张宏 苗青

别人不了解金华这座城市，但你只要一说金华火腿，外地人一般都会顿作恍然大悟状，忙不迭说：“知道了知道了。”

金华古称婺州，下辖八个县，故亦称八婺。

城中有条河，叫婺江;本地老百姓最爱唱的戏叫婺剧，流行于金、丽、温、衢及杭州等地;城市地图上最醒目的三江口处，建造了别致气派的一座大剧院，竖着“中国婺剧院”五个大字，是厉害的国字号。三江六岸、四面八方的“金华银”（）看见了，自豪感油然而生，阿郎（）理所当然都是“婺”的传人。

金华的金名片

自古以来，金华火腿是金华这座城市最好的名片。以前去外地开会出差，甚至到东南亚一带，别人不了解金华这座城市，你只要一说金华火腿，外地人一般都会顿作恍然大悟状，忙不迭说：“知道了知道了。”

当然，现在外地人仍有不知道金华的，金华银也可以与时俱进地换一张名片：“义乌晓得伐，义乌就是阿郎金华的一个县。”低调中蕴含张扬，这一招很管用，地球人都知道。

如果遇上个别不食人间烟火，又不解风情的文艺青年偏偏不晓得金华火腿，也不曉得义乌，金华银还有一招：“你喜欢旅游、看电影啊，横店影视城知道伐，阿郎金华下面县里的一个镇搞出来的。”双管齐下，火力倍增，杀伤力不是一般的。

金庸梦幻火腿菜

金华火腿确实有名，但很多人不知道如何烧。

金庸在《射雕英雄传》中，写了一道“二十四桥明月夜”的火腿菜，吸引众人眼球：“黄蓉十指灵巧轻柔，将豆腐这样触手即烂之物削成二十四个小球，放入先挖了二十四个圆孔的火腿内，扎住火腿再蒸，等到蒸熟，火腿的鲜味全到了豆腐之中，火腿却弃之不用。”

据说香港美食家蔡澜，按照书中所叙，将这看似不可能的火腿菜进行复制，赢得金庸先生赞叹，并且，这道菜还成了香港“镛记”酒店的私房菜。

金华的厨师读小说《射雕英雄传》，据说读得一下点头一下摇头，点头是佩服作家惊人的想象力;摇头是感觉此菜太浪费，一只火腿就这样糟蹋了，这盘豆腐，原料成本和时间成本高得吓死人。

其实，不必大费周章。“金华银”只要在豆腐上撒些火腿末或火腿薄片，一样蒸出小说中的那种美味效果，而且不浪费。

金华酒，黄酒中的隐士

“晋字金华酒，围棋左传文”，这是明代冯时化在《酒史》中所说的。金华酒竟占字、酒、棋、文四绝之一。大家耳熟能详的《金瓶梅》一书中，主人公穿的是“杭州绸”，喝的是“金华酒”，提到金华酒的场景也有数十处之多。

1358年，朱元璋率红巾军攻下婺州，改婺州为“宁越”，为与民共度时艰，颁布禁酒令。其时，任命胡大海为浙江的指挥长，胡大海儿子被金华酒的美妙所迷，竟违反了禁酒令。朱元璋大怒，欲手刃之。幕僚劝：胡大海正在外地与元军作战，是否宽恕，以安其心。朱元璋回答：宁愿胡大海负我，也不得破坏法令。

胡大海当时什么反应，书上没写，但胡大海回金华后，仍然对朱元璋忠心耿耿，四处征战，最后牺牲在金华八咏楼前。

现在的金华酒逐渐式微，只有在农家自酿米酒中找到一些遗韵。

程咬金与金华酥饼

“金华火腿、金华酒、金华酥饼”被称为“金华三绝”。

不会有人想到，金华酥饼行业把五大三粗的程咬金当作祖师爷。金华酥饼行业中龙头老大默香酥饼的“酥饼博物馆”中，第一展厅就矗立着程咬金树雕。

传说隋朝末年，加入瓦岗寨之前，程咬金在金华卖烧饼为生。制出的烧饼圆若茶杯口，形似蟹壳，面带芝麻，两面金黄，加上干菜肉馅之香，风味独特。有一次，他的烧饼做得太多了，一整天也没卖完。程咬金将烧饼统统放在熄火后仍有余温的炉膛里，准备明天继续卖。

第二天，程咬金起床一看，经过一夜烘烤，烧饼里的肉油都给烤出来了，饼皮更加油润酥脆，全成了酥饼。这饼的香味吸引了不少人。大家见程咬金做的饼和以前大不一样，都争先恐后地品尝。程咬金很高兴，便扯着嗓子喊：“快来买呀！又香又脆的酥饼！”这一叫，买的人更多了。有的烧饼铺主人还煞有介事地向程咬金请教“秘方”。程咬金哈哈大笑起来，说：“我哪有什么‘秘方呀！只不过在炉膛烤一夜而已。”

