Reply #48: in the 1970s, I was the only kid in my class who'd eaten tofu

[Lisa]

My family was one of the few Asian households in our neighborhood. Our school district included both wealthy and working-class areas -- some Italian and Eastern European families, but most of the kids were from British or northern European stock (their ancestors had arrived anytime between the mid-1800s to the postwar era). The Italian kids were used to different kinds of greens, but most families only had the loathed "boiled sprouts" and such.

I remember bringing tofu and other Japanese foods as a "show and tell" item one day. People were amazed! (Our local grocery store didn't stock tofu until just after "Shogun" premiered on TV, and they didn't refrigerate it ... after it started to stink, they tossed it, and didn't try again until the late 1990s.)