经济学人下载:成都火锅VS重庆火锅:谁是老大(1)

China
《中国》版块

Regional cuisine
地方菜

The gripes of broth
火锅汤的抱怨

Two cities tussle over who makes the tastiest Sichuan hotpot
两个城市争相认为自己做的火锅更好吃

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, has an ancient rivalry with Chongqing, a city to its south-east. Residents of Chongqing accuse their Chengdu cousins of being pompous. The people of Chongqing are hotheads, Chengdu dwellers shoot back. Both cities share a love of spice-laden Sichuan cuisine, which in recent decades has conquered Chinese palates. But they are at war over which has the best Sichuan hotpot—a type of DIY-cooking that involves boiling vegetables and slices of meat in a communal broth with chillies and numbing peppercorns.
四川省会成都与东南部城市重庆自古以来就在竞争。重庆人指责成都的兄弟们过于自负。重庆人是急性子，成都人则会回击。这两个城市都热爱辛辣的川菜，近几十年来，川菜已经征服了中国人的味觉。但是两个城市正在为哪家的四川火锅最好而争论不休。火锅是一种自己动手的烹调方式，将辣椒和带来酥麻口感的胡椒粒撒进汤里，汤开后将蔬菜和肉片等烫熟。

A private museum in Chongqing, opened several years ago, makes the case for Chongqing-style hotpot. It describes how it developed from a method used to make cheap offcuts of meat taste delicious. But Chengdu is playing catch-up. In January the city sold a plot of land on condition that the developer build a hotpot museum on part of it. Such presumptuous behaviour will test the famous fiery tempers of Chongqing-ites. Chengdu may be the capital of Sichuan cuisine’s eponymous province, but Chongqing was part of Sichuan for long periods of history until 1997. It is now the capital of its own province-sized region, which is also called Chongqing.
几年前，重庆的一家私人博物馆对外开放，展示了重庆火锅的特色。博物馆展示了火锅从使便宜的边角肉尝起来美味的方法的演变历程。但成都正在迎头赶上。今年1月，成都出售了一块土地，条件是开发商在其中修建一座火锅博物馆。这种挑衅的行为将考验重庆人的火爆脾气。成都可能是川菜的代表，但在1997年以前重庆一直是四川的一部分。现在，重庆是省级行政区、直辖市。

The two cities are among many in China with their own styles of hotpot. The stories behind these dishes reveal how different regions like to see themselves. Chongqing’s is said to highlight the ingenuity of the proletariat. Other places describe their hotpots as the sophisticated food of emperors. Some say theirs have military origins: warriors on the march boiling scraps in their helmets. Hotpot contents are equally diverse. To keep warm in winter, Beijingers boil fatty lamb in a berry broth. Mint-suffused Yunnanese hotpot reflects the province’s links with South-East Asia.
这两个城市在中国众多火锅风格各异的城市中榜上有名。这些菜肴背后的故事揭示了不同地区是如何自我评价的。据说，重庆火锅彰显了无产阶级的创造力。其他地方把火锅描述为皇帝的精致食物。一些人说重庆火锅起源于军事：战士们在行军时在头盔里涮着可吃的食物。火锅的配料食材也呈现出多元化。为在冬天取暖，北京人用葱姜清汤涮肥美的羊肉。云南的薄荷火锅则反映出云南与东南亚的联系。