原文標(biāo)題：
World in a dish
Some like it hot
The rise of chilli crisp is a case study in how foods become fads
盤中世界
有人喜歡吃辣

時(shí)尚美食怎樣煉成的？辣椒醬的興起是一個(gè)案例研究

In lockdown, people in the West discovered an age-old Chinese condiment
在封鎖期間，西方人發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種源遠(yuǎn)流長(zhǎng)的中國調(diào)味品

[Paragraph 1]
FOR SOME, cooking during lockdowns was a chance to try out the kind of time-consuming, intricate food preparation that the rush of ordinary life makes impossible.

在疫情期間，有些人把握住了烹飪的機(jī)會(huì)，借此機(jī)會(huì)嘗試那些平時(shí)因?yàn)榉泵Χ鵁o法嘗試的耗時(shí)且精細(xì)的食物制作，從而創(chuàng)造出別樣的美食。

Endless loaves of sourdough were produced, along with bubbling kombucha.

他們烤出了無數(shù)美味的酸面包，還釀制了氣泡綿密的康普茶。

For others, it was an experience of drudgery. Making three meals a day, especially if your diners included small children, was tedium defined—an endless loop of eggs and beans and eggs and toast and beans and toast and eggs.
對(duì)于另一些人而言，這段經(jīng)歷則是單調(diào)乏味的。每天準(zhǔn)備三餐，特別是如果家中有小孩的話，這無疑是一份枯燥乏味的苦差事——雞蛋、豆子、吐司換著花樣搭配。

[Paragraph 2]
Enter condiments. They satisfied both tribes.
調(diào)味品應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。它們滿足了上面兩個(gè)群體。

For the enthusiasts, it was a chance to make the dips and drizzles usually provided by the local deli.
對(duì)于那些熱愛烹飪的人而言，他們可以嘗試制作各式各樣的醬料和調(diào)味料，這些原本只能從當(dāng)?shù)厥焓车曩徺I。

For the weary, a jar of something spicy or sour was an easy way to enliven the umpteenth cheese toastie.
對(duì)于疲憊不堪的人而言，也可以通過一罐酸辣開胃的調(diào)味醬，輕松無限地提升芝士吐司的口感。

Chilli crisp—a glowing red oil, heady with chilli and heavy with crisp fragments of garlic and shallots as well as fermented black beans and sesame—became the sauce of the moment.
辣椒醬——它散發(fā)著紅艷的光芒，夾雜著辣椒、蒜片和青蔥碎末、發(fā)酵黑豆和芝麻等多種食材--已成為當(dāng)下最受歡迎的醬汁。

The place it has secured in many fridge doors since then hints at how foods become fashionable.
它已經(jīng)成功地成為許多人冰箱里的?？停瑥拇艘渤蔀闀r(shí)尚美食的標(biāo)志。

[Paragraph 3]
People in China may have been bemused by the revelatory joy with which those in countries such as America seized on chilli crisp.
當(dāng)看到美國等國家的人們?nèi)绱丝駸岬刈放趵苯丰u時(shí)，中國人可能會(huì)感到困惑。

They have been eating varieties of the stuff for centuries.
數(shù)百年來，中國人一直在品嘗各種口味的調(diào)料。

Lao Gan Ma, made in the south-western province of Guizhou, is the most famous brand. Its founder, Tao Huabi, started selling noodles coated with the sauce in 1989, setting up a factory a few years later.
老干媽是中國西南部貴州省的著名品牌。它的創(chuàng)始人陶華碧于1989年開始賣辣醬面條，幾年后她建立了自己的工廠。

Her face peers out sternly from every label on the 13m bottles the company says it now produces a day. (Heinz’s plant in the Netherlands makes about 10m bottles of ketchup a week.)
她的嚴(yán)肅面孔成為公司標(biāo)簽，也出現(xiàn)在每一瓶老干媽上，據(jù)稱該公司現(xiàn)在每天生產(chǎn)1300萬瓶辣椒醬。（相比之下，亨氏的荷蘭工廠每周生產(chǎn)約1000萬瓶番茄醬。）

