论文部分内容阅读
THIS fish might have been on the same flight you took here but all the other things on the table, including the watermelon for our dessert, were locally grown,” joked Wu Yingjie at a dinner he threw for me and my companions during our 2009 visit to the plateau. Wu is a native of Shandong Province, but came to live and work in Tibet more than 30 years ago.
Green the Dinner Table
Wu’s observation is more significant than you might think. “In the past when Tibetans were returning from trips inland, they would all board the plane with their baggage bursting with vegetables. I could see the pity in the eyes of airport staff,” Wu laughed. In the outlying autonomous region vegetables used to be scarce, and hence exorbitantly priced well above the cost of meat. The quantity dropped dramatically in winter and the variety shriveled too; greens were rarely seen on local dinner tables. Fresh fruits were an even greater luxury. People did everything they could to carry as many vegetables as possible back home from their travels, such as putting on several layers of clothes and stuffing the pockets with produce that couldn’t be had at home.
The rough climate and primitive farming techniques meant that before 1951 the region could barely produce a potato, radish or cabbage crop. There were scattered vegetable plots near big cities like Lhasa and Xigaze, but their output primarily supplied the upper classes.
After decades of experiments in the 1980s, inland vegetables were finally made to survive in Tibet using film-roofed greenhouses and relying on the technical assistance of Shouguang County in Shandong Province, one of the nation’s famous vegetable producers. Since then vegetable patches have proliferated in Tibet, leading to what Ma Shengjie, chief of the regional government’s Science and Technology Department, hails as a “revolutionary change” in the local diet.
In 2008 the region harvested 550,000 tons of vegetables in 110 varietals, all in conservatories. Bainang in Xigaze, which is paired with Shandong Province in the nation’s Aiding Tibet program, is the largest vegetable supplier in the autonomous region. Its snow-patched terrain is meshed with rows upon rows of film-roofed cotes that spread to the horizon.
We spoke with Puqung, a farmer in Kangsar Village who was picking gourds in one of his five hothouses. “I earn ten times more for growing vegetables.” Ten times more than theRMB 3,000 his barley crops brought him, so now RMB 30,000 for his vegetable crop.
The seemingly eternal sunshine and untainted soil and water of the plateau ensure the prime quality of its farm produce, its superiority gaining a reputation beyond its borders. For instance, cabbages and peas from Doilungdeqen, garlic from Gyangze and potatoes from Emagang are in demand in major Chinese cities like Beijing and Guangzhou as well as in neighboring Nepal.
Fun with Gastronomy
The growing supply and selection of green groceries in Tibet have raised the bar for a better, balanced diet for the average Tibetan, but aside from the practicalities, housewives and chefs now have the resources to unleash their creativity in the kitchen.
“As long as I have a good stock of foodstuffs, I have little to worry about,” said Zhaxi, a chef in Xigaze. “The geography is an advantage: locally produced vegetables – with their lower pesticide residues, are safer to eat and taste better than those imported from the inland.”
Even in winter Zhaxi offers a mouthwatering menu for his customers, on which is stir fried snow peas, shredded pork with lettuce, stir fried celery and lily petals, stewed chicken with mushrooms, steamed Mandarin fish, deep fried mutton chops and spiced chicken feet, to name just a few. The young Tibetan thinks being a cook is a rewarding job.
In the Yaowangshan farm market, the largest of its kind in Lhasa, 70-plus kinds of vegetables are on sale, with 70 percent or more of those raised in local fields. The exuberance of cooking ingredients has given rise to a more sophisticated Tibetan cuisine. Last October the autonomous region held its first culinary culture festival in its history.
Meanwhile, restaurants specializing in signature dainties from other parts of the nation are multiplying and flourishing across the plateau. Their number is now estimated at well above 5,800.In major cities like Lhasa, Nyingchi and Xigaze it takes no effort to find eateries serving Peking duck, Chongqing hotpot, Northeastern China jiaozi, Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles, Xinjiang mutton rice or Yunnan rice noodles. In a suburb of Lhasa a farm recently opened a restaurant where tables are set amongst the vegetable beds of the greenhouses themselves. Customers can snap off the cucumbers or beans dangling from the vines overhead, and hand in their pickings for the dishes they order.
Eating Fit
The Tibetan diet today is a long way from the dull triad of butter, barley and mutton or beef. With greater choice, Tibetans have become more omnivorous, selective and nutrition-conscious. The centuries-long domination of barley, literally three meals a day, was the reality only because wheat and rice were scarce and expensive. Now the staples are diversified, though barley remains popular among locals because of tradition and recognition of its health merits. With the development of both agriculture and food processing industries in the region, this healthy green food is making its way to the markets of the nation.
Better off and more sophisticated, Tibetans are rethinking their cuisine and dining conventions. For instance, many no longer have buttered tea with their breakfast, wary ofthe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risks the greasy drink increases. For lunch and dinner most families have flour, rice and fresh vegetables.
“See the corner of my yard where the dog is tethered?” asked Logye, deputy general manager of Green Vegetable Co., Ltd. of Bainang County. “There was a cellar there to store vegetables for the winter months. I filled it in years ago after I bought a refrigerator. We don’t need cellars any more; fresh vegetables are available in the market year round.” In both cities and countryside, Tibetan vegetable cellars are disappearing or left obsolete.
