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中国中央电视台纪录片频道推出的首部大型美食纪录片《舌尖上的中国》引发了中国全民的美食热潮。从繁华的东南沿海大都市到边远地区大山深处的村落，该片在记录了一道道美味佳肴的同时，也记录了美味背后一个个触动人心的故事，通过中国美食这个窗口，向世界传递中国文化，传播中国声音，向世界展示了中国的魅力。最近国外媒体也都纷纷前往中国制作美食记录片，如BBC的《发现中国——美食之旅》，就试图通过饮食，探寻中国最深处的灵魂。在中国美食热潮的影响下，一些老外也纷纷加入了体验的队伍，写下了各种关于美食的游记。以下就是一位纽约人笔下所记录的寻找舌尖上的味觉极致之旅。
The first stage of Sichuan addiction — experimentation — is brief and violent (激烈的). You either get out immediately, vanquished (被征服的) and penitent (后悔的) or something inside you changes. Inside your stomach and inside your brain, it alters the neurochemistry (神经化学系统), requiring the addict to (沉溺于) seek to match that first, miraculous (奇迹的) high. My initiation (起始) occurred in 1997 at Wu Liang Ye, one of Manhattan’s first Sichuan restaurants, which, the manager told me, was opened by the People’s Republic of China to promote (促进) awareness of the variety and complexity (多样性和复杂性) of Chinese cuisine (中国菜).
“品尝”是对川菜上瘾的第一阶段，这个阶段是短暂而激烈的。你要么就马上冲出去，满心后悔，觉得自己败下阵来；要么就觉得自己体内有什么东西发生了变化。从胃部和大脑，它让你的整个神经化学系统都发生变化，让你不断追求以期再次体验到那奇迹般的味觉极致，继而彻底上瘾，欲罢不能。我的初体验是1997年在曼哈顿的第一批川菜馆之一的五粮液饭店。饭店老板告诉我，它是由“中华人民共和国”开办的，目的是宣传中国菜的丰富多样。
This act of culinary (烹饪的) propaganda (宣传) was very successful — Sichuan restaurants soon began appearing all over New York. I later followed the Sichuan trail (踪迹) to restaurants in Sunset Park and the subterranean (地下的；隐蔽的) food courts in Flushing, which require a Chinese-speaking guide, of course. It was a pastime (消遣), I told myself, all in good fun. Then I read about the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles, which has the most concentrated (最集中的) Chinese community in the U.S. and an incredible number of Sichuan restaurants. The best known of these — the Sichuan king of San Gabriel — is Chung King. The next time I was in L.A., I drove straight to San Gabriel Boulevard. That’s when I lost control. I don’t know if Chung King is the best Sichuan restaurant in America, but I’m sure that it can make you crazy.
这个美味宣传攻势可谓是大获成功，那之后不久，纽约就开始遍地都是川菜馆了。后来我又到日落公园和法拉盛区的地下小吃摊去寻访川菜的踪迹，这当然需要有个会说中文的向导带领。我告诉自己，这只是消遣，纯粹是种乐趣而已。后来我又看到报道，说洛杉矶东部有个叫圣加百利谷的地方，是美国华人最集中的社区，川菜馆的数量多得难以置信。其中最有名的一家，叫“重庆”，算得上是圣加百利的川菜之王。后来再去洛杉矶的时候，我就开着车直奔圣加百利大道。我就是从那一次开始彻底沦陷的。不知道“重庆”是不是全美最好的川菜馆，但我保证它让人疯狂。
A clarification (澄清；说明): Sichuan food should not be confused with (与……混淆) what most Americans understand to be Chinese food. It is distinguished (区别) by spicy, oil-based sauces that are flavored by salt, garlic, ginger, doubanjiang — a spicy paste (糊状物) made from broad beans (蚕豆) — and, most important, Sichuan peppercorns (花椒), which burst like firecrackers on your tongue and give the food its trademark (商标) flavor: ma la. When your mouth is coated with ma la, water tastes like ginger ale (姜汁). One Sichuan devotee (爱好者) I know describes the ma la flavor as a “tonguegasm.” The pulse (脉搏) increases, and the brain floats in a wonderful space either. 澄清一点，不要把川菜和大多数美国人理解的中餐混为一谈。川菜的特色是辛辣，用油作为底料调味，辅以盐、姜、蒜和豆瓣酱（一种用蚕豆做成的香辣酱）。不过最关键的还要算花椒，它们就像小爆竹一样在舌尖上爆炸，赋予了食物川菜的招牌特色——“麻辣”。 当口腔里充满麻辣的滋味，清水品尝起来就像是姜汁饮料一样。我认识的一个川菜爱好者说，麻辣的感觉就像“舌尖上的极致享受”，让人脉搏加快，让人的大脑在一个美妙的空间里飘荡。
Sichuan menus list about 800 dishes, and at many lesser restaurants each comes drowned in (被淹没) a numbing, spicy oil (麻辣油). But Sichuan cuisine has, in fact, 22 other flavors besides ma la. This I learned from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Sichuan cookbook, “Land of Plenty,” in which she describes each of these flavors, including “red-oil flavor,” “fragrant (香的) wine flavor” and, my favorite, “strange-flavor,” which combines (结合) ma la with salty, sweet, sour (酸), fresh-savory (鲜) and fragrant notes.
