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发表于 2007-6-16 13:51
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美国美食评鉴家查格夫妇15日在「纽约时报」发表文章，表示中国美食千变万化，美国人却无福消受，主要因为中国炊事员申请赴美签证很难。 查格夫妇说，20年前美国人以为亚洲菜就是中国菜，现在已懂得欣赏韩国、日本、泰国和越南料理。但是，美国的亚洲餐馆水准突飞猛进，中餐馆却几乎一成不变，继续提供那些老掉牙的菜色。 在中国情况却完全不同。就像中国的许多生活层面一样，中国饮食文化正百花齐放。随着资本主义兴起，民众愈来愈有钱，上馆子的人愈来愈多，炊事员纷纷使出拿手菜招揽顾客，把代代相传的料理发扬光大，而且推陈出新。 中国菜按地区划分，有八大菜系。山东的燕窝汤、浙江的叫化鸡、安徽的黄山炖鸽、江苏的无锡脆鳝、上海的大闸蟹、云南火腿、福建的佛跳墙都名闻遐迩，美国人却无缘得见。 这是因为在美国的中餐馆，不论是粤菜、湘菜或川菜馆子，都不够道地，而其中带有历史因素。1860年代来到美国协助兴建铁路的最早期中国移民，很难弄到家乡菜的重要材料，因此就地取材，并配合美国人的口味，推出炒面和杂碎这类在中国闻所未闻的「中国菜」。 现在交通便利，获取材料已经不是问题，主要的障碍来自911恐怖攻击之后，外国技术工人要获取美国签证很难。 纽约顺利园餐馆集团老板汤英揆说，要在美国开像样的中餐馆难如登天，因为从中国请一批炊事员到美国就得花几年时间。伦敦餐饮业钜子丘德威去年打算在纽约开设餐馆，却因无法为炊事员弄到签证而作罢。, E5 U( d! s e' }' ` ?
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. ^2 I, C+ T+ C3 lEating Beyond Sichuan! }* R2 M4 n; E
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TWENTY years ago, American perceptions of Asian food could be summed up in one word: “Chinese.” Since then, we have developed appetites for Korean, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese fare. Yet while the quality of the restaurants that serve these cuisines, particularly Japanese, has soared in America, Chinese restaurants have stalled. For American diners, the Chinese restaurant experience is the same tired routine — unimaginative dishes served amid dated, pseudo-imperial décor — that we’ve known for years. 人在德国 社区3 _9 p* q% t8 |# `& [
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Chinese food in its native land is vastly superior to what’s available here. Where are the great versions of bird’s nest soup from Shandong, or Zhejiang’s beggar’s chicken, or braised Anhui-style pigeon or the crisp eel specialties of Jiangsu? Or what about the tea-flavored dishes from Hangzhou, the cult-inspiring hairy crabs of Shanghai or the fabled honeyed ham from Yunnan? Or the Fujianese soup that is so rich and sought after that it is poetically called “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall,” meaning it is so good that a Buddhist monk would be compelled to break his vegetarian vows to sample it?
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Like so many other aspects of Chinese life, the culinary scene in China is thriving. As capitalism has gained ground there, restaurants have become a place for people to spend their newfound disposable incomes. Cooking methods passed down within families over the centuries have become more widely known as chefs brought the traditions to paying customers. Today, there are a number of regional cuisines known in China as the Eight Great Traditions (Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong, Sichuan and Zhejiang cuisines). Unless you’ve visited China, they most likely have never reached your lips.( O8 b* o l4 {, a
That’s because the lackluster Cantonese, Hunan and Sichuan restaurants in this country do not resemble those you can find in China. There is a historic explanation for the abysmal state of Chinese cuisine in the United States. Without access to key ingredients from their homeland, Chinese immigrants working on the Central Pacific Railroad in the 1860s improvised dishes like chow mein and chop suey that nobody back in their native land would have recognized. To please the naïve palates of 19th-century Americans, immigrant chefs used sweet, rich sauces to coat the food — a radical departure from the spicy, chili-based dishes served back home.8 N7 h# d% ^) z
7 u- D' }5 ]2 m4 aBut today, getting ingredients is no longer an issue. Instead, the principal obstacle to improving Chinese fare here is the difficulty of getting visas for skilled workers since 9/11. Michael Tong, head of the Shun Lee restaurant group in New York, has said that opening a major Chinese restaurant in America is next to impossible because it can take years to get a team of chefs from China. Chinese restaurateur Alan Yau planned to open his first New York City restaurant last year but was derailed because he was unable to get visas for his chefs.
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If Henry Kissinger could practice “Ping-Pong diplomacy,” perhaps Condoleezza Rice could try her hand at “dumpling diplomacy”? China and the United States should work together on a culinary visa program that makes it easier for Chinese chefs to come here. With more chefs who are schooled in China’s dynamic new restaurant scene, we would see a transformation of the way Chinese food is served in this country. * a2 [, o4 p! p' r% s X+ b# S
6 c) R4 k0 m2 Y6 T9 S$ {Imagine, if you will, what it would be like to discover for the first time Memphis-style barbecue, New York deli food, soul food and Creole, Tex-Mex, Southwestern, California and Hawaiian cuisines all at once. Eating food prepared by an influx of Chinese chefs would be like opening up a culinary time capsule. 4 O7 _! x) @/ P
" I, |, @0 _: b+ C8 s$ L2 x0 _( q, `When authentic Chinese cuisines reach our shores, we can expect a revolution in ingredients and styles that will change the way we prepare food for years to come. Look how quickly our taste for offal, sous-vide cooking and tasting menus have grown. We have a much more ambitious dining culture today than we did 150 years ago.$ F6 h4 N8 y4 L. }% m# D6 w. u0 n
So, we welcome Chinese chefs to share their authentic cuisines with us. American palates, unlike those of previous generations, are ready for the real stuff. |
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