| One of the things in the market that interests me a lot is the fish. For a city so far from the sea there is a very impressive display. One of the most popular, though, is a local fish from the Songhua Lake called pangtou ("fat head"). It's a strange fish like a big salmon, with an odd head that looks as though it's on upside down. |
市場(chǎng)里最吸引我的商品是各種各樣的魚(yú)。一個(gè)離海很遠(yuǎn)的城市，出售的魚(yú)卻種類繁多，令人印象深刻。而當(dāng)?shù)厝俗類?ài)吃的是本地松花湖出產(chǎn)的胖頭魚(yú)。這種魚(yú)模樣古怪，乍一看像大個(gè)的鮭魚(yú)，腦袋卻好似上下顛倒了一樣。 |
| The fishmongers display the fish on wooden slats on the floor with their heads chopped off. At first I thought that the heads had been chopped off to sell for soup or to throw away. In retrospect, this was more than a little na?ve – nothing in China gets thrown away. In fact, the heads are a prized delicacy. |
魚(yú)販子們把去頭的魚(yú)用木頭板條墊著，擺在地上出售。一開(kāi)始我以為砍下來(lái)的魚(yú)頭都被單賣(mài)出去做湯喝或干脆扔掉了。現(xiàn)在回想起來(lái)，我未免太過(guò)天真——在中國(guó)沒(méi)有什么不能吃的。事實(shí)上，魚(yú)頭被當(dāng)作價(jià)值極高的美食。 |
| I discovered this the first time I was invited to a banquet at one of the fish restaurants that border the lake. After what seemed like an endless succession of courses, I had thought that the meal must be drawing to a close, when a waiter appeared bearing a fish head the size of a dustbin lid. |
我第一次被邀請(qǐng)去湖邊的一家魚(yú)餐館參加飯局的時(shí)候就發(fā)現(xiàn)了這一點(diǎn)。在上了無(wú)數(shù)道菜之后，我以為這頓飯已接近尾聲；這時(shí)，一個(gè)服務(wù)員端著一盤(pán)魚(yú)頭出現(xiàn)了，那魚(yú)頭足有垃圾桶蓋子大小。 |
| Inevitably, the choicest parts of the fish head are the eyes and the brain, and inevitably, as the guest of honour seated by the host, I was privileged to have him pick these out for me and place them in my bowl. The eye was the size of a golf ball. Mercifully, fishes' brains are small; I could have wished this one a little smaller all the same. |
魚(yú)頭上的精華部位照例是眼睛和腦子；同樣按照慣例，作為坐在主人身邊的貴客，我有幸得到了主人親手夾到我碗里的魚(yú)眼和魚(yú)腦。那眼睛足足有高爾夫球那么大。不幸中的萬(wàn)幸，魚(yú)類的腦子通常都比較小；可我還是希望這條魚(yú)的腦子能更小一些。 |
| The tactic I have adopted when given gobby things to eat is to chew them very aggressively for a second or two longer than I think I can manage, and then swallow them. Mumbling them around your gums in a mealy-mouthed fashion and hoping they'll go away will get you nowhere. |
通常別人讓我嘗試難吃的東西時(shí)，我會(huì)采取這樣的策略：用力地嚼一兩秒鐘（這可比我想象中能堅(jiān)持的時(shí)間長(zhǎng)多了），然后整個(gè)吞下去。在嘴里翻來(lái)覆去地咀嚼，希望這些奇怪的東西自己消失，這種做法是沒(méi)有用的。 |
| This is an essential approach when dealing with many of the local delicacies. I was once taken out to dinner by a friend in Changchun, and had been promised a treat of frogs. As a long-term resident of France, based in La Dombes where the eating of frogs is central to the culture, I have long been an enthusiast for a hot plate of frogs fried in butter, parsley, salt and garlic. I knew that frogs figure highly in Chinese culinary heritage too, so I was looking forward to this experience. |
這是我應(yīng)對(duì)當(dāng)?shù)睾芏嗝朗车幕痉椒āＳ幸淮危晃婚L(zhǎng)春的朋友請(qǐng)我出去吃飯；他許諾會(huì)招待我吃青蛙。我曾在法國(guó)東貝住過(guò)很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間，那里飲食文化的核心就是吃青蛙。一直以來(lái)，我的最愛(ài)就是一大盤(pán)熱騰騰的用黃油煎過(guò)的青蛙，再以歐芹、鹽和大蒜調(diào)味。我知道青蛙在中國(guó)飲食傳統(tǒng)中的地位也很高，因此我對(duì)這頓大餐充滿了期待。
（China.org.cn 李瀟 譯）
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