gu: "Shi Ji, serving as an official in Qingyang, was honest and diligent. Lacking meat, he bought several pieces of tofu daily. The locals called tofu 'the little lamb'." Thus, scholars believe tofu likely spread to the Central Plains during the Tang Dynasty, becoming a common folk food by the late Tang and Five Dynasties period.