Women on social media are using men’s reactions to tofu as an informal “test” of their attitudes toward gender, politics, and culture. A viral TikTok video with nearly 3 million views shows a woman claiming that a man’s response to soy-based food can reveal deeper beliefs about women and masculinity. Another widely shared clip from user @angelinanicollle, viewed around 1 million times, dismisses “tofu and soy hate” as rooted in misinformation about soy and hormones.
Emily Contois, associate professor of media studies at The University of Tulsa and author of “Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture,” said, “This idea that tofu maps onto femininity and that resistance to tofu tells us something about the masculinity of the man reacting to it, they’re not off at all.” She noted that although food is not inherently gendered, societies attach gendered meanings to it, with meat tied to “alpha male” imagery and plants linked to nurturing and femininity, themes also explored by Carol J. Adams in “The Sexual Politics of Meat.” Contois added that tofu is high in protein, but plant-based, and cited research associating diets higher in red and processed meat with increased erectile dysfunction, which undermines the notion that meat equals virility.
Dating coach and “Breakup Bootcamp” author Amy Chan said, “Something like tofu or veganism becomes symbolic. It’s no longer just a dietary preference… It’s read as a stance on the environment, on ethics, on masculinity, on if you have toxic values.” She argued that the so‑called tofu test reflects how daters try to assess political and social views, but also warned about its limitations. Controversially, the new US dietary guidelines promoted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. elevated meat to the top of a flipped food pyramid while stressing protein. Contois said the following about this: “We are currently in a moment when you do see this very strong alignment between a Republican administration and their views on meat, on protein, particular ideas about masculinity, about marriage, about family and children — it’s all wrapped together.”
