Age dashi tofu, an old favorite, featured a buttery-smooth bean curd, but the sauce around the tofu square was a curious rubbery netting.

His mother spends time preparing unappetizing meals that are supposed to be healthy, such as homemade tofu squares, fish heads, and spring garden loaf.

The flavor was perfect, though the unusually large tofu squares would have benefited from a sprinkling of bonito flakes or other adornment.

An equally successful tofu entree was deep-fried, crispy stuffed bean curd, large tofu squares filled with chopped shrimp and lightly fried.

On my introductory plate was a big, semitranslucent puck of daikon radish, a tofu square, meat-stuffed cabbage and a shiitake mushroom stuffed with a kind of forcemeat.

Sambal tofu is an unusually tasty dish for one who doesn't like tofu: fried tofu squares, at once crunchy and soft, stuffed with vegetables and served with the peanut sauce.

Luke Felkey, a junior from Bozeman, Mont., took the helm in the kitchen, frying up tofu squares with pineapple when supplies dwindled.

Bits of green and red bell pepper, cut obsessively to near molecular size, are scattered over four tofu squares stuffed with dried shredded scallops.