[Paragraph 4]
It took a pandemic to bring the delicacy to the rest of the world’s attention.
直到疫情爆發(fā)后，這種美食才引起世界的關(guān)注。

Chilli crisp had many of the necessary characteristics to be a hit. It is spicy, but not overly so.
辣椒醬具備成為熱門美食的多項(xiàng)必要特征，它辣但辣度適中。

It is delicious slathered on noodles, as originally intended, but it can also be added to fried eggs and other dishes familiar to Americans.
它原本是為了給面條增味而存在，味道極佳。但它也可以被加入到美國人熟悉的煎蛋和其他菜肴中。

It satisfies humans’ love of crispy foods, rooted in an evolutionary preference since crunchiness is often an indicator of freshness.
辣椒醬滿足了人類對(duì)于脆爽口感的喜愛，這種偏好源于進(jìn)化過程中的偏好，因?yàn)榇喽韧ǔＪ切迈r食物的指標(biāo)。

[Paragraph 5]
Usually tastemakers visit restaurants and interview chefs to immerse themselves in what people are cooking and eating, says Kevan Vetter of McCormick’s Flavour Forecast, which predicts and influences which tastes become popular.
味可美的“味道預(yù)測(cè)”團(tuán)隊(duì)負(fù)責(zé)預(yù)測(cè)和影響口味的流行趨勢(shì)。該團(tuán)隊(duì)的凱文·維特表示，通常品鑒大師會(huì)去餐廳訪問廚師，以深入了解人們正在烹飪和食用的美食。

In lockdown that was no longer possible. Instead they had to watch what cooks, both home and professional, were making via social media. The answer, along with banana bread, was chilli crisp.
封鎖期間，他們無法親自采訪。因此，他們只能通過社交媒體觀看家庭和專業(yè)廚師的烹飪過程。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，除了香蕉面包，大家還熱衷于辣椒醬。
[Paragraph 6]
Today’s question is not whether people will keep eating it.
如今的問題不在于人們是否會(huì)繼續(xù)食用辣椒醬。
The liberation of post-pandemic dining has not dulled the delight of the condiment.
疫情后餐飲業(yè)的復(fù)蘇并沒有減弱這種調(diào)味品帶來的樂趣。

The East Asian population in America and Britain is growing. Many new brands have joined Lao Gan Ma. Like salsa, which once seemed exotic, chilli crisp is set to become a pantry staple.
在美國和英國，東亞人口正在增加。許多新品牌已經(jīng)加入了老干媽等品牌的行列。就像曾經(jīng)看起來很奇特的“莎莎醬”一樣，辣椒醬即將成為廚房的主打調(diào)味品。

[Paragraph 7]
The question is whether amateurs will keep making it.
問題在于業(yè)余愛好者是否會(huì)繼續(xù)自制辣椒醬。

Nobody bothers making ketchup: as a condiment is assimilated, people develop a taste for the mass-produced version.
沒有人再費(fèi)心制作番茄醬：當(dāng)一種調(diào)味品被融入大眾文化中后，人們開始對(duì)大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)的辣椒醬產(chǎn)生興趣。

And in the case of chilli crisp, Ms Tao might argue that the commercial option is as authentic as it gets.
陶女士可能會(huì)認(rèn)為商業(yè)才會(huì)讓辣椒醬變得更正宗。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量562左右）
原文出自：2023年2月25日《The Economist》Culture版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene

本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
康普茶（Kombucha），也稱為茶菌或蘑菇茶，是一種甜味碳酸飲料。通常由茶葉、糖和一種稱為酵母菌和乳酸菌的微生物菌群混合而成。這種飲料的起源可以追溯到中國數(shù)百年前，但現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)在全球范圍內(nèi)變得越來越受歡迎。Kombucha被認(rèn)為具有一些潛在的健康益處，例如改善腸道健康、增強(qiáng)免疫系統(tǒng)和提供抗氧化劑。同時(shí)，這種飲料也因其微醺效果和口感受到了欣賞。

