Champignon champions

可食用真菌之冠

In south-western China’s Yunnan province, mushrooms mean money

在中国西南部的云南省，蘑菇意味着钱

Or death if you pick the wrong ones

但如果摘错了那就完蛋了

Jul 23rd 2020 | NANHUA

IN MAY, WHEN the first monsoon rains sweep across the mountainous province of Yunnan, foragers throng to damp forests to hunt for wild mushrooms. Grandmothers strap wicker baskets to their backs, wielding sticks with which to rake the forest floor and hook from it a “black beef liver” (known elsewhere as a bronze bolete) or a crimson “green pinch” (named for the bruises that fingerprints leave on its velvety gills). Joining them at first light are local chefs, village children and their parents, some of them migrant workers who have returned from far-flung coastal factories especially for the hunt.

今年5月，当第一场季雨横扫云南这个多山的省份时，采摘者们成群结队地涌向潮湿的森林，寻找野生蘑菇。老奶奶们把柳条篮子绑在背上，用树枝耙森林的地面，从上面钩出“黑牛肝”(在其他地方被称为铜牛肝菌)或深红色的“绿夹”(得名于采摘时手指纹在其柔软的菌褶下留下的青肿)。初露曙光时和他们一起采摘的人群还有当地厨师、村里的孩子和他们的父母，其中一些人是从遥远的沿海工厂回来的农民工，专门为了采摘菌菇。

词汇

Forager/搜寻（食物）的人；四处寻找的人

Throng/人群；众多；蜂拥而至；群集

bronze bolete/铜牛肝菌

crimson/深红色的

bruise/擦伤；挫伤；青肿

velvety/天鹅绒般柔软的；醇和的，可口的

gills/菌褶

 

Thousands of Yunnanese families earn much of their living from the wild-fungi season, which runs until October. The 160,000 tonnes they collect annually in the poor south-western province generate income of about 10bn yuan ($1.4bn). The most valuable end up on posh dinner plates abroad, from porcini—beloved of Europeans—to meaty matsutake, prized by South Koreans and Japanese. Trains are commandeered to get the mushrooms from basket to banquet in under 30 hours. A rail service launched last year has been dubbed the “high-speed matsutake express”. Whatever is not sold fresh is air-dried, frozen or made into a relish.

成千上万的云南家庭靠持续到10月份的野生真菌季节谋生。他们每年在这个贫穷的西南省份收集16万吨菌类，创造约100亿元(14亿美元)的收入。其中最有价值的被用于国外的豪华餐桌上，从欧洲人喜爱的牛肝菌到韩国人和日本人喜爱的肉质松茸。期间火车被征用（commandeered这个词没问题，但放在西方媒体写的文章里总觉得怪怪的，搞得好像被逼的一样），30小时内就能把蘑菇从篮子里送到宴会上。去年推出的一项铁路服务被称为“高速松茸快线”。那些无法以新鲜状态出售的菌类会被风干、冷冻或制成调味品。

词汇

fungi/  真菌；菌类

posh/时髦的；漂亮的；奢侈的

porcini/  牛肝菌

matsutake/松茸

banquet/  宴会，盛宴

   

In the summer, Wu Huahai, a young father from Wujia village, makes 4,000 yuan a month from scouring the hills—roughly what he makes as a driver near the coast. In protected forests, where collecting is limited to local families, and so competition is less fierce, a hunter’s monthly take can reach 10,000 yuan. Among the most coveted types are “goat belly” mushrooms (morels), which can fetch up to 1,000 yuan per kilo when they appear later in the season. But this year demand for Yunnan’s mushrooms has been dented by covid-19. Prices have fallen by as much as half.

吴华海(音)是吴家村的一位年轻父亲，他在山上四处扫荡，夏天的时候每月能挣4000元，这和他在海边当司机的收入差不多。在受保护的森林里，只允许当地家庭采集，因此竞争不那么激烈，一名采摘者每月可以挣到1万元。其中最令人垂涎的是羊肚菌(龙葵，别名)，当它们在这个季节晚些时候出现时，每公斤可以卖到1000元。但今年对云南蘑菇的需求受到了新冠疫情的影响。价格已经下跌了一半。

 

At the market where Mr Wu and his wife hawk the morning’s finds, 170 tonnes of wild fungi are sold every day in season. It is located in Nanhua, Yunnan’s best-endowed county mycologically. A vast array of mushrooms grow across the province. Yunnan accounts for just 4% of China’s land area yet is home to more than 800 of the country’s 1,000 known edible varieties, and about one third of the world’s. Dozens more are discovered in Yunnan every year, says Yang Zhuliang of the Kunming Institute of Botany.

吴先生和他的妻子在市场上兜售早上发现的菌类，在这个季节里，每天都有170吨的野生菌类被出售。它坐落在云南真菌性最好的县——南化。全省生长着大量的蘑菇。云南仅占中国陆地面积的4%，但在中国已知的1,000种可食用品种中，云南有800多种，占世界三分之一左右。昆明植物研究所的杨朱亮(音译)说，云南每年都发现几十个这样的物种。

词汇

Endow/赋予；捐赠；天生具有

Mycological/真菌学的

Some are lethal. A type identified in 2012 is called “little white” because of its resemblance to an innocuous oyster mushroom. Mr Yang’s institute named it as the culprit behind Yunnan Unknown Cause Sudden Death Syndrome, which for decades had haunted villagers during the monsoon. Little whites now feature on billboards at wet markets in the region that show how to discern the delectable from the deadly (and warn against the mind-bending, which are popular).

有些是致命的。2012年发现的一种蘑菇被称为“小白”，因为它与一种无害的平菇相似。杨所在的研究所将其列为云南不明原因猝死综合症的罪魁祸首。几十年来，每当雨季来临，村民们就会受到这种综合症的困扰。“小白”现在出现在该地区菜市场的广告牌上，告知人们如何在美味的菌类中识别出该致命的菌种(并警告人们不要好奇去试试，而这是许多人有的情绪)。

词汇

Culprit/  犯人，罪犯；被控犯罪的人

Monsoon/季风；雨季；

wet market/传统市场，菜市场

Billboard/广告牌

Discern/觉察出；识别

Delectable/美味的；令人愉快的

mind-bending/离奇古怪令人费解的；强烈影响心绪的

Another danger lurks. Mycologists fret that harvesting is damaging the mushrooms’ habitat. Some hunters unearth them too young, says Yang Hongying, an old-timer on the hills. She finds only a tenth of what she recalls gathering as a child. But back then there “wasn’t really a market for mushrooms”, says Ms Yang. Now the villagers’ everyday meals—nutty summer truffle shaved raw over eggs, or yellow jizong stir-fried with salted ham—are considered truly to die for. ■

另一个危险潜伏。真菌学家担心采摘会破坏蘑菇的栖息地。在山上工作的老者杨红英(音译)说，有些采摘者发现它们的时候菌龄太小。而且他现在找到的菌类数量只有记忆中童年时的十分之一。但杨表示，当时“蘑菇还没有真正的市场”。现在，村民们的日常饮食都包含菌类——将坚果状的未经加工的松露撒在鸡蛋上，或是用黄色的鸡枞菌炒咸肉——这些都是非常值得一吃的。

词汇

Unearth/发掘；揭露

old-timer/老前辈

truffle/松露；块菌