用现代语言把程咬金的无意之举“翻译”一下，就是他采用“二次烘焙法”，使得酥饼更酥脆更香，并且大大延长了保质期。

第一乡愁菜

现在流行谈“乡愁”，吃货们会说，乡愁就是回忆吃家乡菜。

不用评比，金华“吃讲师”们一致推举：“三月青”，当之无愧成为金华第一乡愁菜。

又会吃，又会评论的人，才有资格被封为“吃讲师”，他们说得好权威。

三月青是芥菜的一种，外地几乎很少种植，而金华地区普遍种植;三月青味微苦，外地人往往嫌其苦涩弃之。唯“金华银”在苦涩中吃出了香味，吃出了甜味，吃上了瘾。

出门在外一两个月，回金华逛菜场，赶紧买来“三月青”，清洗干净，往炒锅里一放，顿时清香扑鼻，再放一把焯过水的千张，翻炒几下，金华名菜“三月青炒千张”即可上桌。闭上眼轻轻一闻，那种“三月青”特有的苦味及香味沁人心脾，这才算真正回家。

金华小孩都听过的童谣

对于金华市区的百姓，尤其是孩子，最熟悉的当地童谣莫过于那首朗朗上口的《一粒星》了：

“一粒星，咯咯钉;两粒星，挂油瓶。油瓶漏，好炒豆。豆香，好种秧。秧无肥，好种梨。梨无核，好种大栗。大栗三层壳，好种菱角。菱角两头尖，敲锣打鼓到兰溪。兰溪角落撮（捡）着一个破铜钿（钱），掇得（拿给）姐姐买花线。花线咯咯断，好买鸭卵（蛋）。鸭卵香，隔壁老嬷（老太婆）末里张（在那里看）;鸭卵臭，隔壁老嬷末里咒;鸭卵一个洞，隔壁老嬷末里打地洞。”

俏皮的童谣，跳跃式的联想，由孩子看见的星星入手，转到生活中其他的事物。后面则是典型的顶针手法，巧妙的一句一押韵，对应金华方言的韵脚。炒豆、大栗、菱角都是最金华的食品，念着朗朗上口。最后讲到鸭卵，用了诙谐的排比段落，描绘了隔壁老嬷夸张的形象，甚是可爱。

修辞高手

金华普通老百姓特别会用形容词，用得到位，一般人做不到。

例如描述红色，“晚霞一片红”，阿郎金华银不会简单说“红”就了事，而是像个写文章的文人，会加形容词，“红”成了“绯红”，“晚霞一片绯红”仿佛只有这样才更能准确并充分地直抒胸臆;描述“绿”，金华银一定会说“碧绿”;描述“白”，金华银就会说“雪白”;描述“黑”，金华银说“墨黑”。服了吧？

有时，为了强调重点，不少妇女同志还喜欢把形容词重复两遍成为叠音词，“绯红”成了“绯绯红”，“碧绿”成了“碧碧绿”，“雪白”成了“雪雪白”，“墨黑”成了“墨墨黑”。

真是嗲嗲的。

古老的交通规则

金华人自古就讲交通规则。过去道路狭窄，交会时需让路，金华民间就有《让路歌》，好像红绿灯，指导各色人等行路：

空手让挑担，轻担让重担，

重担让大担，大担让扛箱，

扛箱让官府，官府让新妇，

新妇让大肚。

现在看来，《讓路歌》还是蛮人性化的。不干活的，给干活的让路，干轻活的给干重活的让路，苦力给官老爷让路，官老爷给办喜事的让路，办喜事的给怀孕的让路。

李清照为金华写广告

金华银公认，宋朝女词人李清照在金华时写的一首诗，是宣传金华的最佳广告词：

千古风流八咏楼，

江山留与后人愁。

水通南国三千里，

气压江城十四州。

此诗以楼带城，写出金华的大气魄、大格局，豪放、激昂。诗歌收入金华乡土教材，朗朗上口，中小学生人人会背。

金华银无处付广告费，于是在八咏楼上特地立起李清照雕像，供人凭吊，发思古之幽情。

最早的浙江人

杭州的良渚文化，宁波的河姆渡文化，和金华的上山文化一比，都显得年轻了。

2000年，浦江县黄宅镇境内发现上山遗址，2006年命名为上山文化，后迅速被列为全国重点文物保护单位，并建造了博物馆。通过挖掘和考古研究，其成果让人充满自豪：“我们才是浙江人的老祖宗。”

遗址中只有80多件文物，新旧石器时代的都有，一万年左右的历史，件件珠玑，比宁波的河姆渡文化早了三四千年。

遗址中的稻子更是逆天，简直改写了世界农业史，使中国成为水稻起源地。

关键是上山文化很低调，一般人都不知道。

（本文配图由傅军杰绘）

Called Wuzhou in ancient times， Jinhua has eight counties within its jurisdiction， hence its alternative name， Bawu （“ba” meaning “eight”）. The citys mother river is Wujiang River. The locals favorite opera is Wu Opera， with the China Wu Opera Theatre being the citys most prominent cultural landmark. In the local dialect， “a lang” means “we”， used by all Jinhua people for first-person reference.

