实战口语情景对话 第1104期:Strange Foods(2) 奇怪的食物2

Rory: I will try it, but I do think that's a bit strange. Okay. So in Nigeria, are there any foods, which to you are normal but maybe you think people from other countries might find a bit strange?
罗瑞：尼日利亚有没有什么食物，你们认为很正常，但是其他国家的人却认为有些奇怪？

Abidemi: I think the whole idea of eating with their hands, and also the fact that we eat a lot of – I don't know how say it, describe it but solid food, we call it.
阿比德米：我想应该是用手吃饭这种习俗吧，而且我们会吃很多……那要怎么形容……我们称之为固体食物。

Rory: Right.
罗瑞：好。

Abidemi: So we have food that's made from yam like we call it pounded yam. A lot of food that's made from – it's hard to describe. So they're like solid. They're kind of like mash potatoes but thicker.
阿比德米：我们有一种用山药做的食物，叫做Pounded Yam。我们的许多食物都是用……这很难形容。这些都是固体食物。很像土豆泥，不过比土豆泥稠。

Rory: Right. So a yam is a type of potato?
罗瑞：好。山药是土豆的一种吗？

Abidemi: A cousin of potatoes, I would say.
阿比德米：应该说山药是土豆的兄弟。

Rory: Right. Okay.
罗瑞：好。

Abidemi: Kind of but it's starchier than potatoes. So we have a lot of food that's made in that way. So to people that might not be used to that, they find it quite strange that we're eating something so starchy and thick. So I think we have that. One thing that's strange to us from the Japanese side is eating raw food.
阿比德米：山药的淀粉含量比土豆多。我们有很多食物都是这样做的。所以其他国家的人可能吃不习惯，他们认为我们吃这种淀粉含量高又很稠的东西非常奇怪。我想我们的食物是这样的。而我们认为日本食物很奇怪的地方在于，日本吃生食。

Rory: Right.
罗瑞：对。

Abidemi: Like raw meat or raw fish, raw fish especially. For us, even vegetables, we don't – that's another thing actually. And almost anything that's raw, we don't really like. I remember the first time I had salad. It was "What is this? Am I an animal? Why am I eating uncooked carrots or lettuce?" So it needs to be cooked.
阿比德米：他们吃生肉和生鱼片，特别是生鱼片。而对我们来说，即使是蔬菜，我们都不会生吃，不过这是另一回事了。我们不喜欢任何生的食物。我还记得我第一次吃沙拉的感觉。当时我想：“这是什么？我是动物吗？我为什么要吃生的胡萝卜和莴苣？”我认为那些应该烹饪过后再吃。

Rory: Right.
罗瑞：好。

Abidemi: Maybe it goes back to our history. If you don't cook, we didn't have a lot of refrigeration so maybe we're still in that mode a little bit. If you don't cook it, it's not as healthy. So we always want to cook it and make sure it's hot or spicy. So I think maybe that would be it.
阿比德米：也许原因要追溯一下我们的历史。如果食物不烹煮……因为我们没有足够的冷藏空间，也许我们现在依然是这种情况。如果食物不烹煮，那食物就会变得不太健康。所以我们会烹煮食物，以确保食物是热的或辣的。我认为这可能是原因。

Rory: Right.
罗瑞：好。

Abidemi: Raw food, raw vegetable, we're still kind of like, "No," I think.
阿比德米：对于生的食物、生蔬菜，我想我们依然会拒绝。

Rory: So one thing, when I first came to Japan, I used to – I mean, in England, people often eat rice with something else. So they might put soy sauce on it. They might have it fried, like an egg fried rice or something. And it was strange for me to eat plain rice when I first came here.
罗瑞：我第一次去日本的时候……英国人吃米饭时会搭配其它食物。可能会在米饭上放调味料，或是做成炒饭，鸡蛋炒饭之类的。所以我第一次去日本的时候，看到他们吃白饭感到很奇怪。

Abidemi: Actually, I had a similar experience too when I was in Japan. I remember the first time they served me rice, just plain rice. In Nigeria, maybe now it's changing a little bit, but in Nigeria, eating plain, white rice is the epitome of poverty. You have no money; you have nothing but plain rice. So for me, it was like, "Whoa, what is this? This is really strange. I need to put something on this rice." And when I did that, I think I kind of like saw the Japanese people around me...
阿比德米：我刚到日本的时候和你有类似的经历。我还记得第一次他们给我端来的白饭。现在尼日利亚的情况可能有了一些改变，不过在尼日利亚，吃白饭代表着贫穷。这说明你没有钱，除了白饭什么都没有。当时我在想“哇，这是什么？这太奇怪了。我要在米饭上放些东西。”而我那样做的时候，我还看了看我周围的日本人……

Rory: Yeah. They never do it, do they?
罗瑞：对，他们从来不那样做，对吧？

Abidemi: No, they don't. Yeah.
阿比德米：对，没错。

Rory: The other thing is if you put soy sauce on rice, it makes it really difficult to eat with chopsticks.
罗瑞：另外，如果你把酱料放在米饭上，那用筷子吃会非常困难。

Abidemi: That's true. That's true. It's not as sticky anymore.
阿比德米：对，没错。就不那么黏了。

Rory: Yeah. So in England we just use a fork. I think if you use the fork for your rice in Japan, probably, also you might cause a bit of a scandal.
罗瑞：对。所以在英国我们用叉子吃。我想如果在日本用叉子吃米饭，可能会引起反感。

Abidemi: A little bit. I think the longer you live in that country, the more you're expected to eat chopsticks, right?
阿比德米：可能会。在日本生活的时间越长，越希望用筷子吃饭，对吧？

Rory: You're right. Yeah.
罗瑞：你说得没错。对。

Abidemi: At least, you'll be able to. Yeah. But now I think I'm more used to it. I can eat white rice with something on the side, of course.
阿比德米：至少，你能做到了。我认为我现在已经很习惯了。如果旁边有配菜，我也可以吃白饭。

Rory: Yeah.
罗瑞：嗯。

Abidemi: But not necessarily with the sauce or something on top of it. Yeah.
阿比德米：不一定要在白饭上放酱料。