History of Hakka Yong Tau Foo • From Clan Wars to Food Heritage Co-creators 酿豆腐 • 酿菜 • 酿料

Yong tau foo 酿豆腐 like lei cha 擂茶 are iconic dishes of the Hakka people. The Hakka people originally from the Yellow River basin in central China, migrated south over nearly 2000 years due to invaders from the north (Xiongnu, Mongols, and later Manchus).

Today, Hakka people have migrated across the world and formed the fourth largest Chinese community in Singapore. Everywhere they went, the Hakka brought yong tau foo with them because to the Hakka, "there is no banquet without stuffed dishes" 无酿不成席. At every Hakka celebration, there is yong tau foo on the table.

Foods that Bind · Social Glue of Hakka People · Abacus Seed, Lei Cha and Poon Choi 客家人

Hakka people left their ancestral homeland around 300 AD when their home in the Yellow River valley was conquered by nomadic invaders from the north. For the next 1,700 years, the Hakka people kept moving south to escape wars and conflict. Today, there are over 100 million Hakka in the world with half living in China and the rest around the world.

Where do Hakka Come From? History of "Guest People" Migration & Cuisine 客家五次遷徙

Hakka 客家 people form the fourth largest community among ethnic Chinese in Singapore. Hakka presence in Singapore hawker culture can be seen in dishes like yong tau foo, lei cha rice, Hakka beef noodles, etc. In Johor (Malaysia), there are choy ban (bamboo shoot / chive dumplings), deep fried fermented bean curd pork, bitter gourd soup, Hakka mee, etc.

Hakka dishes are historic dishes, artefacts from China's ancient Central Plains, centred in today's Henan province. These dishes came to us through five great migrations of Hakka people to the South, a long march starting nearly 2,000 years ago.