Champignon champions

可食用真菌之冠

In south-western China’s Yunnan province, mushrooms mean money

在中國(guó)西南部的云南省，蘑菇意味著錢(qián)

Or death if you pick the wrong ones

但如果摘錯(cuò)了那就完蛋了

Jul 23rd 2020 | NANHUA

IN MAY, WHEN the first monsoon rains sweep across the mountainous province of Yunnan, foragers throng to damp forests to hunt for wild mushrooms. Grandmothers strap wicker baskets to their backs, wielding sticks with which to rake the forest floor and hook from it a “black beef liver” (known elsewhere as a bronze bolete) or a crimson “green pinch” (named for the bruises that fingerprints leave on its velvety gills). Joining them at first light are local chefs, village children and their parents, some of them migrant workers who have returned from far-flung coastal factories especially for the hunt.

今年5月，當(dāng)?shù)谝粓?chǎng)季雨橫掃云南這個(gè)多山的省份時(shí)，采摘者們成群結(jié)隊(duì)地涌向潮濕的森林，尋找野生蘑菇。老奶奶們把柳條籃子綁在背上，用樹(shù)枝耙森林的地面，從上面鉤出“黑牛肝”(在其他地方被稱(chēng)為銅牛肝菌)或深紅色的“綠夾”(得名于采摘時(shí)手指紋在其柔軟的菌褶下留下的青腫)。初露曙光時(shí)和他們一起采摘的人群還有當(dāng)?shù)貜N師、村里的孩子和他們的父母，其中一些人是從遙遠(yuǎn)的沿海工廠回來(lái)的農(nóng)民工，專(zhuān)門(mén)為了采摘菌菇。

詞匯

Forager/搜尋（食物）的人；四處尋找的人

Throng/人群；眾多；蜂擁而至；群集

bronze bolete/銅牛肝菌

crimson/深紅色的

bruise/擦傷；挫傷；青腫

velvety/天鵝絨般柔軟的；醇和的，可口的

gills/菌褶

?

Thousands of Yunnanese families earn much of their living from the wild-fungi season, which runs until October. The 160,000 tonnes they collect annually in the poor south-western province generate income of about 10bn yuan ($1.4bn). The most valuable end up on posh dinner plates abroad, from porcini—beloved of Europeans—to meaty matsutake, prized by South Koreans and Japanese. Trains are commandeered to get the mushrooms from basket to banquet in under 30 hours. A rail service launched last year has been dubbed the “high-speed matsutake express”. Whatever is not sold fresh is air-dried, frozen or made into a relish.

成千上萬(wàn)的云南家庭靠持續(xù)到10月份的野生真菌季節(jié)謀生。他們每年在這個(gè)貧窮的西南省份收集16萬(wàn)噸菌類(lèi)，創(chuàng)造約100億元(14億美元)的收入。其中最有價(jià)值的被用于國(guó)外的豪華餐桌上，從歐洲人喜愛(ài)的牛肝菌到韓國(guó)人和日本人喜愛(ài)的肉質(zhì)松茸。期間火車(chē)被征用（commandeered這個(gè)詞沒(méi)問(wèn)題，但放在西方媒體寫(xiě)的文章里總覺(jué)得怪怪的，搞得好像被逼的一樣），30小時(shí)內(nèi)就能把蘑菇從籃子里送到宴會(huì)上。去年推出的一項(xiàng)鐵路服務(wù)被稱(chēng)為“高速松茸快線”。那些無(wú)法以新鮮狀態(tài)出售的菌類(lèi)會(huì)被風(fēng)干、冷凍或制成調(diào)味品。

詞匯

fungi/ ?真菌；菌類(lèi)

posh/時(shí)髦的；漂亮的；奢侈的

porcini/ ?牛肝菌

matsutake/松茸

banquet/ ?宴會(huì)，盛宴

???

In the summer, Wu Huahai, a young father from Wujia village, makes 4,000 yuan a month from scouring the hills—roughly what he makes as a driver near the coast. In protected forests, where collecting is limited to local families, and so competition is less fierce, a hunter’s monthly take can reach 10,000 yuan. Among the most coveted types are “goat belly” mushrooms (morels), which can fetch up to 1,000 yuan per kilo when they appear later in the season. But this year demand for Yunnan’s mushrooms has been dented by covid-19. Prices have fallen by as much as half.

