While visiting family in Ithaca, NY over the weekend, I was introduced to handcrafted tofu made by Ithaca Soy. And now, I'm in love.

Before this weekend, I thought tofu was tofu. It's pretty bland, got a decent texture, and mostly useful for adding protein to whatever you're cooking. But this stuff is so good that when I was preparing a stir fry with it last night, I kept popping it into my mouth uncooked and unadorned.

It's much denser and chewier than other tofu I've had. It reminds me a lot of paneer cheese used in Indian cooking.

The only problem is, it doesn't seem to be available anywhere around here. And given the 6 hours it took us to drive home from Ithaca yesterday, I don't plan to make regular trips there to buy this product. But I'm craving it.

Does anyone have a favorite handcrafted tofu that's locally available and can fill the void that, before this weekend, I didn't know existed in my life?

On a side note, Ithaca is something of a vegan's paradise. We visited the most expansive farmer's market I've ever seen and ate brunch at Macro Mama's, a delicious all-vegan food stand. We had dinner at the famous Moosewood Restaurant (it did not disappoint). Even the local bagel store had several vegan sandwiches to choose from. And the well-known grocery store Wegman's had a large prepared food section complete with a vegetarian bar, as well as a huge selection of weird produce and the aforementioned Ithaca soy tofu.