（书籍翻译）拜占庭的味道：传奇帝国的美食 （第二十三部分）
作者生平：
安德鲁·达尔比（Andrew Dalby）是一位古典学者、历史学家、语言学家和翻译家，以他关于食物史（尤其是希腊和罗马帝国）的书籍而闻名。 《Siren Feasts》 是安德鲁·达尔比的第一本美食书籍，获得了 Runciman（朗西曼）奖，他的第二本书《dangerous Tastes》在2001年获得了美食作家协会年度美食书籍。他还是《The Classical Cookbook》和《Empire of Pleasures》以及巴克斯和维纳斯的传记的作者。
《Tastes of Byzantium ：The Cuisine of a Legendary Empire》于 2003 年首次出版
ISBN: 978 1 84885 165 8
本书完整的 CIP 记录可从大英图书馆、美国国会图书馆获得
由 Thomson Press India Ltd 在印度印刷和装订
Conclusion
结论
The cuisine of the Byzantine Empire was a synthesis of what had gone before. There is the love of spices and exotic flavors so typical of Roman food. Beside this there is the emphasis on seafood and on local produce that emerges from the long tradition of classical Greek gastronomy. For Constantinople this means the produce of the Aegean, the southern Balkans, northwestern Anatolia and the Black Sea. But Byzantium was also unique, and even an unsympathetic observer can help us to grasp this uniqueness.
Becoming more elaborate as every day passes, our luxury now impels us to plaster our food with the aromatics of India. Nowadays the spice merchant seems to be working not for the physician but for the cook!
拜占庭帝国美食是过去的综合体。对香料和异国风味的热爱是罗马食物的典型特征。 除此之外，它还强调海鲜和源自古典希腊美食悠久传统的当地农产品。 对于君士坦丁堡来说，这意味着这是爱琴海、巴尔干半岛南部、安纳托利亚西北部和黑海的产物。但拜占庭也是独一无二的，即使是冷酷无情的观察者也能帮助我们把握这种独特性。
随着时间的流逝，我们变得越来越精致，我们的奢侈观念促使我们用印度的芳香剂来涂抹我们的食物。如今，香料商人似乎不在只是为医生工作，而是为厨师工作！
Unsympathetic Asterius certainly is: luxury offends him. His complaint seems strongly reminiscent of those made by the elder Pliny, author of the classical Latin Natural History, concerning the demand for spices in the first century AD. But in fact Asterius really has noticed something new. It had probably been true, in the Roman past, that except for a very few spendthrifts, and except for pepper, most of the spices that were imported from India at such enormous cost went into the medicine cabinet (or into divine worship and funeral rites). Gradually, however, the influence of the physicians was spreading. Both cooks and eaters took them more and more seriously. In one sense Asterius is wrong: the physician is still there in the background, setting the health agenda. In another sense he is right, because the health aims are achieved, to a far greater extent than ever before, by adjusting the flavors and aromas - and thus by creating an astonishing and varied cuisine.
冷酷无情的 Asterius 肯定道：奢侈得罪了他。他的抱怨似乎强烈地让人想起古典拉丁自然史的作者老普林尼关于公元一世纪对香料的需求的那些事情。 但实际上，Asterius 确实注意到了一些新的东西。在罗马的过去，我是说很可能是真的，除了极少数挥霍无度的人，除了胡椒，大部分从印度以如此巨大的成本进口的香料都进入了药柜（或进入了神圣的崇拜仪式和葬礼））。 然而，医生的影响力逐渐扩大。 厨师和食客都越来越重视它们。 从某种意义上说，Asterius 是错误的：医生仍然在幕后，为人们制定健康清单。在另一种意义上，Asterius是对的，因为健康目标的实现比以往任何时候都重要，通过调整食物的口味和香气 - 从而创造出令人惊叹的多样美食。
In truth, two influences had combined to produce the great range of powerful flavors that we can sense at the heart of this strange cuisine. One was the church calendar, with its numerous fast days on which both meat and fish were ruled out: the rich (including rich abbots and ecclesiastics) gave their cooks full rein to produce fast-day dishes as piquant and varied as could be conceived. We have seen what the Prodromic Poems have to tell us of this. The second influence was that of the physicians. By contrast with the earlier Greek dietary manuals, the Byzantine ones were written for non-specialists. Codification was complete: the effect of each ingredient could be stated, not only on the 'four humors’ but on each section of the digestive system, beginning with the organs of taste. Thus spices and seasonings became ubiquitous, used both during the cooking process and at table to adjust the qualities and the attractions of each dish.
事实上，两种影响相结合，产生了我们可以在这种奇怪美食的核心感受到各种强烈风味。 一个是教堂日历，上面有许多禁食日，在那天肉和鱼都被排除在外：富人（包括富有的方丈和教士）全力以赴地制作出尽可能多的辛辣和多样化的禁食菜肴。我们已经看到 Prodromic Poems 必须告诉我们为什么。第二个影响是医生的影响。与早期的希腊饮食手册相比，拜占庭的饮食手册是为非专业人士编写的。编写是完整的：可以说明每种成分的作用，不仅对“四种体液”，而且对消化系统的每个部分，从味觉器官开始来细说。因此，香料和调味料无处不在，在烹饪过程中和餐桌上都可以用来调整每道菜的品质和吸引力。
In reconstructing Byzantine cuisine we have luckily been able to look at non-Byzantine sources too. Medieval travelers to Constantinople did not always like the strange flavors they encountered. Caros, the venerable fish sauce, was an acquired taste. Most foreigners disapproved of retsina. But even strangers were seduced by the confectionery, the candied fruits and the sweet wines. Nearly all were enthralled by the pageantry of dinner at the Great palace. In its food and wine, as in its fabled wealth and its magic arts, the Byzantine Empire was a mystery and a legend in its own time. Something of the mystery remains.
在重塑拜占庭美食时，幸运的是，我们也能够看到非拜占庭的来源。前往君士坦丁堡的中世纪旅行者并不总是喜欢他们遇到的奇怪风味。 Caros，古老的鱼露，是一种后天习得的味道。大多数外国人不赞成retsina。但即使是陌生人也被糖果、蜜饯和甜酒所诱惑。几乎所有人都被大皇宫盛大的晚餐所吸引。拜占庭帝国的美酒佳肴，就像传说中的财富和魔法一样，在当时都是一个谜。一些神秘的东西仍然存在。
未完待续！
