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.

中餐理所當然一直是中國人的驕傲。然而，當諸如英、美等西方國家的人提起中餐時，他們的想法可能會出乎你的意料。

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.

我從小在英國長大，現在才知道原來常吃的中餐其實是粵菜。比如我常點的經典菜糖醋排骨，可能還配有米飯和春捲。我們通常吃的就是這類中餐，因爲大多移民英國的中國人都來自廣東。

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!

這個你可以聽出來，因爲大多數英國人所模仿的漢語發音實際上是粵語——有時，土生土長的英國人聽到普通話會很吃驚，因爲跟粵語相差太遠。

British attitudes to Chinese food may be changing, though.

然而，英國人對中餐的態度也許正在發生改變。

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電視熒屏活躍了30年，他對英國廣播公司美食頻道說：“80年代初英國的中餐清一色的糖醋排骨。當時，大多數英國人對中餐的看法就是刻版化的粵菜……但現在英國已經可以看到類似川菜、湘菜等更多中國地方菜系了。已經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，對大多美國人來說，中餐依舊擺脫不了陳皮雞和幸運餅的印象，但更多的地方菜系已經在紐約這樣的大城市扎穩腳跟。

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，人們對中餐的看法並沒有徹底改觀。許多生活在中國的老外經常會聽到家裏的親戚這樣問：“你吃過狗肉了嗎？”是的，也許因爲人們對中國文化還是瞭解太少，許多人依舊認爲中國人喜歡吃狗肉。當然，有些人確實吃。視覺時代稱，吃狗肉對美國人來說就像“吃掉一個家庭成員”。

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

當然，中國人也吃許多西方人不吃的東西——雞爪，鴨頭和某些動物器官。

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，當外國人來到中國，品嚐真正的中餐時，他們作何感想？告訴你一個好消息，我個人對中餐的印象非常好。

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.

我個人最喜歡的是雲南菜，和我一起吃過雲南菜的每個外國人都對雲南菜獨特的配料和味道讚不絕口。

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!

真的是每個人，除了我那個已經在雲南待了一年的朋友。她堅稱自己還沒有吃到“正宗的雲南菜”。這就是當你吃過真正的中餐後纔會有的問題——你的嘴變得太挑了！