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你的祖先喜欢什么食物

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Last year, I was living with this indigenous family in India.

去年,我住在印度的一个土著家庭里。
One afternoon, the young son was eating, and at the sight of me, he quickly hid his curry behind his back.
一天下午,这家的小儿子在吃饭,一看见我,他就赶紧把他的咖喱藏在背后。
It took a lot of persuasion to get him to show me what he was eating.
我费劲九牛二虎之力,才说服他给我看看他在吃什么。
It turned out to be moth larvae, a traditional delicacy with the Madia indigenous people.
原来他在吃蛾子幼虫,这是马迪亚土著人民的传统美食。
I cried, "Oh my God, you're eating these! I hope there's a little left for me!"
我大喊,“哦天啊,你在吃这个!希望还能给我剩一点!”
I saw disbelief in the boy's eyes. "You... eat these?"
我在小男孩眼里看到了难以置信的神色。“你...吃这些?”
"I love these," I replied. I could see he did not trust me one bit.
“我可爱吃了,”我回答道。我可以看出来,他完全不信我说的任何一个字。
How could an urban, educated woman like the same food as him?
一位受过教育的城市女性怎么可能和他喜欢同样的食物?
Later, I broached the subject with his father, and it turned out to be a mighty touchy affair.
后来,我和他父亲提到这件事,结果发现这竟然是个相当敏感的话题。
He said things like, "Oh, only this son of mine likes to eat it. We tell him, 'Give it up. It's bad.'
这位父亲说,“哦,只有我这个儿子喜欢吃这玩意。我们告诉他,‘别吃了,很不好。’
He doesn't listen, you see. We gave up eating all this ages back."
你看他完全不听。我们很久以前就不吃这些东西了。”
"Why?" I asked. "This is your traditional food.
“为什么?”我问道,“这是你们的传统食物。
It is available in your environment, it is nutritious, and -- I can vouch for it -- delicious. Why is it wrong to eat it?"
可以在生活环境中找到,富有营养,而且我可以打包票,它也十分美味。为什么不能吃它呢?”
The man fell silent. I asked, "Have you been told that your food is bad, that to eat it is backward, not civilized?"
男人陷入了沉默。我问道,“是不是有人告诉你,你们的食物不好,吃它就是落后、不开化?”
He nodded silently. This was one of the many, many times in my work with indigenous people in India that I witnessed shame around food,
他默默地点了点头。和这段经历一样,在和印度的土著居民共事时,我也曾无数次目睹和食物有关的羞耻,
shame that the food you love to eat, the food that has been eaten for generations, is somehow inferior, even subhuman.
让他们感到羞耻的是,自己爱吃的食物、代代相传的食物,不知为何变得低劣,甚至不是人吃的。
And this shame is not limited to out-of-the-way, icky foods like insects or rats, maybe, but extends to regular foods:
而这种羞耻不仅限于稀奇怪状、倒人胃口的食物,比如说昆虫或老鼠,还涵盖了一般食物:
wild vegetables, mushrooms, flowers -- basically, anything that is foraged rather than cultivated.
白色蔬菜、菌类、花朵--基本上就是任何并非种植,而是采摘的东西。
In indigenous India, this shame is omnipresent. Anything can trigger it.
在印度的土著地区,这种羞耻心无处不在。任何事情都能将其触发。
One upper-caste vegetarian schoolmaster gets appointed in a school,
一位高种姓的素食主义校长刚到一所学校就任,
within weeks, children are telling their parents it's yucky to eat crabs or sinful to eat meat.
不出几个星期,孩子们就在跟家长说,吃螃蟹很恶心,或者吃肉有罪。
A government nutrition program serves fluffy white rice, now no one wants to eat red rice or millets.
一个政府的营养项目提供软乎乎的白米饭,现在没人想吃红米或者小米了。
A nonprofit reaches this village with an ideal diet chart for pregnant women. There you go.
一个非营利组织在村里宣传孕妇的理想食谱。结果呢?
All the expectant mothers are feeling sad that they cannot afford apples and grapes.
所有的准妈妈都很伤心,因为她们买不起苹果和葡萄。
And people just kind of forget the fruits that can be picked off the forest floor.
而人们就像是忘记了在森林中地上随处可捡的果子。
Health workers, religious missionaries, random government employees and even their own educated children
医疗工作者、宗教传教士、任何政府职员,甚至他们自己受过教育的孩子
are literally shouting it down at the indigenous people that their food is not good enough, not civilized enough.
都在朝土著人民喊话,说他们的食物不够好,不够文明开化。
And so food keeps disappearing, a little bit at a time.
于是一点一点地,食物在不停消失。
