查梅因·莫　王冰/译

A boom in the production of caviar over the past decade has seen its popularity skyrocket， making it now “more fashionable than elitist”. The pandemic caused a brief dip in sales of the luxury fish eggs， but now “black gold” is piled atop everything， and has found fame on social media. 过去10年间，产量的激增使鱼子酱的受欢迎程度飙升，也让其成为当今的“时尚”食材而非“精英”食材。虽然疫情曾导致奢侈鱼子酱的销量短暂下滑，但现在无论吃什么都要在上面加一坨“黑金”，它在社交媒体上也声名鹊起。

We just cant seem to get away from caviar.

我们似乎离不开鱼子酱。

It doesnt matter whether its being served with vintage Krug or piggybacking pricey tuna belly sushi， the unbridled abundance of “black gold” piled high represents a level of affluence that is still out of reach for the average diner.

无论是搭配优质的克鲁格香槟，还是摞在昂贵的金枪鱼腩寿司上，毫无节制地高高堆起的“黑金”代表着普通食客仍不可企及的奢华程度。

As much as food bloggers these days enjoy waxing lyrical1 about humble ingredients such as tofu， yams and rice， heaping spoonfuls of caviar on everything and anything still seems to be the last word in2 status symbols.

尽管现在很多美食博主都喜欢热情谈论诸如豆腐、山药和大米等不起眼的食材，但在每种食物上一勺勺地浇上鱼子酱似乎仍是最有力的身份象征。

Like taking a bottle of expensive Lafite wine to a traditional Hong Kong dai pai dong food stall， its all the rage3 on social media—and diners are lapping it up4.

就像帶一瓶昂贵的拉菲去传统的香港大排档摊位一样，浇鱼子酱的做法在社交媒体上风靡一时——而且食客们也都在大快朵颐。

Whereas once youd see ostentatious offerings such as a whole tart filled with sea urchin and a blanket of caviar， or mooncakes with the lotus seed paste replaced by dark roe， the ultim-ate culinary flex recently has been this “high-low” trend， contrasting “luxury” caviar with fast or ordinary food： think chicken nuggets， crisps， soft serve ice cream.

你可能曾经见过招摇的菜品，例如盛满海胆再盖上厚厚一层鱼子酱的馅饼，或者用黑鱼子代替莲蓉作馅料的月饼，而最近烹饪领域的终极变化正是这种“高低对比”热潮——将“奢华”的鱼子酱与快餐或普通食物进行对比，例如鸡块、薯片、软冰淇淋。

Ive seen it decorating slices of ruby red steak， topping tacos al pastor and， more recently， har gow shrimp dumplings.

我见过鱼子酱装饰着一片片鲜红的牛排 ，浇在墨西哥烤猪肉玉米饼上，最近还见过用它来点缀虾饺。

The last irks me the most， but then Im a har gow purist. As the ultimate expression of the subtle delicacy and difficulty of executing traditional Cantonese cuisine， the deceptively simple dumpling deserves respect—and caviar piled on top does not “elevate” an already superior creation （unless your har gow comes frozen and microwaved from the nearest 7-Eleven）.

最后一个最让我恼火，毕竟我是一个虾饺纯粹主义者。作为传统粤菜烹饪技艺精巧性以及难度的终极体现，看似简单的饺子值得尊重——堆在虾饺上的鱼子酱并不能“提升”这道已经很高级的菜品（除非你的虾饺是从最近的7-11便利店里买的速冻虾饺，微波炉加热后才可食用）。

Others have joked about caviar being “high-end MSG”， which is a more delightful way to reframe it. But were not seeing it being used sparingly.

还有人曾调侃鱼子酱是“高级味精”，这是一种更令人愉悦的表达方式，但我们并没有看到人们像使用味精一样节省地使用鱼子酱。

Caviar is ubiquitous. It has seen something of a boom over the past dec-ade， with production growing in leaps and bounds5. For one， most caviar is now farmed and eggs are extracted from female sturgeon using more humane “milking” methods， rather than pillaging the poor fish for their briny bounty and discarding them.

魚子酱无处不在。过去10年间，鱼子酱经历了某种程度的兴盛，产量增长突飞猛进。举例来说，现在大部分鱼子酱都来自养殖渔业，而且鱼子经由更人道的“挤奶式”方法从雌性鲟鱼体内取出，而不是掠夺完咸味宝藏，就把可怜的鱼抛弃。

China， not Russia， now leads the way in caviar， according to a 2021 study by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products， accounting for up to 84 per cent of global sturgeon production.

欧洲渔业和水产养殖产品市场观察机构2021年的一项研究显示，现在鱼子酱产业处于领先地位的是中国，而非俄罗斯。中国的鲟鱼产量占全球总产量的84%。

After a brief dip during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic， when high-end restaurants， hotels and cruise lines suspended operations， creating a domino effect in the demand for caviar， its back on the rise.

新冠疫情初期，高端餐厅、酒店和游轮暂停运营，对鱼子酱需求产生了多米诺骨牌效应。经历短暂下滑后，鱼子酱需求又开始回升。

This has led to notable trends.

由此掀起一系列热潮。

According to a bemused editorial in The New York Times in June 2022， caviar “bumps”—a hedonistic way of indulging in mounds of caviar off the back of your hand—are all the rage among millennial diners. It is post-Prohibition6-style revenge dining at its finest.

根据《纽约时报》2022年6月一篇语气困惑的社论，鱼子酱“隆块”——一种沉迷于从手背上舔食大量鱼子酱的享乐主义做法，正在千禧一代食客中风靡。这是后禁酒时代式报复性饮食行为的绝妙体现。

Brands such as Nomad Caviar， founded in 2020—at the beginning of the pandemic—by hospitality veteran Jason Cohen， have been trying to change the perception of the fish eggs from an occasional luxury to an everyday indulgence.