吳華海(音)是吳家村的一位年輕父親，他在山上四處掃蕩，夏天的時(shí)候每月能掙4000元，這和他在海邊當(dāng)司機(jī)的收入差不多。在受保護(hù)的森林里，只允許當(dāng)?shù)丶彝ゲ杉?，因此?jìng)爭(zhēng)不那么激烈，一名采摘者每月可以掙到1萬(wàn)元。其中最令人垂涎的是羊肚菌(龍葵，別名)，當(dāng)它們?cè)谶@個(gè)季節(jié)晚些時(shí)候出現(xiàn)時(shí)，每公斤可以賣(mài)到1000元。但今年對(duì)云南蘑菇的需求受到了新冠疫情的影響。價(jià)格已經(jīng)下跌了一半。

?

At the market where Mr Wu and his wife hawk the morning’s finds, 170 tonnes of wild fungi are sold every day in season. It is located in Nanhua, Yunnan’s best-endowed county mycologically. A vast array of mushrooms grow across the province. Yunnan accounts for just 4% of China’s land area yet is home to more than 800 of the country’s 1,000 known edible varieties, and about one third of the world’s. Dozens more are discovered in Yunnan every year, says Yang Zhuliang of the Kunming Institute of Botany.

吳先生和他的妻子在市場(chǎng)上兜售早上發(fā)現(xiàn)的菌類(lèi)，在這個(gè)季節(jié)里，每天都有170噸的野生菌類(lèi)被出售。它坐落在云南真菌性最好的縣——南化。全省生長(zhǎng)著大量的蘑菇。云南僅占中國(guó)陸地面積的4%，但在中國(guó)已知的1,000種可食用品種中，云南有800多種，占世界三分之一左右。昆明植物研究所的楊朱亮(音譯)說(shuō)，云南每年都發(fā)現(xiàn)幾十個(gè)這樣的物種。

詞匯

Endow/賦予；捐贈(zèng)；天生具有

Mycological/真菌學(xué)的

Some are lethal. A type identified in 2012 is called “l(fā)ittle white” because of its resemblance to an innocuous oyster mushroom. Mr Yang’s institute named it as the culprit behind Yunnan Unknown Cause Sudden Death Syndrome, which for decades had haunted villagers during the monsoon. Little whites now feature on billboards at wet markets in the region that show how to discern the delectable from the deadly (and warn against the mind-bending, which are popular).

有些是致命的。2012年發(fā)現(xiàn)的一種蘑菇被稱(chēng)為“小白”，因?yàn)樗c一種無(wú)害的平菇相似。楊所在的研究所將其列為云南不明原因猝死綜合癥的罪魁禍?zhǔn)?。幾十年?lái)，每當(dāng)雨季來(lái)臨，村民們就會(huì)受到這種綜合癥的困擾?！靶“住爆F(xiàn)在出現(xiàn)在該地區(qū)菜市場(chǎng)的廣告牌上，告知人們?nèi)绾卧诿牢兜木?lèi)中識(shí)別出該致命的菌種(并警告人們不要好奇去試試，而這是許多人有的情緒)。

詞匯

Culprit/ ?犯人，罪犯；被控犯罪的人

Monsoon/季風(fēng)；雨季；

wet market/傳統(tǒng)市場(chǎng)，菜市場(chǎng)

Billboard/廣告牌

Discern/覺(jué)察出；識(shí)別

Delectable/美味的；令人愉快的

mind-bending/離奇古怪令人費(fèi)解的；強(qiáng)烈影響心緒的

Another danger lurks. Mycologists fret that harvesting is damaging the mushrooms’ habitat. Some hunters unearth them too young, says Yang Hongying, an old-timer on the hills. She finds only a tenth of what she recalls gathering as a child. But back then there “wasn’t really a market for mushrooms”, says Ms Yang. Now the villagers’ everyday meals—nutty summer truffle shaved raw over eggs, or yellow jizong stir-fried with salted ham—are considered truly to die for. ■

另一個(gè)危險(xiǎn)潛伏。真菌學(xué)家擔(dān)心采摘會(huì)破壞蘑菇的棲息地。在山上工作的老者楊紅英(音譯)說(shuō)，有些采摘者發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的時(shí)候菌齡太小。而且他現(xiàn)在找到的菌類(lèi)數(shù)量只有記憶中童年時(shí)的十分之一。但楊表示，當(dāng)時(shí)“蘑菇還沒(méi)有真正的市場(chǎng)”?，F(xiàn)在，村民們的日常飲食都包含菌類(lèi)——將堅(jiān)果狀的未經(jīng)加工的松露撒在雞蛋上，或是用黃色的雞樅菌炒咸肉——這些都是非常值得一吃的。

詞匯

Unearth/發(fā)掘；揭露

old-timer/老前輩

truffle/松露；塊菌