I'm wondering if you all have ever considered whether your communities would have a similar history around food.
不知你们可曾考虑过你们的社区是否有类似的围绕食物的历史。
If you were to talk to your 90-year-old grandmother, would she talk about foods that you have never seen or heard of?
如果你去和90岁的祖母聊天,她是否会讲起你从未见过、从未听过的食物?
Are you aware how much of your community's food is no longer available to you?
你是否意识到你的社区的食物有多少已经吃不到了?
Local experts tell me that the South African food economy is now entirely based on imported foods.
当地专家告诉我南非的食品经济现在已经完全基于进口食品。
Corn has become the staple, while the local sorghum, millets, bulbs and tubers are all gone.
玉米已经成为了主食,而当地的高粱、小米、球茎和块茎全都不见了。
So are the wild legumes and vegetables, while people eat potatoes and onions, cabbages and carrots.
野生豆类和蔬菜也都失去了踪影,而人们吃的是土豆、洋葱、卷心菜和胡萝卜。
In my country, this loss of food is colossal. Modern India is stuck with rice, wheat and diabetes.
在我的祖国,食物的损失是巨大的。现代印度已被米、麦子和糖尿病套牢了。
And we have totally forgotten foods like huge varieties of tubers, tree saps, fish, shellfish, oil seeds, mollusks, mushrooms,
我们已经完全忘记了种类繁多的根茎作物、树汁、鱼、贝类、油籽、软体动物、菌类、
insects, small, nonendangered animal meats, all of which used to be available right within our surroundings.
昆虫、小型非濒危动物肉类,这些都曾触手可及。
So where has this food gone? Why are our modern food baskets so narrow?
那么这些食物去了哪里?为什么我们现代的菜篮子如此狭隘?
We could talk about the complex political economic and ecological reasons, but I am here to talk about this more human phenomenon of shame,
我们可以谈论复杂的政治经济与生态原因,但在这里,我想要谈谈更加人性的羞耻心现象,
because shame is the crucial point at which food actually disappears off your plate.
因为羞耻心正是真正让食物从餐桌上消失的关键所在。
What does shame do? Shame makes you feel small, sad, not worthy, subhuman.
羞耻心会造成什么后果?羞耻心让你觉得渺小、悲伤、不值得、非人类。
Shame creates a cognitive dissonance. It distorts food stories. Let us take this example.
羞耻会造成认知失调。它会扭曲食物的故事。让我举个例子。
How would you like to have a wonderful, versatile staple that is available abundantly in your environment?
你想不想拥有一种美妙的、用途繁多的、在环境中非常丰富的主食?
All you have to do is gather it, dry it, store it,
你只需要采集它、晾干贮藏,
and you have it for your whole year to cook as many different kinds of dishes as you want with it.
然后你就拥有了一年的食物,可以用它随心所欲地做出种类丰富的菜肴。
India had just such a food, called "mahua," this flower over there.
印度就有这样一种食物,叫做“马胡卡”,图中的这种花。
And I have been researching this food for the past three years now.
在过去三年时间里,我一直在研究这种食物。
It is known to be highly nutritious in indigenous tradition and in scientific knowledge.
在土著传统以及科学知识里,它是一种非常营养的食物。
For the indigenous, it used to be a staple for four to six months a year.
对于土著居民来说,它曾是一年中四到六个月的主食。
In many ways, it is very similar to your local marula, except that it is a flower, not a fruit.
在很多方面,它都很像你们南非当地的马鲁拉果,不过它是一种花,不是果实。
Where the forests are rich, people can still get enough to eat for the whole year and enough spare to sell.
在森林丰饶的地方,人们仍能采集到一年分量的食物,甚至还有剩余的可以拿去贩卖。
I found 35 different dishes with mahua that no one cooks anymore.
我找到了35道用马胡卡做的菜,但现在已经没有人会做了。
This food is no longer even recognized as a food, but as raw material for liquor.
这种食材甚至已不被当做食物,而是一种酿酒的原料。
You could be arrested for having it in your house. Reason? Shame.
如果家里有马胡卡,你甚至可能会被逮捕。为什么?因为羞耻。
I talked to indigenous people all over India about why mahua is no longer eaten. And I got the exact same answer.
我和印度各地的土著人民聊过为什么他们不再吃马胡卡了。每次我都得到了一模一样的回答。
"Oh, we used to eat it when we were dirt-poor and starving. Why should we eat it now? We have rice or wheat."
“哦,以前我们穷得喝西北风的时候吃过。为什么现在还要吃呢?我们有米和麦子了啊。”

你的祖先喜欢什么食物

And almost in the same breath, people also tell me how nutritious mahua is.

