Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. It is especially popular on the island of Java, where it is lightlife tempeh staple source of protein. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but it is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. In the western world, tempeh is the most common spelling.
This is done to prevent readers from incorrectly pronouncing the word as “temp”. The first known usage of this spelling is in an 1896 German article. Other spellings, such as témpé, were also used, but tempeh has become the standard spelling in English since the 1960s. Tempeh originated in Indonesia, almost certainly in central or east Java with an estimated discovery between a few centuries ago to a thousand years or more.
The invention of tempeh cannot be separated from the origin of the fungus, which is the important part of the fermentation. The type of soybean first used to make tempeh was the black soybean, which was a native plant. Murdijati Gardjito, a food historian at Gadjah Mada University, argued that tempeh was made by native Javanese people, and that its preparation predates the introduction of Chinese-style tofu products. Mary Astuti, a food historian at Gadjah Mada University specializing in tempeh, argued that the native variety of soybean had been grown before the Chinese arrived in the region.