《经济学人》双语：英国作家如何诠释中国美食文化？

原文标题：
World in a dish
Chinese food is more diverse than Western eaters might think
In “Invitation to a Banquet” Fuchsia Dunlop celebrates the cuisine’s spread and savour
盘中世界
中餐比西方人想象的更多样化
《宴会邀请函》一书中，邓扶霞称赞了中餐的多样性和美味性

[Paragraph 1]
ABOUT A DECADE ago, this correspondent attended a banquet in Guangzhou.
大约10年前，本刊记者在广州参加了一场宴会。

The bird’s nest soup was gentle and slithery, the sea cucumber rich and gelatinous and the fish sparklingly fresh and perfectly steamed.
燕窝汤清淡滑溜，海参浓郁呈凝胶状，鱼肉新鲜闪亮，清蒸程度刚刚好。

The most memorable dish, however, was the plain white cup of broth served at the end.
不过，最令人难忘的还是最后上桌的那道白汤。

Made from chicken, probably with ham and dried scallop as well, it was simple, austere and perfect.
这道菜是用鸡肉做的，可能还加了火腿和干贝，简单、朴素、完美。

[Paragraph 2]
Ending a banquet with soup may seem odd to Westerners, accustomed as they are to sweets at a meal’s close.
在西方国家，餐后汤可能看起来有些奇怪，因为他们习惯了餐后甜点。

But, as Fuchsia Dunlop, an English food writer, explains in an authoritative new book, stock is a unique, intrinsic expression of a chef’s art, much as a voice is for a singer.
但是，正如英国美食作家邓扶霞在一本权威新书中所解释的那样，汤是厨艺的一种独特的内在表现形式，就像歌手的嗓音一样。

And the “transparent, almost invisible soup…in its quiet golden, ineffable loveliness” is an ideal conclusion to a banquet, with its opulence and strong flavours.
“透明到几乎看不见的汤……带着静谧的金黄色，有种难以言喻的可爱”，以其华丽和浓郁的风味成为宴会理想的最后一道菜。

[Paragraph 3]
“Invitation to a Banquet” is Ms Dunlop’s seventh book. Unlike those for which she is best known, including “The Food of Sichuan” and “Revolutionary Kitchen” (about Hunanese cuisine), this is not a cookbook.
《宴会邀请函》是邓扶霞的第7本书。与她写的《川菜》和《厨房革命》（湘菜相关）等著作不同，这不是一本烹饪书。

Instead, she has chosen 30 dishes and used each to illuminate different aspects of Chinese cuisine—and, in turn, Chinese life and history.
相反，她精选了30道菜，用每一道菜来阐释中国美食的不同方面，进而阐释中国人的生活和历史。

[Paragraph 4]
This is less of a departure for Ms Dunlop than it seems.
对邓扶霞来说，这并不像看上去那么离经叛道。

Like other outsiders who spend their lives focused on a foreign cuisine—as Diana Kennedy, an English food writer, did in Mexico, or Paula Wolfert, an American, did in the Middle East—she is more a gatherer than an inventor of recipes.
与其他终生专注于外国佳肴的美食作家一样--例如英国美食作家戴安娜·肯尼迪在墨西哥的经历、美国人保拉·沃尔弗特在中东的经历--与其说她是食谱的发明者，不如说她是食谱的收集者。

Ms Dunlop’s well-researched cookbooks read as mini-ethnographies.
邓扶霞把美食研究得很透彻，她的食谱书读起来像微型民族志。

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Readers will not learn how to make braised pomelo pith with shrimp eggs but how and why Chinese chefs have long prized unusual (and to Western palates, sometimes off-putting) ingredients, such as the bitter pith of a giant citrus fruit.
读者学不到如何做“虾籽柚皮”菜，但会了解中国厨师为何长期喜欢用不寻常的食材（西方人不太喜欢这种口味），比如苦涩的柚子皮。

An apparently humble, but in fact exceptionally laborious, dish of braised carp’s tail is a jumping-off point for a discussion of the importance of kougan, or mouth-feel, in Chinese cuisine.
一道看似普通但实际上工序繁多的“红烧鲤鱼尾”菜，成为探讨中国菜口感重要性的起点。