In the dead of winter, the vendors and stores will always carry ample supplies of the summer goodness teased from Tibet’s soil and sun.
Green the Dinner Table
Wu’s observation is more significant than you might think. “In the past when Tibetans were returning from trips inland, they would all board the plane with their baggage bursting with vegetables. I could see the pity in the eyes of airport staff,” Wu laughed. In the outlying autonomous region vegetables used to be scarce, and hence exorbitantly priced well above the cost of meat. The quantity dropped dramatically in winter and the variety shriveled too; greens were rarely seen on local dinner tables. Fresh fruits were an even greater luxury. People did everything they could to carry as many vegetables as possible back home from their travels, such as putting on several layers of clothes and stuffing the pockets with produce that couldn’t be had at home.
The rough climate and primitive farming techniques meant that before 1951 the region could barely produce a potato, radish or cabbage crop. There were scattered vegetable plots near big cities like Lhasa and Xigaze, but their output primarily supplied the upper classes.
After decades of experiments in the 1980s, inland vegetables were finally made to survive in Tibet using film-roofed greenhouses and relying on the technical assistance of Shouguang County in Shandong Province, one of the nation’s famous vegetable producers. Since then vegetable patches have proliferated in Tibet, leading to what Ma Shengjie, chief of the regional government’s Science and Technology Department, hails as a “revolutionary change” in the local diet.
In 2008 the region harvested 550,000 tons of vegetables in 110 varietals, all in conservatories. Bainang in Xigaze, which is paired with Shandong Province in the nation’s Aiding Tibet program, is the largest vegetable supplier in the autonomous region. Its snow-patched terrain is meshed with rows upon rows of film-roofed cotes that spread to the horizon.
We spoke with Puqung, a farmer in Kangsar Village who was picking gourds in one of his five hothouses. “I earn ten times more for growing vegetables.” Ten times more than theRMB 3,000 his barley crops brought him, so now RMB 30,000 for his vegetable crop.
The seemingly eternal sunshine and untainted soil and water of the plateau ensure the prime quality of its farm produce, its superiority gaining a reputation beyond its borders. For instance, cabbages and peas from Doilungdeqen, garlic from Gyangze and potatoes from Emagang are in demand in major Chinese cities like Beijing and Guangzhou as well as in neighboring Nepal.
Fun with Gastronomy
The growing supply and selection of green groceries in Tibet have raised the bar for a better, balanced diet for the average Tibetan, but aside from the practicalities, housewives and chefs now have the resources to unleash their creativity in the kitchen.
“As long as I have a good stock of foodstuffs, I have little to worry about,” said Zhaxi, a chef in Xigaze. “The geography is an advantage: locally produced vegetables – with their lower pesticide residues, are safer to eat and taste better than those imported from the inland.”
Even in winter Zhaxi offers a mouthwatering menu for his customers, on which is stir fried snow peas, shredded pork with lettuce, stir fried celery and lily petals, stewed chicken with mushrooms, steamed Mandarin fish, deep fried mutton chops and spiced chicken feet, to name just a few. The young Tibetan thinks being a cook is a rewarding job.
In the Yaowangshan farm market, the largest of its kind in Lhasa, 70-plus kinds of vegetables are on sale, with 70 percent or more of those raised in local fields. The exuberance of cooking ingredients has given rise to a more sophisticated Tibetan cuisine. Last October the autonomous region held its first culinary culture festival in its history.
Meanwhile, restaurants specializing in signature dainties from other parts of the nation are multiplying and flourishing across the plateau. Their number is now estimated at well above 5,800.In major cities like Lhasa, Nyingchi and Xigaze it takes no effort to find eateries serving Peking duck, Chongqing hotpot, Northeastern China jiaozi, Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles, Xinjiang mutton rice or Yunnan rice noodles. In a suburb of Lhasa a farm recently opened a restaurant where tables are set amongst the vegetable beds of the greenhouses themselves. Customers can snap off the cucumbers or beans dangling from the vines overhead, and hand in their pickings for the dishes they order.
Eating Fit
The Tibetan diet today is a long way from the dull triad of butter, barley and mutton or beef. With greater choice, Tibetans have become more omnivorous, selective and nutrition-conscious. The centuries-long domination of barley, literally three meals a day, was the reality only because wheat and rice were scarce and expensive. Now the staples are diversified, though barley remains popular among locals because of tradition and recognition of its health merits. With the development of both agriculture and food processing industries in the region, this healthy green food is making its way to the markets of the nation.
Better off and more sophisticated, Tibetans are rethinking their cuisine and dining conventions. For instance, many no longer have buttered tea with their breakfast, wary ofthe cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risks the greasy drink increases. For lunch and dinner most families have flour, rice and fresh vegetables.
“See the corner of my yard where the dog is tethered?” asked Logye, deputy general manager of Green Vegetable Co., Ltd. of Bainang County. “There was a cellar there to store vegetables for the winter months. I filled it in years ago after I bought a refrigerator. We don’t need cellars any more; fresh vegetables are available in the market year round.” In both cities and countryside, Tibetan vegetable cellars are disappearing or left obsolete.
In the dead of winter, the vendors and stores will always carry ample supplies of the summer goodness teased from Tibet’s soil and sun.