老干妈风靡美国

Culture

文艺版块

World in a dish

盘中世界

Some like it hot

有人爱吃辣的

The rise of chilli crisp is a case study in how foods become fads.

辣椒酱的流行是食物如何成为时尚的案例研究。

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.

对一些人来说，封控时期让人有机会尝试一些耗时且复杂的菜谱，平时的匆忙生活让人无暇做这种菜。

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

于是人们做了无数的酸面包，再配上冒着气泡的康普茶。

For others, it was an experience of drudgery.

对其他人来说，做饭是苦差事。

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.

准备一日三餐，尤其是当你还要给小孩子做饭的时候，就绝对是枯燥无味的——做饭就是鸡蛋、豆子、鸡蛋、吐司、豆子、吐司、鸡蛋的无限循环。

Enter condiments.

然后酱料登场了。

They satisfied both tribes.

酱料能让这两类人都心满意足。

For the enthusiasts, it was a chance to make the dips and drizzles usually provided by the local deli.

对于厨艺爱好者来说，他们有机会制作当地熟食店会提供的各种蘸酱。

For the weary, a jar of something spicy or sour was an easy way to enliven the umpteenth cheese toastie.

对于疲于做饭的人来说，一罐辛辣或酸爽的东西可以很简单地点亮无数烤芝士三明治的味道。

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.

辣椒酱——闪着红色油光，含有火辣的干辣椒、浓郁的干脆葱蒜碎末、发酵的黑豆和芝麻——成为了当下最流行的酱料。

The place it has secured in many fridge doors since then hints at how foods become fashionable.

从那时起，它已经在许多冰箱门上占据了一席之地，这暗示着食物是如何变得时尚的。

People in China may have been bemused by the revelatory joy with which those in countries such as America seized on chilli crisp.

美国等国家的人忽然惊喜地发现了辣椒酱并对之趋之若鹜，这可能会让中国人感到疑惑不解。

They have been eating varieties of the stuff for centuries.

几个世纪以来，中国人一直在吃各种各样的辣椒酱。

Lao Gan Ma, made in the south-western province of Guizhou, is the most famous brand.

老干妈是其中最著名的品牌，产于中国西南部省份贵州。

Its founder, Tao Huabi, started selling noodles coated with the sauce in 1989, setting up a factory a few years later.

老干妈的创始人陶华碧在1989年开始售卖裹着这种辣酱的面条，几年后她开办了一家工厂。

Her face peers out sternly from every label on the 1.3m bottles the company says it now produces a day.

老干妈公司称，他们目前每天的产量是130万瓶，每个瓶子的标签上都有眼神严肃的陶华碧。

(Heinz’s plant in the Netherlands makes about 10m bottles of ketchup a week.)

(亨氏在荷兰的工厂每周生产约1000万瓶番茄酱。)

It took a pandemic to bring the delicacy to the rest of the world’s attention.

直到疫情发生，这种美味才引起了世界其他国家的注意。

Chilli crisp had many of the necessary characteristics to be a hit.

辣椒酱有许多成为热门食物的必备特征。

It is spicy, but not overly so.

它很辣，但辣度又不过分。

It is delicious slathered on noodles, as originally intended, but it can also be added to fried eggs and other dishes familiar to Americans.

把它浇在面条上很好吃，这是它最开始的吃法，但它也可以加到煎蛋和美国人熟悉的其他菜肴上。

It satisfies humans’ love of crispy foods, rooted in an evolutionary preference since crunchiness is often an indicator of freshness.

它满足了人类对酥脆食物的热爱，这根源于一种进化偏好，因为酥脆通常代表新鲜。

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.

味可美公司的《风味预测》会预测并影响哪种口味会变得流行，在这里供职的凯文·维特表示，通常情况下，开创口味潮流的人会去餐馆探店、采访厨师，让自己沉浸在人们烹饪和享用的美食中。

In lockdown that was no longer possible.

在封控期间，这再也不可能了。

Instead they had to watch what cooks, both home and professional, were making via social media.

于是他们不得不通过社交媒体来观察厨师们都在做些什么，其中包括在家里做饭的人和专业厨师。

The answer, along with banana bread, was chilli crisp.

答案就是香蕉面包和辣椒酱。

Today’s question is not whether people will keep eating it.

现在的问题不是人们是否会继续吃辣椒酱。

The liberation of post-pandemic dining has not dulled the delight of the condiment.

后疫情时期的餐饮解放并没有冲淡这种酱料给人带来的乐趣。

The East Asian population in America and Britain is growing.

美国和英国的东亚人口正在增长。

Many new brands have joined Lao Gan Ma.

许多新品牌加入了老干妈的行列。

Like salsa, which once seemed exotic, chilli crisp is set to become a pantry staple.

就像曾经一度看起来颇有异国风味的萨尔萨酱一样，辣椒酱也势必成为食品储藏柜里的主要食材。

The question is whether amateurs will keep making it.

问题是，业余爱好者是否会继续做辣椒酱。

Nobody bothers making ketchup: as a condiment is assimilated, people develop a taste for the mass-produced version.

没有人会费心制作番茄酱：随着某种酱料被人接受，人们会开始喜欢大规模生产的版本。

And in the case of chilli crisp, Ms Tao might argue that the commercial option is as authentic as it gets.

在辣椒酱的案例中，陶女士可能会表示，商业化生产的辣椒酱就是最地道的。