炸鱼薯条的前世今生

2016-01-07PaulLevy

新东方英语 2016年1期

Paul+Levy

作为英国最具代表性的食物，炸鱼薯条是每个到访英国的人必尝的小吃，就连不久前访问英国的习大大也点名要吃炸鱼薯条。然而，无论从起源还是发展来看，炸鱼薯条其实都不是那么“英国”。这种异乡人首创的美食究竟何以成为英国的“国菜”呢？

Each afternoon at 1.45 last week， Radio 4 gave tips for anyone thinking of opening a chippie1）. This might seem a strange ambition to encourage on our most middle-class radio station， but as we learn from a book to be published later this month， Fish and Chips： A History by Panikos Panayi， supplying fish suppers2） to the British people has always been a means of upward social mobility. Although the French allegedly still call the British les rosbifs3）， for centuries the emblematic4） dish of the United Kingdom has been the nutritionally unbalanced， deep-fried meal of fish and chips. Yet theres something historically weird about the link between our chief takeaway delicacy and Britishness.

As for the class thing， ever since Dickens first mentioned “chips” in print （in A Tale of Two Cities in 1859） and Henry Mayhew5） cited it as the food of the poor in 1861， fish and chips has been seen as a feature of working-class life.

Is this still true？ Not only did the Ivy6） in London feature fish and chips on its made-over menu when Chris Corbin and Jeremy King relaunched the place and made it chic in 1990， but so did its smarter sister， the Caprice； and haddock7） and mushy peas can now be found even on the pricey menu at Scotts. No longer the working mans nourishment， a fish supper is now classless， which somewhat increases its credibility as our national dish.

Why， though， is fish and chips considered British in the first place？ Claudia Rodens 1996 The Book of Jewish Food， the ultimate authority， says battered8） fried fish “was a legacy of the Portuguese Marranos9）（crypto-Jews） who came to England in the 16th century， many of them via Holland.” Nominal Christians， they were secretly practising10） Jews， who fried their fish on Friday （the Christian worlds fish day） and ate it cold on their Sabbath11） later that night or the next day， when they were forbidden to cook or even light a fire.

There is a wealth of references to back this up， including Manuel Brudo writing in 1544 “that the favourite diet of Marrano refugees” was fried fish， sprinkled with flour， dipped in egg and breadcrumbs； Lady Montefiore， who anonymously wrote the first Jewish cookery book in English （in 1846） and recommended frying fish in “Florence oil”—olive oil； and President Thomas Jefferson， whose niece Virginia put together a collection of his favourite recipes， including Alexis Soyer12）s 1855 instructions for fish fried in the Jewish manner.

From Dickens and Mayhew we know it was at about this time that chipped potatoes became the invariable accompaniment to battered fish. The marriage of fish and chips was actually a gradual merger. Except for the aristocracy and those living on the coast or near inland waterways， Britons didnt eat much fresh fish anyway， until the coming of the railways made transporting it practical and cheaper.

The first record of a fishmonger13）， says Panayis new book， was in 1154. Potatoes had definitely arrived from South America by 1580， and possibly 20 years earlier， but remained a luxury crop during the 17th century， though the Irish peasantry accepted it and made it a staple crop earlier， because it suited their soil and climate. （Its monoculture14） was coupled， paradoxically， with a reluctance to eat fish. During the late 1840s famine there was fish rotting on the beaches， and Mairtin Mac Con Iomaire15） told the 2005 Oxford Symposium16） on Food and Cookery that as late as 1932， Irish “fish consumption was estimated at approximately 4.5 lbs per capita， compared with 32 lbs per capita in Great Britain at the same time.”）

Fried fish and chipped （or sometimes jacket） potatoes were for a long time sold separately. Joseph Malin， an Ashkenazi17） Jewish immigrant， who opened a shop in Bow18） in 1860， gets the honours for being first to vend them together.

Eating cold fried fish required a superior batter to protect the fish from spoiling and the fat from penetrating the fish， plus good quality oil （or dripping19）） with no “off20）” flavours. The not terribly rational Jewish dietary laws21） excluded fish without scales or fins， and meant that if fish was to be eaten with dairy products， it had to be fried in oil， not dripping.