很多鱼子酱品牌，如酒店及泛服务业资深人士贾森·科恩于2020年疫情初期在香港创立的“游牧人”，一直在努力改变人们对鱼子酱的看法——从偶尔的奢侈转变为日常的享受。

He points out that the economics of caviar have changed drastically in the past decade， with the price point coming down significantly， allowing him to bring caviar to the masses.

科恩指出，鱼子酱经济在过去10年间发生了巨大变化，鱼子酱的价格大幅下降，这使他能够将鱼子酱带给大众。

For a time in 2020， as diners shifted from dining out to entertaining in， Cohens relatively affordable supersized tins of caviar became the hottest table topper among Hong Kong gourmands. A whopping 85 per cent of Cohens business is direct to consumers.

2020年的一段时间里，随着食客从外出就餐转为在家享受美食，科恩公司相对实惠的超大装鱼子酱罐头成为香港美食家餐桌上最热门的佐餐品。科恩公司高达85%的业务直接面向消费者。

“Caviar is still a status symbol， but in a different way，” he says. “I had it the other day with crumpets and butter， which is one of my favourite ways of eating caviar.”

“鱼子酱仍然是一种身份的象征，但是象征的方式不同以往。”科恩说，“前几天我吃了鱼子酱配烤面饼和黄油，这是我最喜欢的鱼子酱食用方式之一。”

Its a far cry from7 when he was growing up， when a tiny helping8 of “about 10 eggs” given to him on a blini by his mother was the most extravagant thing he had as a child.

这与他小时候的情况大相径庭。那时候，母亲给他加在薄饼上的一小份“大约10颗鱼子”是他这个小孩子能拥有的最奢侈的东西。

“It was like an elitist thing. You had to make US$1 million a year—you had to have a Rolls-Royce， you had to have a boat—to eat caviar，” he says. He likens the trend for caviar to the way even major fashion houses are morphing into something more edgy.

“鱼子酱曾经像一种精英食品。你必须年入百万美元，你必须有一辆劳斯莱斯，你必须有一艘船，才吃得起鱼子酱。”科恩说。即使是大型高级时装店也在向更前卫的风格转变，科恩将鱼子酱的发展趋势与此类比。

“Caviar now is becoming more fashionable than elitist. Its becoming a bit more street.”

“鱼子酱现在变得更时尚了，不再显得那么精英主义。它在街头越来越常见。”

At Argo bar in the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong， beverage manager Lorenzo Antinori—known for such irreverent touches as putting gummy bears in champagne—is busy scheming up “fun serves” of caviar.

香港四季酒店的阿尔戈酒吧里，酒水经理洛伦佐·安蒂诺里正忙着策划鱼子酱“有趣的供应方式”——他以在香槟中加入小熊软糖等不恭敬的做法而闻名。

Fried chicken and caviar will not be one of them， but dont be surprised to see it piled on smiley face potatoes or boiled eggs infused with whisky or vodka.

鱼子酱配炸鸡不会是安蒂诺里的创意，但如果看到鱼子酱堆在笑脸薯饼或者用威士忌或伏特加浸泡的煮鸡蛋上，不要感到惊讶。

He has previously experimented with distilling caviar into vodka， or using it in the process of fat washing spirits—flavouring spirits with a liquid fat like butter or bacon oil.

安蒂诺里之前曾试验过将鱼子酱的精华融入伏特加，还试验过将其用于烈酒的油脂浸洗过程——油脂浸洗指用黄油或培根油等液态脂肪给烈酒调味。

“When I tried caviar for the first time， what actually interested me the most was not really the flavour， but the texture，” he says. “When it comes to drinks， its about the whole experience—its about the scent as well as the mouthfeel.”

“初次品尝鱼子酱时，最让我感兴趣的其实不是它的味道，而是它的口感。”他说，“就饮品而言，品的就是整个体验——关乎香味，同样也关乎口感。”

“When we serve cocktails， we want to be creative and push the boundaries as well. But at the same time， its important to us to not alienate anybody，” he says. “I like to do things that are weird， but also they need to be accessible.”

“调制鸡尾酒时，我们希望发挥创意，也希望突破边界。但同时，不疏远任何人对我们来说非常重要。”他说，“我喜欢做一些不同寻常的事情，但这些事情也得是能做到的。”

He points out how the perception of caviar as an everyday item may come full circle from the pre-revolutionary days of the Russian tsars， who would serve it to their children for breakfast alongside mashed bananas.

安蒂諾里指出，从俄国革命前的沙皇时代到今天，将鱼子酱视为日常食材的观念兜了一圈又回到原点——沙皇会用鱼子酱配香蕉泥给孩子们作早餐。

“Caviar just didnt have value at that time，” he says. “But reading that made me think of maybe creating a banana daiquiri with a side of caviar.”

“鱼子酱在当时并没有价值。”他说，“但读到这个故事让我想到也许可以把鱼子酱用作香蕉代基里酒的配菜。”

While I remain unconvinced， theres plenty of caviar to go around： one high-end hotel has announced a caviar summer staycation9 package and another has rebranded its Italian restaurant as a champagne and caviar bar.

尽管我仍然对此持怀疑态度，但现在有大量的鱼子酱能满足人们的需求——一家高端酒店宣布推出一份以鱼子酱为主题的夏日居家度假套餐，还有一家已将其意大利餐厅改造为香槟和鱼子酱酒吧。

Perhaps somewhere in the multiverse is another me that is delighted by this news， fist bumping everyone and devouring mountains of caviar with reckless abandon.

也许在多元宇宙里的某个地方，有另一个我会为这个消息感到高兴，会和每一个人击拳庆祝，还会不计后果地放纵自己吞噬堆积成山的鱼子酱。

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）