The Tradition of Tofu: Portland's Ota Tofu

The Tradition of Taste

Ota Tofu has been crafting traditional Japanese tofu for more than 100 years. Today, it attracts a new generation of Portland chefs.

written by Rachel Pinsky | photography by Carly Diaz

WHEN OTA TOFU OPENS ITS DOORS on Southeast Stark Street each morning at 9 a.m., customers arrive bearing Tupperware and coolers, seeking pieces that are still warm. Employees from Portland favorites like Nong’s Khao Man Gai, Verde Cocina, Aviv and Marukin Ramen appear with buckets.

What they seek? An artisan, plant-based product made using traditional Japanese methods, without preservatives or machines, in much the same way for more than 100 years.

The tofu sits in an ice bath.

Ota Tofu’s History

Ota Tofu started from humble beginnings. Brothers Heiji and Saizo Ohta immigrated from Okayama to Portland in the early twentieth century. In 1911, they opened a tofu shop called Asahi Tofu. Thirty-one years later in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 forcing the relocation of all Americans of Japanese ancestry. The tofu shop’s owners, Saizo Ohta and wife, Shina, were interned at Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho. Saizo Ohta died at Minidoka. After the war, Shina Ohta returned to Portland, where her landlord had kept the company’s tofu-making equipment safe, and reopened the shop. In 1957, she gave the factory to her son-in-law and his son, Koichi Ota. Koichi Ota went to Japan to study tofumaking, then built the current factory in the early 1980s, making changes to create the tofu recipe we know today.

Koichi Ota’s wife, Eileen, took over the company in 1987. Growing up in Portland, Eileen had eaten Ota Tofu her entire life, but wasn’t very passionate about it. When she married into the family, she had no interest in working at their tofu factory. “I never wanted to make tofu,” Ota explained. Yet, in 1987, she agreed to run the place, believing it was temporary. But with four daughters to raise, the business provided a good income. After her daughters were grown and showed no interest in taking over the business, she set out to find a buyer. She spread the word about her plan to sell, including telling the director of the Japanese Heritage Society, an organization to which Ota donated tofu for Japanese meals to senior citizens. The Japanese Heritage Society’s chef was Sharon Ogata.

Over its more than 100 years in business, Ota Tofu has been featured in a variety of newspaper stories.

An optician by training, Ogata was looking for a new career. She also wanted to lure her son, Jason, and his family back to the Portland area. “I was interested,” Ogata explained. “I wanted to get my son and grandkids to move closer. I also hated to see this business shut its doors.”

Jason Ogata always dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. He was recruited by the Texas Rangers, but injuries got in the way of his career. He earned a business degree from Oregon State University and an MBA from Portland State University, then worked his way up at Lennox International, starting as a sales representative in Portland and rising to district manager in Virginia.

“There isn’t even a direct flight to Virginia to Portland,” Sharon Ogata told me. She felt Ota Tofu would be a good business for her and her son. If Jason moved back to co-own the company, it would allow her to spend time with him and her grandkids. Jason came to Portland and toured the factory. Months later he found himself in rubber boots, running Ota Tofu. “Growing up, I thought I would be a professional baseball player,” Jason Ogata said. “I can’t believe I’m here running this place. I’m honored to be here.”

Owner Jason Ogata at Ota Tofu.

The Ogatas make tofu in the same traditional way the Otas did for more than a century—without machines and without preservatives. “People can make tofu a lot cheaper than we can with machines and one-tenth of the employees, but it won’t be the same quality. There’s nothing better than same-day tofu,” Jason Ogata said.

The employees in the factory have stayed to work for the new owners, and the great-grandson of the original owners, Koichi Ota, comes in every day at 3 a.m. to work. According to Ogata, Ota has taught him everything about the company. “Jason is the son we never had,” Eileen Ota said.

Jason Ogata packs a block of tofu.

Traditional Japanese Methods

The factory is quiet, clean, and smells like warmed soy milk. Canary yellow soy beans soak overnight and are pressure cooked the next morning. Workers carefully stir the curds, then add nigari, a traditional Japanese ingredient used to coagulate soy milk, in quarter cup portions until the milk curdles. The curds resemble a soft-cooked, airy scrambled egg. It takes care to coax these quivering curds into solid form. They’re wrapped in muslin and placed into metal forms to be pressed into large rectangles.