As East End Jews moved to north London and became doctors and solicitors， subsequent waves of immigration took over the trade， and after 1945， Chinese， Italian or Greek Cypriot cooks fried our fish. In my own Oxfordshire village， our handsome new chippie is owned by the Indian family who formerly ran our post office.

With its clear ethnic origins and its continued production by immigrants， why is fish and chips our iconic dish？ Just as， in 1928， The New York Times declared： “Englands hot dog is ‘fish and chips，” the food historian Bruce Kraig once said that “the sausage in a bun was the typical American national dish.” For a member of a minority， eating it was a way of marking your assimilation to the majority. Eating and liking hotdogs made you American.

Why？ Because it was a distinctive American dish， despite its German and Austrian origins， as Würstchen22）， frankfurters23） or Vienna sausages （which nicely parallels the Jewish genesis of fish and chips）. And also because eating a hot dog was almost always a public or shared act—a demonstration of belonging to the majority culture， or at least an expression of an aspiration to belong to it.

Its the same for todays fish and chips. They may be wrapped in newspapers printed in Spanish， Greek， Polish or Urdu24）， but your presence in the queue at the chippie makes you a true Brit.

上周（编注：英文原文发表于2014年10月4日），每天下午的1点45分，英国广播四台都会为那些打算开炸鱼薯条店的听众介绍生意经。四台是最具中产阶级特点的一个频道，在这个频道上鼓励人们有这样的雄心似乎有点怪。但从帕尼科斯·帕纳伊本月晚些时候即将出版的《炸鱼薯条史》一书中我们获知，为英国民众供应炸鱼薯条一直是社会底层向上流动的一个门道。尽管据说法国人还是戏称英国人为“烤牛肉”，但数百年来，英国的标志性食物一直是营养不均衡的油炸食品—炸鱼薯条。然而，英国这一最主要的外卖美味和不列颠特性之间还有一段说来离奇的历史。

来看看炸鱼薯条的阶级性。“薯条”一词最早在狄更斯的书中出现（见于1859年出版的《双城记》）。1861年，亨利.梅休也提及薯条，称其为穷人的食物。自此以后，炸鱼薯条就被视为工人阶级生活的一大标志。

而今是否依然如此呢？1990年，克里斯·科尔宾和杰里米.金将伦敦的常春藤餐厅重新开张，并将其打造成一家新潮饭店，其时不仅常春藤餐厅的新版菜单以炸鱼薯条为特色食物，而且它那更为高档的姊妹餐厅随想曲餐厅也是如此。如今，甚至在斯科特餐厅的高价菜单上也能找到黑线鳕和豌豆泥。炸鱼薯条不再只是劳动人民的佳肴，如今已成为超越阶级的食物，这多少能提高其作为英国国菜的可信度。

不过，炸鱼薯条究竟为何被视为英国的代表食物？克劳迪娅·罗登1996年出版的终极权威著作《犹太食品大全》里写道，裹面炸鱼“是葡萄牙的马拉诺（秘密的犹太教徒）传下来的。他们在16世纪来到英国，其中很多人借道荷兰”。他们表面上是基督徒，私底下却是虔诚的犹太教徒，会在周五（基督徒吃鱼的日子）炸鱼，然后在当晚或次日禁止做饭甚至生火的安息日吃凉的炸鱼。

支持这一说法的文献资料数不胜数，包括：曼纽尔·布鲁多在1544年写的“马拉诺难民最喜欢的食物”是撒上面粉、蘸了蛋液和面包屑的炸鱼；（1846年）匿名写出第一部英文犹太烹饪书的蒙蒂菲奥里夫人建议用“佛罗伦萨油”（橄榄油）炸鱼；还有美国总统托马斯·杰斐逊，他的侄女弗吉尼娅收集了杰斐逊最爱的食谱，其中就包括亚历克西斯·索耶于1855年介绍的犹太式炸鱼法。

从狄更斯和梅休那里我们知道，大约是在那个时候，薯条与裹面炸鱼成为固定搭配。炸鱼和薯条的结合实际上是一个循序渐进的过程。除了贵族以及沿海或内陆河流附近的居民外，英国人其实吃不到多少鲜鱼，直到铁路出现，鲜鱼运输才变得可行，费用也更便宜。