川菜菜单通常会包括将近800道菜，在很多比较小的餐馆里，每道菜都会浸泡在麻辣油里送上来。但实际上除了麻辣之外，川菜其实还有22种其他口味。这是我在法希娅．丹罗普的川菜烹饪书《富饶之地》里读到的。她在书中详细描述了每一种口味，其中包括“红油”、“酒糟”，还有我最心爱的“怪味”——它把麻辣和咸、甜、酸、鲜、香这些口味统统结合在一起。
On my return to Chung King this summer, I determined to try as many of the 23 flavors as possible. I began with “Chung King-flavored noodles”; these were numbing and spicy, to be certain, but also had a note of “scorched-chili flavor”, which is derived (源自于) from mixing fried, dried chili with soy sauce (酱油), Sichuan pepper, vinegar, garlic and sugar. A dry, cumin-dusted (孜然粉) lamb and large chunks (大块) of garlic and chili peppers had the dense (浓重的) “smoked flavor.” Spicy eggplant, a very important dish in Sichuan, tasted as if it had been fermented (酿；发酵) in vinegar, a blending (混合) of the “home-style” and “fish-fragrant” flavors. Most magnificent (华丽的), however, were the boiled fish slices, with fresh cilantro (香菜), in a bowl of hot sauce, in which you could not find only the Sichuan peppercorn but also star anise (八角). The fried chicken with garlic and red chili peppers might have been with the “strange-flavor,” but by that point my mouth was numb (发麻的).
今年夏天我又去了一趟“重庆”，决定尽可能地多多尝试这23种口味。我先从“重庆担担面”开始，它又麻又辣，但其实属于“干炸辣椒”风味，是把油炸过的干辣椒和酱油、花椒、醋、大蒜和糖混合起来调味。还有一种加了孜然粉的干羊腿，上菜时辅以蒜瓣和红辣椒，是浓重的“烟熏”风味。有一种辣味茄子，是川菜里很重要的一道菜，尝起来像是用醋腌制过，混合了“家常”和“鱼香”口味。不过最华丽的一道菜还要算是水煮鱼片，上菜时提供一碗热乎乎的调味汁，里面装点着香菜，不仅能品尝出花椒香味，还有八角的味道。大蒜和干红辣椒炸鸡属于“怪味”风味，会让你口中充满奇妙的怪味，同时也会让你嘴里麻麻的。
I always make a point of (坚持要) ordering some dish unsettling (扰乱) to the Western sensibility, but it must be real and therefore marvelous (非凡的). At Chung King, the best way to do this is to walk to the back of the restaurant, where there stands a kind of deli (熟食品) counter with a number of cold dishes that the restaurant does not include on the English menu. I pointed at a platter that seemed to contain thin slabs (薄片) of red marble (大理石). I was told that these were sliced (切片的) pig ears. They were salty and greasy (油腻的) “Sichuan pepper flavor”, from Sichuan pepper mashed (捣碎) with green scallions (葱), salt and sesame oil (芝麻油). I ate them all.
