【每天一篇经济学人】Get to the pint 回归本心（2023年第42期

文章来源：《经济学人》Jul 15th 2023 期 Culture 栏目 Get to the pint

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Does it make more sense to transform a bottle of ketchup into a handbag or a flavour of ice cream? To Anya Hindmarch, a British fashion designer, that is a false dichotomy. She has produced a sequinned bag based on a bottle of Heinz’s finest and an ice cream boasting “the unmistakable taste of sun-ripened tomatoes”. (At £3.50, or $4.53, a scoop, the ice cream is marginally more affordable than the £1,195 tote.)

将番茄酱改造成手提包或冰淇淋口味，哪个更有意义？对于英国时装设计师安雅·辛德玛奇来说，二分法不存在的。她以亨氏顶级番茄酱瓶为原型设计了一款亮片包，还设计了一款冰淇淋，塑造成 "阳光下成熟番茄的独特味道"。（一勺冰淇淋售价为 3.50 英镑，即 4.53 美元，比 1195 英镑的手提袋稍微实惠一些。）

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Those left cold by the frozen ketchup at the couturier’s Ice Cream Project in London can plump for a refreshing pea sorbet or an ice cream featuring “mellow cheddar cheese with the ‘chunky, crunchy, bite of Branston’”, a chutney that has appeared in soggy British sandwiches since 1922. The more avant-garde flavours taste unpleasantly accurate: the Branston-pickle option has a vinegary tang that no one really wants in an ice cream. Far more palatable are the ones based on Coco Pops, a chocolate-flavoured cereal, and lemon curd.

在伦敦的高级时装店 "冰淇淋项目"，那些对番茄酱味冰淇淋不感兴趣的人可以选择清爽的豌豆冰糕，或者选择有 "块状松脆布兰斯顿口感“的“醇香切达奶酪”口味冰淇淋。布兰斯顿是一种酸辣酱，自1922年起就出现在英国三明治中。前卫奇葩的口味令人不快：布兰斯顿腌菜有一种醋味，没人会喜欢这样的冰淇淋口味。可可米片味（一种巧克力味麦片）和柠檬凝酱味的冰淇淋更容易令人接受。

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Ms Hindmarch is not alone in experimenting with unusual flavours. Heston Blumenthal, a British chef, has long been known for his bacon-and-egg ice cream. The Alchemist, a two-star Michelin restaurant in Copenhagen, serves pig-blood ice cream (the blood replaces eggs as an emulsifier). Van Leeuwen, an American ice-cream company, has flavoured its products with mac and cheese, ranch dressing and pizza. Nor are such experiments all that new. An ice-cream shop in 18th-century London called The Pineapple was serving Parmesan ice cream. The urge to innovate seems to be insatiable.

辛德玛奇并不是唯一一个大胆尝试不同口味的人。英国大厨赫斯顿·布卢门撒尔的培根鸡蛋味冰淇淋早已闻名遐迩。哥本哈根米其林二星级餐厅 The Alchemist 提供猪血冰淇淋（猪血代替鸡蛋作为乳化剂）。美国公司Van Leeuwen在冰淇淋里添加奶酪通心粉、牧场沙拉酱和披萨。这样的尝试也不是什么新鲜事。18 世纪伦敦的一家名为 The Pineapple 的冰淇淋店曾供应帕尔马干酪冰淇淋。创新的欲望似乎无止境。

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This may suggest that ice-cream makers need to keep churning out ever-weirder flavours to persuade people to keep slurping. Yet the charm of ice cream seems to be more fundamental. It has been made around the world, in places with vastly different culinary styles and histories, underlining the universality of its delightfulness. From Turkish dondurma to Syrian booza, Italian gelato to Iranian faloodeh, Filipino sorbetes to Indian kulfi, Japanese kakigori, Afghan sheeryakh and Indonesian es puter, some iteration of the dessert is made and loved everywhere.

这可能表明，冰淇淋制造商需要不断推出更古怪的口味来吸引人们继续消费。然而，冰淇淋的魅力更多体现在本质属性上。冰淇淋世界各地都有，各地的烹饪风格和历史大相径庭，这凸显了冰淇淋令人愉悦的普遍性。从土耳其的 dondurma 到叙利亚的 booza，意大利的 gelato 到伊朗的 faloodeh，菲律宾的 sorbetes 到印度的 kulfi，日本的 kakigori，阿富汗的 sheeryakh 和印尼的 es puter，每个地方都喜欢制作和享用推陈出新的冰淇淋。

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Vanilla, the classic option—and a derisive synonym for boring—is often touted as having universal appeal, writes Rachel Herz in “The Scent of Desire”. That, she explains, is because vanilla is one of the volatile flavour compounds present in breastmilk, as well as some formulas.

雷切尔·赫兹在《欲望的香味》中写道，香草是经典选择--也是无聊的同义词--人们普遍认为香草有魅力。她解释说，这是因为香草是母乳和某些配方奶粉中的挥发性香味化合物之一。

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The pleasure of ice cream is indeed childish. The chimes of an ice-cream truck send a ripple of delight through even the iciest heart. Childish is a term usually used pejoratively, to describe things that should be put away at the age of maturity. Perhaps that explains the drive to make ice cream ever more sophisticated. Häagen-Dazs was among the first ice-cream companies to market the product to adults.

冰淇淋的乐趣充满了孩子气。雪糕车的铃声让最冰冷的心也荡起愉悦的涟漪。"孩子气"通常是一个贬义词，用来形容那些应该在成熟的年龄放下的东西。也许这解释了为什么要不断提升冰淇淋的复杂度。哈根达斯是最早将产品推向成年人市场的冰淇淋公司之一。

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But the best adult desserts are not that far removed from those enjoyed by children. And the joys of childhood are profound.They win out against innovation, however sophisticated the marketing. People may come for the Branston-pickle ice cream, but they stay for the Coco Pops.

但成年人喜欢的甜点与儿童喜爱的甜点并没有太大差别。童年的乐趣是深远的。不管创新多么先进，营销多么精细，童年的乐趣总是胜出。人们可能会为布兰斯顿腌菜味冰淇淋而来，但他们会为可可米片味冰淇淋买单。