根据帕纳伊新书的介绍，关于鱼贩的最早记录出现在1154年。可以肯定地说，土豆到1580年时已经从南美洲传入英国，可能还要早上20年，但在17世纪仍然是一种奢侈的作物。不过爱尔兰农民比英国人更早地接纳了土豆，并将其作为主要作物，因为爱尔兰的土壤和气候适宜种植土豆。（爱尔兰人种植的作物单一，但与之矛盾的是，他们不喜欢吃鱼。19世纪40年代晚期，爱尔兰闹饥荒，鱼却烂在海滩无人过问。在2005年食品和烹饪牛津研讨会上，迈尔廷·马克·康·艾欧迈尔称，直到1932年，爱尔兰的“人均鱼消费量估计在4.5磅上下，而同时期英国的人均鱼消费量为32磅”。）

炸鱼和薯条（有时土豆还带皮）在很长一段时期内是分开出售的。1860年，德系犹太移民约瑟夫·马林在鲍地区开了一家店，这家店荣幸地成为将炸鱼和薯条一起售卖的第一家店。

吃冷的炸鱼需要上等的面糊，以防止鱼肉腐坏和油脂渗入，此外还需要质量上乘、没有异味的油（或烤肉滴下的油脂）。犹太人的饮食教规有些不合常理，规定不得食用无鳞或无鳍的鱼，还规定如果鱼跟奶制品同食，鱼必须用油炸，而不得用动物油脂。

随着伦敦东区的犹太人搬到北伦敦，成为医生和律师，后来的移民接替他们做起了炸鱼薯条的营生。1945年后，中国人、意大利人和希腊裔塞浦路斯人经营着英国的炸鱼薯条店。在我所住的牛津郡的乡村，新开的炸鱼薯条店很是漂亮，店主是一家印度人，之前他们经营的是村里的邮政业务。

显而易见，炸鱼薯条源于少数族群，后来一直是经移民之手做出，那么为何会成为英国的象征性食物呢？正如1928年《纽约时报》上称“‘炸鱼薯条是英国的热狗”，食物历史学家布鲁斯·克雷格曾说：“面包夹香肠是典型的美国大众美食。”对于少数族群的一员来说，吃热狗是融入主流群体的一种方式。吃热狗、爱热狗才算美国人。

原因何在？因为热狗是独具美国特色的食物，尽管其中的小香肠、法兰克福香肠或维也纳香肠起源于德国和奥地利（这与炸鱼薯条源自犹太人正好相似）。还有一个原因是，吃热狗几乎总是公开或共有的行为—这表明了对主流文化的归属，或者至少表达了融入主流文化的渴望。

这个道理也适用于今天的炸鱼薯条。用来包炸鱼薯条的报纸可能印着西班牙文、希腊文、波兰文或乌尔都文，但当你在炸鱼薯条店前排起队时，你就成了一个地地道道的英国人。

1. chippie [?t??pi] n.〈英〉炸鱼薯条店

2. fish supper：指炸鱼薯条。

3. les rosbifs：法语，意为“烤牛肉”。该称呼的由来是英国人喜欢烤牛肉。

4. emblematic [?embl??m?t?k] adj. 象征（性）的，标志的

5. Henry Mayhew：亨利·梅休（1812～1887），英国社会学者、记者、剧作家

6. Ivy：常春藤餐厅，伦敦一家历史悠久的著名餐厅，在明星中颇受欢迎。曾于1989年关闭，后被文中提到的克里斯·科尔宾和杰里米.金买下，于1990年重新开张。常春藤与下文提到的随想曲餐厅和斯科特餐厅同属于Caprice Holdings餐饮集团。

7. haddock [?h?d?k] n. [鱼] （产于北大西洋的）黑线鳕，是制作炸鱼的常用原料。下文提到的豌豆泥是炸鱼薯条的常见配菜。

8. battered [?b?t?（r）d] adj. 沾上面糊的

9. Marrano：马拉诺，指中世纪在西班牙和葡萄牙境内被迫改信基督教而暗地里依然信奉原来宗教的犹太人或摩尔人。

10. practising [?pr?kt?si?] adj. [宗]积极从事宗教活动的，虔诚的