我一直都喜欢点一些西方人感情上接受不了的菜，但它必须是货真价实的美味。在“重庆”，这样的东西最好到饭馆后面的熟食柜台去找，里面有不少冷菜，是饭馆提供的英语菜单上没有的。我指着一盘看上去像是薄薄的红色大理石板的东西，结果被告知这是切片的猪耳朵。它们又咸又油腻，属于“川椒”口味，就是用捣碎的花椒加上香葱、盐和芝麻油调味。我把一大盘全吃光了。
The first stage of Sichuan addiction — experimentation — is brief and violent (激烈的). You either get out immediately, vanquished (被征服的) and penitent (后悔的) or something inside you changes. Inside your stomach and inside your brain, it alters the neurochemistry (神经化学系统), requiring the addict to (沉溺于) seek to match that first, miraculous (奇迹的) high. My initiation (起始) occurred in 1997 at Wu Liang Ye, one of Manhattan’s first Sichuan restaurants, which, the manager told me, was opened by the People’s Republic of China to promote (促进) awareness of the variety and complexity (多样性和复杂性) of Chinese cuisine (中国菜).
“品尝”是对川菜上瘾的第一阶段，这个阶段是短暂而激烈的。你要么就马上冲出去，满心后悔，觉得自己败下阵来；要么就觉得自己体内有什么东西发生了变化。从胃部和大脑，它让你的整个神经化学系统都发生变化，让你不断追求以期再次体验到那奇迹般的味觉极致，继而彻底上瘾，欲罢不能。我的初体验是1997年在曼哈顿的第一批川菜馆之一的五粮液饭店。饭店老板告诉我，它是由“中华人民共和国”开办的，目的是宣传中国菜的丰富多样。
This act of culinary (烹饪的) propaganda (宣传) was very successful — Sichuan restaurants soon began appearing all over New York. I later followed the Sichuan trail (踪迹) to restaurants in Sunset Park and the subterranean (地下的；隐蔽的) food courts in Flushing, which require a Chinese-speaking guide, of course. It was a pastime (消遣), I told myself, all in good fun. Then I read about the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles, which has the most concentrated (最集中的) Chinese community in the U.S. and an incredible number of Sichuan restaurants. The best known of these — the Sichuan king of San Gabriel — is Chung King. The next time I was in L.A., I drove straight to San Gabriel Boulevard. That’s when I lost control. I don’t know if Chung King is the best Sichuan restaurant in America, but I’m sure that it can make you crazy.
这个美味宣传攻势可谓是大获成功，那之后不久，纽约就开始遍地都是川菜馆了。后来我又到日落公园和法拉盛区的地下小吃摊去寻访川菜的踪迹，这当然需要有个会说中文的向导带领。我告诉自己，这只是消遣，纯粹是种乐趣而已。后来我又看到报道，说洛杉矶东部有个叫圣加百利谷的地方，是美国华人最集中的社区，川菜馆的数量多得难以置信。其中最有名的一家，叫“重庆”，算得上是圣加百利的川菜之王。后来再去洛杉矶的时候，我就开着车直奔圣加百利大道。我就是从那一次开始彻底沦陷的。不知道“重庆”是不是全美最好的川菜馆，但我保证它让人疯狂。
A clarification (澄清；说明): Sichuan food should not be confused with (与……混淆) what most Americans understand to be Chinese food. It is distinguished (区别) by spicy, oil-based sauces that are flavored by salt, garlic, ginger, doubanjiang — a spicy paste (糊状物) made from broad beans (蚕豆) — and, most important, Sichuan peppercorns (花椒), which burst like firecrackers on your tongue and give the food its trademark (商标) flavor: ma la. When your mouth is coated with ma la, water tastes like ginger ale (姜汁). One Sichuan devotee (爱好者) I know describes the ma la flavor as a “tonguegasm.” The pulse (脉搏) increases, and the brain floats in a wonderful space either. 澄清一点，不要把川菜和大多数美国人理解的中餐混为一谈。川菜的特色是辛辣，用油作为底料调味，辅以盐、姜、蒜和豆瓣酱（一种用蚕豆做成的香辣酱）。不过最关键的还要算花椒，它们就像小爆竹一样在舌尖上爆炸，赋予了食物川菜的招牌特色——“麻辣”。 当口腔里充满麻辣的滋味，清水品尝起来就像是姜汁饮料一样。我认识的一个川菜爱好者说，麻辣的感觉就像“舌尖上的极致享受”，让人脉搏加快，让人的大脑在一个美妙的空间里飘荡。
Sichuan menus list about 800 dishes, and at many lesser restaurants each comes drowned in (被淹没) a numbing, spicy oil (麻辣油). But Sichuan cuisine has, in fact, 22 other flavors besides ma la. This I learned from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Sichuan cookbook, “Land of Plenty,” in which she describes each of these flavors, including “red-oil flavor,” “fragrant (香的) wine flavor” and, my favorite, “strange-flavor,” which combines (结合) ma la with salty, sweet, sour (酸), fresh-savory (鲜) and fragrant notes.
