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每到中秋节，月饼就成了主角。 不光包装，还有各种造型和口味，年年都有创新。 本期《经济学人》culture板块的世界美食，介绍的就是中国的月饼。 Promising the moon 送给月亮的承诺
Like other holiday foods, the mooncake is both constant and endlessly variable 和其他节日食物一样，月饼年年有，但年年不一样 1. At the southern end of Manhattan the grid system comes undone, and the streets converge like electric cables at the bottom of a junk drawer. Chinese immigrants have flocked to the neighbourhood for well over a century. Trendobsessed eaters shun this Chinatown for the one in Flushing, or glitzier spots in the East Village. But nowhere in New York offers such a wealth of oldschool Cantonese delicacies: crackling roast pork, carefully seasoned seafood and, at this time of year, soft, golden mooncakes. 曼哈顿南端，电网还没安装完成，一条条街道像电线一样汇聚在杂物箱的底部。早在100多年前，中国移民蜂拥而至此地。紧跟潮流的食客故意避开这个中国城的美食点。 但是在纽约，正宗广东美食应有尽有：焦香酥脆的烤猪肉，精心调味的海鲜还有每年这个时节柔软金黄的月饼。 2. Mooncakes are a stuffed pastry eaten for the MidAutumn Festival, a harvest holiday celebrated in much of East Asia, second in importance only to the Lunar New Year. This year it fell on September 10th. Gary Chan, a ChineseAmerican baker who owns Bibble and Sip in midtown Manhattan, compares it to Thanksgiving: a family reunion with food as its anchor. 月饼是中秋节日里的一种塞满馅料的面皮点心。中秋节，作为一种庆祝收获的节日，主要在东亚地区庆祝，是仅次于春节的第二大节日。 今年的中秋节正好是9月10日。Gary Chan是曼哈顿中心一家叫做Bibble and Sip面包店的糕点师，他将中秋节比作感恩节：家人团聚在一起，共享美食。 3. As with the cakes and pies that conclude a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, mooncakes are celebratory. And rich: they have lardenriched wheaten crusts and fillings traditionally made from bean paste, mixed nuts, lotus seeds, fatty pork and other unusual sweet foods. Miranda Brown of the University of Michigan notes that in the past they would have been a particular treat in ricecentric southern China. Before baking they are pressed into a mould to imprint designs and characters, further distinguishing them from ordinary fare. When most families did not have ovens, they would have had to buy them from a specialist—another splurge. 就像感恩节或圣诞节大餐少不了蛋糕和各种派一样，月饼是一种庆祝美食，而且是一种内容丰富的美食。 它们外皮是油光发亮的小麦面粉皮，里面则是豆沙，各种坚果，莲子，肥猪肉以及其他特别甜的食物混合的传统馅料。 密歇根大学的Miranda Brown说，过去，月饼是中国南方一种以米为主料的特殊美味。在烘烤之前，要将其放进一个模具中，压出各种造型和文字，来区别于普通的食物。 当时大部分家庭没有烤箱，所以，他们就得从一个专门卖月饼的人手里买，这又成了另一种炫耀的方式。 4. They are still mostly bought rather than made. These days cooking them at home is easier, but it is still an undertaking. A recipe from Andrea Nguyen, a Vietnamese American cook, is four pages long, takes 22 steps, requires a special mould to shape the cakes, and includes salted egg yolks, sausage, fruitcake mix, sorghum and rosepetal liquor, and canned chicken. Mooncakes have a fudgelike density and lightness and, as in many East Asian desserts, the fillings tend to be delightfully subtle rather than sickly sweet. 如今，大部分人还是买月饼而不是自己做。自己制作月饼现如今变得很方便，但仍然要很多功夫。 一位越南裔美国厨师的月饼制作食谱有4页长，需要22个步骤，而且需要一个特殊的模具来给月饼定型，还需要咸蛋黄、香肠、水果蛋糕混合物、高粱、玫瑰花瓣酒和鸡肉罐头。 月饼有着乳糖的浓稠和轻盈，就和很多东亚国家的甜点一样，月饼的馅料只是为了点缀而非甜的不可开交。 5. Or, they do now. The tradition of eating mooncakes for the MidAutumn Festival dates back to the Tang dynasty, well over 1,000 years ago; but the cakes themselves have varied in form and filling. When many ethnic Chinese left Vietnam, Ms Brown explains, they brought their style of mooncakes with them. These “snowskin” cakes are served cold, with a soft crust made from steamed rice flour, and have grown popular around the world. 或者，现在的月饼有点甜的过分。中秋佳节吃月饼的传统可追溯到1000多年前的唐朝时期，但是月饼的形状和馅料却一直在变。 当很多华裔离开越南回到国内，他们也带回了当地风格的月饼。这些裹着“雪衣”，外皮上撒了白米饭制成的米皮，无需加热就能吃的糕点已经在全世界流行了。 6. Mr Chan makes highly Instagrammable mooncakes with a mochi and organic sweetpotato filling and inventive moulds (this month’s include lions, persimmons, peanuts and lucky cats). He feels pressure each year to do something novel and delicious; that, combined with the manpower involved, leaves him a little frazzled by early September. The upshot will be familiar to anyone who has cooked a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. “Every year,” he says, “we go, 'We’re not doing this again.’ And then every year we come right back to it.” Chan先生做的月饼在Ins上流传很广。他用糯米团和有机红薯当馅料，使用独具个性的模具（这个月用的是狮子、柿子、花生和幸运猫）做月饼。 每年他都要制作一些新颖好吃的月饼，所以压力很大。由于今年人手不够，他9月初非常忙碌。每年的结局总是一样，就像那些制作圣诞大餐的人一样，嘴上说着“每年我们都说不会再做了，结果每年都在做。” |
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