想知道嗎:老外眼中的中餐

Chinese people are, quite rightly, proud of their food. However, when foreigners like Britons and Americans think of Chinese food, their impression of it is different to what you might think.

中餐理所當(dāng)然一直是中國(guó)人的驕傲。然而，當(dāng)諸如英、美等西方國(guó)家的人提起中餐時(shí)，他們的想法可能會(huì)出乎你的意料。

Growing up in the UK, the Chinese food I was used to eating was food I now recognize as being from Guangdong. For example, a typical dish I would order growing up would be pork in sweet and sour sauce, probably with some rice and spring rolls on the side. This is the type of food we generally eat because most Chinese immigrants to the UK have come from Guangdong.

我從小在英國(guó)長(zhǎng)大，現(xiàn)在才知道原來(lái)常吃的中餐其實(shí)是粵菜。比如我常點(diǎn)的經(jīng)典菜糖醋排骨，可能還配有米飯和春卷。我們通常吃的就是這類中餐，因?yàn)榇蠖嘁泼裼?guó)的中國(guó)人都來(lái)自廣東。

You can tell, because when most British people try to imitate the sound of Chinese, they actually imitate the sound of *Cantonese – hearing *Mandarin Chinese is sometimes a shock to British people who have grown up thinking it sounds completely different!

這個(gè)你可以聽(tīng)出來(lái)，因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)英國(guó)人所模仿的漢語(yǔ)發(fā)音實(shí)際上是粵語(yǔ)——有時(shí)，土生土長(zhǎng)的英國(guó)人聽(tīng)到普通話會(huì)很吃驚，因?yàn)楦浾Z(yǔ)相差太遠(yuǎn)。

British attitudes to Chinese food may be changing, though.

然而，英國(guó)人對(duì)中餐的態(tài)度也許正在發(fā)生改變。

Chinese-American chef Ken Hom has been on British TV for 30 years, and he told BBC Food: “Chinese food at the beginning of the 80s (in the UK) was sweet and sour pork, mainly. Most Brits had a very *stereotypical view of Chinese food… Now you are seeing more regional Chinese food from Sichuan, Hunan and other areas of China. It is no longer just Cantonese food.”

美籍華人廚師譚榮輝已在英國(guó)電視熒屏活躍了30年，他對(duì)英國(guó)廣播公司美食頻道說(shuō)：“80年代初英國(guó)的中餐清一色的糖醋排骨。當(dāng)時(shí)，大多數(shù)英國(guó)人對(duì)中餐的看法就是刻版化的粵菜……但現(xiàn)在英國(guó)已經(jīng)可以看到類似川菜、湘菜等更多中國(guó)地方菜系了。已經(jīng)不再只是粵菜的天下了。”

Similarly, to most Americans, Chinese food doesn't go too far past orange chicken and fortune cookies, but more regional cuisines are becoming successful, especially in big cities like New York.

同樣，對(duì)大多美國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)，中餐依舊擺脫不了陳皮雞和幸運(yùn)餅的印象，但更多的地方菜系已經(jīng)在紐約這樣的大城市扎穩(wěn)腳跟。

Attitudes have not quite changed completely, though. Many foreigners who live in China will be familiar with this question from a relative back at home: “Have they given you dog yet?” Yes, perhaps because people still know too little about Chinese culture, many people believe that Chinese people love to eat dog meat. And of course, some people do eat dogs, which to Americans is like “eating a member of one's family” according to Vision Times.

然而，人們對(duì)中餐的看法并沒(méi)有徹底改觀。許多生活在中國(guó)的老外經(jīng)常會(huì)聽(tīng)到家里的親戚這樣問(wèn)：“你吃過(guò)狗肉了嗎?”是的，也許因?yàn)槿藗儗?duì)中國(guó)文化還是了解太少，許多人依舊認(rèn)為中國(guó)人喜歡吃狗肉。當(dāng)然，有些人確實(shí)吃。視覺(jué)時(shí)代稱，吃狗肉對(duì)美國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)就像“吃掉一個(gè)家庭成員”。

Also, Chinese people eat many other things people in the West do not –chicken claws, duck heads and some animals' organs.

當(dāng)然，中國(guó)人也吃許多西方人不吃的東西——雞爪，鴨頭和某些動(dòng)物器官。

But what do foreigners think when they come to China and taste real Chinese food? You'll be glad to know that in my experience, the impressions have been very good.

但是，當(dāng)外國(guó)人來(lái)到中國(guó)，品嘗真正的中餐時(shí)，他們作何感想?告訴你一個(gè)好消息，我個(gè)人對(duì)中餐的印象非常好。

My personal favorite cuisine is Yunnan food, and every foreigner I've eaten it with has been amazed by the different spices and flavors when they've tried it.

我個(gè)人最喜歡的是云南菜，和我一起吃過(guò)云南菜的每個(gè)外國(guó)人都對(duì)云南菜獨(dú)特的配料和味道贊不絕口。

Everyone, that is, except my friend who lived in Yunnan for a year, who says she still hasn't had “proper Yunnan food” since. That's the problem when you finally eat real Chinese food –you become picky!

真的是每個(gè)人，除了我那個(gè)已經(jīng)在云南待了一年的朋友。她堅(jiān)稱自己還沒(méi)有吃到“正宗的云南菜”。這就是當(dāng)你吃過(guò)真正的中餐后才會(huì)有的問(wèn)題——你的嘴變得太挑了!
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