老干媽是中國貴州省的一種辣醬，由陶華碧創(chuàng)立于1984年。陶華碧曾是一位普通的家庭主婦，為了照顧晚晚患病的丈夫，她開始自制辣醬給他調(diào)味。她的辣醬逐漸在當(dāng)?shù)匦∮忻麣猓?989年開始正式生產(chǎn)銷售，并在不斷改進(jìn)口味和包裝，逐漸成為了中國辣醬的代表品牌之一?，F(xiàn)在，老干媽不僅在中國擁有大量的忠實(shí)消費(fèi)者，還走向了全球市場(chǎng)。老干媽于1997年在中國引起了轟動(dòng)，其特有的口感和獨(dú)特的包裝設(shè)計(jì)深受消費(fèi)者喜愛?，F(xiàn)在，老干媽已成為中國最受歡迎的調(diào)味品之一，深受全球各地食客的喜愛和追捧。每天能生產(chǎn)超過1300萬瓶。

Heinz亨氏公司是在1869年由亨利·約翰·亨氏H.J.Heinz在美國賓夕法尼亞州夏普斯堡創(chuàng)立的，經(jīng)過一百多年卓有成效的發(fā)展，由當(dāng)時(shí)的小農(nóng)場(chǎng)成為世界最大的營養(yǎng)食品生產(chǎn)商之一。2012年2月，股神巴菲特及巴西資本投資公司3G看中亨氏集團(tuán)的優(yōu)異業(yè)績(jī)表現(xiàn)，以總價(jià)280億美元收購亨氏集團(tuán)，創(chuàng)下同類企業(yè)的收購最高紀(jì)錄。它在荷蘭擁有一家工廠，是Heinz公司在歐洲最大的工廠之一，擁有現(xiàn)代化的生產(chǎn)線和先進(jìn)的設(shè)備。據(jù)報(bào)道，這家工廠每周生產(chǎn)大約1000萬瓶番茄醬，主要供應(yīng)歐洲和中東市場(chǎng)。

味可美（McCormick）創(chuàng)建于1889年，總部位于美國馬里蘭州，距今有一百多年的歷史，是紐約證券交易所的上市公司，在中國的上海和廣州分別設(shè)有工廠。公司主要是生產(chǎn)和銷售各種干式、濕式的餐飲、工業(yè)、零售用的調(diào)味料與佐料。例如麥當(dāng)勞餐廳使用的番茄醬、漢堡醬、促銷飲品、朱古力醬、草莓醬、腌制料、包裹料等。

莎莎醬（Salsa）是一種墨西哥菜的調(diào)味品，通常由番茄、辣椒、洋蔥、蒜和香菜等成分制成。這種醬料通常呈現(xiàn)出紅色或綠色，口感辛辣，可用于蘸食物或作為配料用于墨西哥菜肴中。除了傳統(tǒng)的莎莎醬，現(xiàn)在還有許多不同的變體，如水果莎莎、豆莎莎、酪梨莎莎等。

【重點(diǎn)句子】（3?個(gè)）
Chilli crisp—a glowing red oil, heady with chilli and heavy with crisp fragments of garlic and shallots as well as fermented black beans and sesame—became the sauce of the moment.
辣椒醬——它散發(fā)著紅艷的光芒，夾雜著辣椒、蒜片和青蔥碎、發(fā)酵黑豆和芝麻等多種食材--已成為當(dāng)下最受歡迎的醬汁。

Chilli crisp had many of the necessary characteristics to be a hit. It is spicy, but not overly so.
辣椒醬具備成為熱門美食的多項(xiàng)必要特征，它辣但辣度適中。

The liberation of post-pandemic dining has not dulled the delight of the condiment.
疫情后餐飲業(yè)的復(fù)蘇并沒有減弱這種調(diào)味品帶來的樂趣。