Separate tastes

“入鄉隨俗”的中國菜

導讀：中餐在美國越來越受歡迎，但是細心的小夥伴們仔細看一看菜單，內心恐怕要崩潰了。左宗棠雞、炒雜碎、幸運餅幹……這些在美國最受歡迎的中國菜連很多中國人自己都不知道它們原來是中國菜。當然，傳統中國菜之前並沒有這麼受歡迎，國外的中餐廚師為了迎合美國人的口味作出改變，反而在海外掀起了中華美食的熱潮。

Chinese food is not a foreign concept to the United States. But in the past, certain recipes have gotten lost in translation.

美國人對中國菜早已司空見慣。不過，一直以來，很多中國食譜在漂洋過海之後都已麵目全非。

The latest example is the Chinese smashed cucumber trend that has recently popped up in New York City.

最近的例子就是風靡紐約的拍黃瓜。

The New York Times reported that many of Manhattan’s restaurants now offer smashed cucumbers dressed with sauces such as sesame oil with garlic and yogurt.

《紐約時報》報道稱曼哈頓的一些餐館現在開始供應用大蒜、芝麻油和酸奶調味的拍黃瓜。

Julia Goldberg, a sous-chef at Superiority Burger in the US, told The New York Times: “There’s something about the roughness, and the variety of shapes and sizes, that you get with smashing that is incredibly satisfying.”

美國超級漢堡餐廳的副主廚茱莉亞?高德堡告訴《紐約時報》：“拍出來的黃瓜很粗糙，形狀各異，大小不一，不過這是個很棒的體驗。”

This isn’t the first time that US chefs have embraced Chinese cooking techniques, while steering away from original ingredients. Nor will it be the last.

當然這不是美國廚師第一次采用中國的烹飪方法，同時對原始菜譜進行改革。當然也不會是最後一次。

As a child, I became friends with two Chinese girls and had the unique experience of eating dinner at their house. Their mom made rice, dumplings, different kinds of vegetables and pork. I had never tasted such delicious Chinese food, not even in restaurants.

我小時候和兩個中國小女孩是很好的朋友，所以我有幸在她們家吃過獨特的中國菜。她們的媽媽會做米飯、餃子、各種蔬菜和豬肉。我從未吃過這麼可口的中國菜，就連中餐館做的都比不上它們。

What I had when I ate out was sweet and sour chicken, dumplings, crab rangoons, miso soup and noodles. Those dishes might not sound all too uncommon in China, but the difference is uncanny.

我在外麵吃過酸甜雞、餃子、炸蟹角、味噌湯和麵條。這些食物並不是在中國都不常見，不過烹飪方式實在是相差太大。

Chefs in the US lean on flavors that American taste buds are attracted to, but by evolving the taste in this way, the original Chinese recipe is sometimes ignored.

在美國，廚師們會根據美國人的口味調整菜譜，不過經過這種口味的演變，原始的中國菜譜有時候就被改得麵目全非了。

General Tso’s Chicken, chop suey and fortune cookies are among the most popular Chinese dishes in the US. However, “Chinese people don’t crack open fortune cookies after every meal... Most Chinese people don’t even know what chop suey actually is,” Shanghai-based journalist Jamie Fullerton told Business Insider.

在美國，左宗棠雞、炒雜碎和幸運餅幹是最受歡迎的中國菜。但是“中國人餐後基本不吃幸運餅幹……大部分中國人甚至不知道什麼是炒雜碎”，駐上海的美國記者傑米?富勒頓告訴《財經內幕》。

“In the 19th century, what we call Chinese food in the US... was a lot of seafood, shark fins, bird’s nests, and a lot of shrimp,” Yong Chen, author of Chop Suey Nation: The Story of Chinese Food in America, told Yahoo Food. “But American diners rejected that.”

“上個世紀，我們在美國管中國菜叫……很多海鮮、魚翅、燕窩、龍蝦，”《炒雜碎的國度：中國菜的美國奇遇記》一書的作者陳勇告訴雅虎美食頻道。“不過那時美國食客並不買賬。”

Chefs specializing in Chinese cuisine want Americans to try their food. So they changed the ingredients, the cuts of meat and the presentation to suit American palates.

擅長做中餐的廚師想讓美國人嚐嚐他們的手藝。於是他們依據美國人的喜好調整了配料、切肉的手法和擺盤的樣式。

This is a cultural compromise to make consumers happy. At the same time, they are turning the food into something less Chinese and more American.

這是為了迎合消費者做出的文化讓步。同時，他們也讓食物變得少了些中國味多了些美國味。