Soy beans are soaked overnight, then pressure-cooked as part of the tofu-making process.

An Ota Tofu employee grinds soy beans.

An employee pours curded soy milk into forming boxes.

The amount of water squeezed from the tofu determines if it is medium, firm or ultra firm. The workers are precise and focused, carefully eyeballing the mixture to make sure it’s ready for the next step in the process. They suspend solid blocks of tofu in a water bath, and chop it into twenty-four blocks with a large cleaver, then wrap it in packaging for the market. Ultra firm tofu heads to a long, shallow deep fryer where the heat is slowly cranked up to medium. When the heat reaches its peak, the tofu slices are turned every thirty seconds with chopsticks until they are golden and puffy.

Water is squeezed from the tofu.

An employee cuts tofu into twenty-four blocks.

Ultra-firm tofu is placed in a shallow fryer, and a worker turns it every thirty seconds.

Plant-Based Products For Portland chefs

This ancient product, made using centuries-old Japanese tradition, draws Portland chefs. It fits with many of the latest food trends—there are only three ingredients. It’s also minimally processed, non-GMO, and plant-based.

Salt & Straw recently used Ota Tofu for a banana peanut butter pudding vegan ice cream. “I really love Ota Tofu,” said Kat Whitehead, research and development manager of Salt & Straw. “They are the country’s oldest tofu company, family run, and they use traditional methods to make beautiful, natural tofu. The creamy texture of Ota Tofu is perfect for vegan ice cream. When we were developing the flavor we knew we wanted to incorporate both their tofu and soy milk in the ice cream. We started by blending the tofu with peanut butter to create a rich cheesecake pudding swirl and then used the soy milk to create a banana ice cream. The natural emulsifiers in the soy milk helped give the vegan ice cream a more creamy mouthfeel.”

Ota Tofu employees check packed tofu.

Ultra-firm tofu is fried, and employees turn it with chopsticks.

Ryan and Elena Roadhouse, known for their highly acclaimed omakase restaurant Nodoguro, have used Ota Tofu products since opening in 2009. Ryan Roadhouse’s obsessive mastery of Japanese cuisine has won the restaurant praise from media such as The Oregonian, Eater, and Bon Appetit. The James Beard Foundation recently nominated him Best Chef for the Northwest and Pacific Region of the United States.

Tofu is an essential ingredient in Japanese cuisine, and Ota Tofu fits with the Roadhouses’ ethos—it’s non- GMO, minimally processed with no additives. The quantities they use for their small, minimalist restaurant aren’t enough to hire a distributor. That’s fine—Ryan enjoys going to the Ota shop to pick up fresh products that can be served the same day they were made. He’s used Ota’s soy milk, fried tofu skin and okara (soy pulp), as well as tofu.

The Roadhouses recently opened a casual restaurant next door to Nodoguro called Tonari. At Tonari, they use Ota’s silken tofu to re-create a tofu shake that Elena drank while growing up in Russia. They’re also planning on using okara, a soy pulp made up of the insoluble parts of the soybean, in their granola.

Tonari’s Tofu Stamina Shake is made with Ota tofu, almond milk, organic sweet miso and a mix of fruit and is topped with chia seed and amazake-plumped goji berries.

The Future

When Governor Kate Brown ordered a shutdown due to the pandemic in March, there was a decrease in Ota Tofu’s sales to restaurants. Fortunately, at the same time, shoppers at grocery stores were looking for locally made products and the tofu company saw an increase in business at New Seasons, Market of Choice and Uwajimaya. There was also a slight uptick in customers buying directly from the shop.

By July, restaurant sales improved as people were allowed, in a limited fashion, to dine out once again. A couple of new restaurants began buying from Ota as others told the Ogatas they would permanently close their doors. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Jason Ogata feels good about the future of Ota Tofu. “I feel very fortunate,” he said, “that I can keep my staff here and business is keeping pretty steady.”