I have introduced some of my Swedish friends the blissful joy of hot pot, which is like a Swiss cheese fondue but instead of cheese, we replace it with hot broth and various kinds of ingredients. Tofu is among many of them. One of my friend pointed at the tofu and said,
"this thing does not have a taste!"
"It is Zen food. " I immediately replied without hesitation.
"why is that?"
"'Cause your mind has to be very quiet and calm to taste it." I said.
The guests were slightly stunned by this piece of zen talk and fell into quietness for a moment.
"Don't believe everything Finn said, I'm sure she just made that up! " W bursted out and all of us laughed. Then the zen food topic ended with the laughter.
But there is some truth about calming one's mind when it comes to eating tofu; one has to be still to savor the subtle difference dancing on the taste buds. I think I must have connected the term with what Japanese director Ozu Yasujirō once said " ...the technique of moviemaking down to its essentials, what I really make is tofu." This would sound like a riddle if you haven't watched some of his films. I saw Tokyo Story when I was in university. Describing an old couple coming to Tokyo to visit their daughter and being treated coldly. Not long after their visit, the mother fell ill and died. That was it. I spent half of the time wondering what did he want to say and how come it was so slow. I managed stayed till the end.
How do you describe your life? What you do? What you have achieved? Or it actually only is the fragmental bits and pieces on the fleeting moments of our lives. Sat in the back of a dark classroom, I felt the immense sadness which had filled the room like the invisible air. It came so slow and gradual that the moment I realized it, I was deeply immersed. As if I had been sitting in the living room and heard their conversation. I nodded and replied: yeah, isn't it so? isn't it so.
Zen food.: tofu, cottage cheese, rice porridge, manna porridge...