[Paragraph 6]
Westerners, Ms Dunlop argues, “have traditionally assumed that the Chinese eat marginal animal parts out of poverty and desperation”, when in fact turning up one’s nose at gizzards, cartilage and jellyfish shuts the door on a range of foods that is wonderfully cui (“slippery and crunchy, often in a wet way”).
邓扶霞写道，西方人“传统上认为中国人吃动物的边缘部位是因为贫穷和绝望”，但实际上如果对鸡胗、软骨和海蜇等食材不屑一顾，就等于对一系列“脆”的美食关上了大门。

[Paragraph 7]
In aggregate, Ms Dunlop makes a compelling case for the superiority of Chinese cuisine, but in a delighted and expansive rather than chauvinistic way.
总的来说，邓扶霞以一种开朗愉悦而不带偏见的方式，全面阐述了中国美食的卓越性。

She shows how it has assimilated foreign influences (as other cuisines have, too), how it has changed with China’s increasing wealth and how central it is to the country’s intellectual and cultural history.
她阐述了中餐如何吸收外来影响（其他菜系也是如此），如何随着中国日益富强而变化，以及美食在中国知识和文化历史中的核心地位。

[Paragraph 8]
She makes an equally compelling case that what Westerners think of as “Chinese food”, meaning what most can find at their local takeaway, is neither inauthentic nor wrong.
她同样有力地表达了一个观点，即西方人所认为的“中餐”就是大多数人在附近的外卖店能找到的餐食，是对非对。

Instead, it is a diasporic offshoot that reflects local tastes but is about as representative of the cuisine’s diversity as a frozen pizza is of Italy’s.
但它是一个反映当地口味的流动性衍生物，也代表了菜系的多样性，就好像冷冻比萨代表意大利美食一样。

Immigration and adventurousness have made the real thing more accessible than ever outside China. Eaters should savour that.
由于移民和冒险精神，人们在中国以外的地方也可以轻而易举地品尝到正宗中餐。食客们应该品味一番。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量581左右）
原文出自：2023年9月2日《The Economist》Culture版块

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene

本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
扶霞·邓洛普Fuchsia Dunlop是一位英国籍的美食作家、烹饪教师和中国菜专家。她以其对中国食物和烹饪的深入研究和传播而闻名。邓扶霞在剑桥大学学习了中国文学，1994年邓扶霞来到四川成都，在四川大学学习少数民族历史。在中国期间，邓洛普对当地的美食产生了浓厚的兴趣，并决定探索中国饮食文化的更多方面。她先后在中国的厨艺学校学习了四年，并成为首位获得中国烹饪学位的西方人。邓扶霞以她对中国食物的热爱和深入了解而成为一个权威的烹饪家和美食作家。她的著作包括多本关于中国菜的烹饪书籍，代表作品有《鱼翅与花椒》《川菜》《鱼米之乡》等。她的作品不仅介绍了中国菜的各个方面，包括传统菜谱、烹饪技巧和食材，还涉及了中国饮食文化的背景和历史。

虾籽柚皮braised pomelo pith with shrimp eggs是一道传统粤菜，材料主要是虾子及柚皮。餐厅做的柚皮菜开始放弃传统的本土柚皮，改用泰国妙龄柚青，据介绍，本土柚皮始终存有苦涩味的缺点，相比而言，从泰国空运到境的柚青，因果肉尚未成熟，整个柚子的精华都在柚皮内，因此这种柚子是专吃皮不吃肉。

【重点句子】（3个）
Ms Dunlop’s well-researched cookbooks read as mini-ethnographies.
邓扶霞把美食研究得很透彻，她的食谱书 读起来像微型民族志。

An apparently humble, but in fact exceptionally laborious, dish of braised carp’s tail is a jumping-off point for a discussion of the importance of kougan, or mouth-feel, in Chinese cuisine.
一道看似普通但实际上工序繁多的“红烧鲤鱼尾”菜，成为探讨中国菜口感重要性的起点。

She shows how it has assimilated foreign influences (as other cuisines have, too), how it has changed with China’s increasing wealth and how central it is to the country’s intellectual and cultural history.
她阐述了中餐如何吸收外来影响（其他菜系也是如此），如何随着中国日益富强而变化，以及美食在中国知识和文化历史中的核心地位。