The best way to introduce Jinhua to those who know little about the city is to mention its calling card – Jinhua ham. From our experiences， chances are that you will get an “ah ha” followed by “sure I know.” And for those who still look puzzled， you can mention Yiwu， the world-famous small commodities market that is known to almost all businesspeople on this planet， and the Hengdian World Studios surely works if you have to convince someone who knows a little about the movie industry of China.

Louis Chas Ham Recipe

Many people who claim to know about the fame of Jinhua ham have the slightest idea about how to cook it properly. In ， Louis Cha invented a ham-and-tofu recipe that magically transfuses the flavor of ham into tofu through the supernatural power of Huang Rong， the heroine of the novel. The recipe caught the eye of Hong Kongs most famous food critic， Cai Lan， whose copy-and-paste of the recipe later became a signature item on the menu of Louis Chas Private Kitchen in Hong Kong.

For chefs in Jinhua， however， the recipe is too costly to follow， because the way Huang Rong uses the ham is too time-consuming to try in a real kitchen and leads to the waste of the whole chunky piece of pork. A simplified version of the recipe is to steam tofu with minced or sliced ham on it.

Jinhua Rice Wine

Jinhua rice wine is rated by Feng Shihua in his  （written in the Ming Dynasty） as one of “the four Chinese treasures” ranking together with the calligraphy of the Jin Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty erotic classic， ， the protagonist is “donned in Hangzhou silk” and “drinks Jinhua wine”.

During the prohibition period ordained by Zhu Yuanzhang， founder of the Ming Dynasty （1368-1644）， after his troops took Wuzhou under his wing in 1385， the son of Hu Dahai， Commander of Zhejiang， yielded to the intoxicating wine made in Jinhua. “Id rather be hated and betrayed by Hu Dahai than see my order issued in the morning and countermanded at night，” Zhu Yuanzhang said no to his advisors pleading for leniency and insisted on a penalty of death of the man， regardless of the fact that his father was fighting a bloody battle against the Yuan troops. The father came back still loyal and devoted to the emperor.

The glory of Jinhua wine eventually became dust-laden. For people today， it takes a lot of exploration of authentic home-brewed Jinhua wine to sense its former brilliance.

Jinhua Crisp Cake

Jinhua Crisp Cake， ranked with Jinhua Ham and Jinhua Wine as the “three treasures of Jinhua”， is legendarily a casual invention by Cheng Yaojin， who made a living by making the sesame-flavored dried vegetable and pork cake in present-day Jinhua before joining the Sui troops and eventually becoming one of the founding generals of the Tang Dynasty （618-907）. Legend has it that one day the guy had to put the leftover of a whole days business back into the hearth so that the “su bing” could remain fresh and crisp in the lingering warmth till the next morning. The result of a whole nights toasting is a new， crisp type with a much tastier flavor and a longer shelf life that brought his business a new army of fans.

Shangshan Civilization

The Shangshan Ruins， unearthed in the outskirts of Huangzhai Town in Pujiang County， Jinhua， in 2000， proves Jinhua people have much more than the citys “three treasures” to feel proud of. Officially named “Shangshan Civilization” in 2006 and put under state-level protection， the site produced artifacts that span a history of more than 10，000 years， leaving the Liangzhu Culture in Hangzhou and Hemudu Culture in Yuyao， Ningbo far behind. The site， although known by very few outsiders， has rewritten the history of rice cultivation in China， overturning the verdict that the pre-historical China produced only millets.

Li Qingzhaos Poem

Bayong Pavilion， originally Yuanchang Pavilion， first built in 494 by Shen Yue during his tenure as a prefecture governor in Dongyang in the Southern Dynasty， is one of the most important historical sites in Jinhua. The fame of the spot is brought to its apex by Southern Song poet Li Qingzhao， who was so impressed by the grandeur of the cityscape that she wrote a poem using the name of the pavilion as the title. The character of the city as well as the pavilions daring architectural charm is so perfectly depicted in the poem that it has found its way into the local textbook and almost become the best advertising slogan of the city， for which Jinhua people rewards the poet by erecting a statue of Li Qingzhao at the site.

Traffic Rules

One of the folk songs created by Jinhua people hints at the historical origin of the locals well-observed “road manners”. The folk song explains the rules， one of which points out “the pregnant first even in case of a wedding procession”， in simple language. In this sense， it is no exaggeration to say that Jinhua people know better about making way for other people than their peers in other cities.

Masters of Rhetoric

Jinhua people are masters of rhetoric， going out of their way when it comes to using adjectives. A case in point is that the locals are never satisfied with basic adjectives describing colors. They are fastidious about precision. For example， to describe the color of sunset glow as “red” is like saying nothing at all. In Jinhua， you hear a lot of “crimson red”， “snow white”， “pitch-dark” and “emerald green”.

The “March Green”

For foodies， nostalgia is almost the pronoun of the “flavors of the hometown”. For Jinhua people， the pronoun is “March Green”， the colloquial reference to a local vegetable rarely grown outside the Jinhua region. The locals are fastidious about the bittersweet flavor of the vegetable; and the most favorite， homey way of cooking “March Green” is to deep-fry it with dried pieces of bean curd.