川菜菜单通常会包括将近800道菜，在很多比较小的餐馆里，每道菜都会浸泡在麻辣油里送上来。但实际上除了麻辣之外，川菜其实还有22种其他口味。这是我在法希娅．丹罗普的川菜烹饪书《富饶之地》里读到的。她在书中详细描述了每一种口味，其中包括“红油”、“酒糟”，还有我最心爱的“怪味”——它把麻辣和咸、甜、酸、鲜、香这些口味统统结合在一起。
On my return to Chung King this summer, I determined to try as many of the 23 flavors as possible. I began with “Chung King-flavored noodles”; these were numbing and spicy, to be certain, but also had a note of “scorched-chili flavor”, which is derived (源自于) from mixing fried, dried chili with soy sauce (酱油), Sichuan pepper, vinegar, garlic and sugar. A dry, cumin-dusted (孜然粉) lamb and large chunks (大块) of garlic and chili peppers had the dense (浓重的) “smoked flavor.” Spicy eggplant, a very important dish in Sichuan, tasted as if it had been fermented (酿；发酵) in vinegar, a blending (混合) of the “home-style” and “fish-fragrant” flavors. Most magnificent (华丽的), however, were the boiled fish slices, with fresh cilantro (香菜), in a bowl of hot sauce, in which you could not find only the Sichuan peppercorn but also star anise (八角). The fried chicken with garlic and red chili peppers might have been with the “strange-flavor,” but by that point my mouth was numb (发麻的).
今年夏天我又去了一趟“重庆”，决定尽可能地多多尝试这23种口味。我先从“重庆担担面”开始，它又麻又辣，但其实属于“干炸辣椒”风味，是把油炸过的干辣椒和酱油、花椒、醋、大蒜和糖混合起来调味。还有一种加了孜然粉的干羊腿，上菜时辅以蒜瓣和红辣椒，是浓重的“烟熏”风味。有一种辣味茄子，是川菜里很重要的一道菜，尝起来像是用醋腌制过，混合了“家常”和“鱼香”口味。不过最华丽的一道菜还要算是水煮鱼片，上菜时提供一碗热乎乎的调味汁，里面装点着香菜，不仅能品尝出花椒香味，还有八角的味道。大蒜和干红辣椒炸鸡属于“怪味”风味，会让你口中充满奇妙的怪味，同时也会让你嘴里麻麻的。
I always make a point of (坚持要) ordering some dish unsettling (扰乱) to the Western sensibility, but it must be real and therefore marvelous (非凡的). At Chung King, the best way to do this is to walk to the back of the restaurant, where there stands a kind of deli (熟食品) counter with a number of cold dishes that the restaurant does not include on the English menu. I pointed at a platter that seemed to contain thin slabs (薄片) of red marble (大理石). I was told that these were sliced (切片的) pig ears. They were salty and greasy (油腻的) “Sichuan pepper flavor”, from Sichuan pepper mashed (捣碎) with green scallions (葱), salt and sesame oil (芝麻油). I ate them all.
我一直都喜欢点一些西方人感情上接受不了的菜，但它必须是货真价实的美味。在“重庆”，这样的东西最好到饭馆后面的熟食柜台去找，里面有不少冷菜，是饭馆提供的英语菜单上没有的。我指着一盘看上去像是薄薄的红色大理石板的东西，结果被告知这是切片的猪耳朵。它们又咸又油腻，属于“川椒”口味，就是用捣碎的花椒加上香葱、盐和芝麻油调味。我把一大盘全吃光了。