{"id":4856,"date":"2026-02-26T23:35:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T23:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/?page_id=4856"},"modified":"2026-03-11T17:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T00:04:31","slug":"george-stiffman","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/ten-to-watch\/george-stiffman\/","title":{"rendered":"George Stiffman &#8217;19"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--scrolling-text-with-image \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--scrolling-text-with-image\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"text-image-container\">\n\n          \n      <div class=\"image-container\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img decoding=\"async\"\n                            src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/122\/2026\/03\/george-page2-768x1024.jpg\"\n          srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/122\/2026\/03\/george-page2-1280x1707.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/122\/2026\/03\/george-page2-768x1024.jpg 768w\"          sizes=\"(min-width:1024px) 50vw, (min-width:768px) 100vw, 100vw\"\n        \n                  role=\"none\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n      \n    <div class=\"text-container\">\n  \n        \n                  \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Food Entrepreneur\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        \n                  \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  <p>George Stiffman is a &#8220;tofu evangelist&#8221; bringing rare Chinese tofu varieties into the American market. He currently runs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.georgestiffman.com\/\">Soycery<\/a>, a food pop-up that&#8217;s evolved from farmers market BBQ tofu skewers into ready-to-eat cold tofu dishes. He&#8217;s now working to partner Soycery with university dining halls to give students more plant-based options.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/ealc\/\">East Asian languages and cultures<\/a> major, Stiffman credits USC Dornsife with shaping both his Mandarin fluency and entrepreneurial path. \u201cLanguage proficiency and immersion in the international student community opened up so many doors in China,\u201d he says. While studying abroad, he apprenticed under Luo Zhongda, a fifth-generation Chinese tofu master, and learned Fujianese cooking.<\/p>\n<p>Those experiences became the foundation for his cookbook, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brokencuisine.com\/\"><em>Broken Cuisine<\/em><\/a>, and a growing body of writing that legendary food journalist Mark Bittman called \u201cthe most interesting piece about tofu ever written.\u201d He has cooked for major American and Chinese celebrities, delivered talks in Mandarin at international food and fitness summits, and lectured at the Culinary Institute of America and the China Vegan Summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n      \n          <\/div>\n\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n    \n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-and-media-promo \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-and-media-promo\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"header-container\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Connect with George\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n            \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-links \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-links\"\n    \n      >\n\n      \n      \n\n    <ul class=\"social-media-links--platforms platforms\" aria-label=\"Follow us on social media\">\n              \n        \n        \n\n                  <li>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/george-stiffman\/\" class=\"ext\" target=\"_blank\">\n              <svg version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"\n                xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" x=\"0px\" y=\"0px\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" viewBox=\"0 0 30 30\"\n                enable-background=\"new 0 0 30 30\" xml:space=\"preserve\">\n                <path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" fill=\"#000000\" 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cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/dornsife-alumni\/ten-to-watch\/\">Return to list &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":5015,"parent":4704,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4856","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>George Stiffman &#039;19 - USC Dornsife Alumni<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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