The real story
Tempeh is made by inoculating cooked soybeans with Rhizopus mould. In about a day or two, white mycelium threads grow through the beans and knit them into a firm cake. The fermentation makes the protein easier to digest. Its first known written mention is in the Serat Centhini, a huge Javanese poem-encyclopedia written between 1814 and 1823.
Because it was cheap, tempeh became a byword for weakness: 'mental tempe' means spineless, and Soekarno told the nation 'jangan menjadi bangsa tempe', don't be a tempeh nation. Meanwhile tempeh travelled with Indonesians to the Netherlands and on to plant-based kitchens worldwide, where it's prized as a whole-food protein that rivals meat.
