麻婆豆腐

Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐) literally means 'pockmarked grandmother's tofu.' In 1860s Chengdu, a woman named Chen surnamed 'Mapo' (pockmarked face) ran a small restaurant near a bridge where oil porters stopped.

She cooked soft tofu in a fiery sauce of doubanjiang (chili bean paste), Sichuan peppercorn, and minced meat. The dish was so good that it became known by her nickname, not her real name.

Mapo tofu spread from Sichuan to all of China and then to Japan, where it became a national comfort food — mapō dōfu (マーボー豆腐), slightly less spicy than the original.

The word preserves an ordinary woman's story: her pockmarked face, her small restaurant, her brilliant recipe. It's one of the few globally famous dishes named after a specific commoner.