而几乎同时,人们也会告诉我马胡卡多么有营养。
There are always stories of elders who used to eat mahua.
我总会听到吃马胡卡的老人的故事。
"This grandmother of ours, she had 10 children, and still she used to work so hard, never tired, never sick."
“我们这个奶奶,她生了10个孩子,但她还是那么拼命干活,从来不知疲倦,也从不生病。”
The exact same dual narrative every single where.
每一个地方都有完全相同的双重叙事。
How come? How does the same food get to be seen as very nutritious and a poverty food, almost in the same sentence?
为什么会这样?为什么几乎在同一句话里,同一种食物既是穷人的口粮,又非常有营养?
Same goes for other forest foods.
其它森林食材也是如此。
I have heard story after heartrending story of famine and starvation,
我听了一个又一个令人心痛的饥荒与饥饿的故事,
of people surviving on trash foraged out of the forest, because there was no food.
人们只能靠从森林里捡的垃圾活命,因为没有吃的。
If I dig a little deeper, it turns out the lack was not of food per se but of something respectable like rice.
如果我再深挖一点,就能发现缺乏的不是吃的,而是米饭这类体面的食物。
I asked them, "How did you learn that your so-called trash is edible?
我问他们,“你们怎么知道这些所谓的垃圾是可以吃的?
Who told you that certain bitter tubers can be sweetened by leaving them in a stream overnight?
是谁告诉你们某些苦涩的植物根茎只需放在溪流里过夜就能变甜?
Or how to take the meat out of a snail shell? Or how to set a trap for a wild rat?"
是谁教会你们从螺壳里挖肉?或者设置陷阱捕捉野鼠?”
That is when they start scratching their heads, and they realize that they learned it from their own elders,
这时候他们就会开始挠头,然后意识到这都是他们自己的长辈教的,
that their ancestors had lived and thrived on these foods for centuries before rice came their way,
在米出现之前,他们的祖先已经依靠这些食物蓬勃地生活了好几百年,
and were way healthier than their own generation.
并且比他们自己这一代要健康得多。
So this is how food works, how shame works:
这就是食物的原理,羞耻心的原理:
making food and food traditions disappear from people's lives and memories without their even realizing it.
让食物和饮食传统从人们的生活与记忆中消失,他们自己甚至都意识不到。
So how do we undo this trend?
那么我们该如何逆转这个趋势呢?
How do we reclaim our beautiful and complex systems of natural food,
我们该如何重拾我们美好而复杂的自然粮食系统?
food given to us lovingly by Mother Earth according to her own rhythm,
这些食物是大地母亲依照她自身的规律,慈爱地赐予我们的,
food prepared by our foremothers with joy and are eaten by our forefathers with gratitude,
是我们的先祖母亲满怀喜悦地料理好,我们的先祖父亲心怀感激地吃下的。
food that is healthy, local, natural, varied, delicious, not requiring cultivation, not damaging our ecology, not costing a thing?
我们该如何重拾这些健康、本土、自然、多样、美味、不需要栽培、不毁坏生态、也不花一分钱的食物?
We all need this food, and I don't think I have to tell you why.
我们都需要这些食物,我觉得我也不必赘述缘由。
I don't have to tell you about the global health crisis, climate change,
我不必告诉大家全球的健康危机、气候变化、
water crisis, soil fatigue, collapsing agricultural systems, all that.
水资源危机、土壤退化、农业系统崩溃等等所有这些事情的重要性。
But for me, equally important reasons why we need these foods are the deeply felt ones, because food is so many things, you see.
但对于我来说,我们内心深处需要这些食物的原因同样重要,因为食物饱含了如此丰富的意义。
Food is nourishment, comfort, creativity, community, pleasure, safety, identity and so much more.
比如养育、慰藉、创意、社群、愉悦、安全、身份等等诸多含义。
How we connect with our food defines so much in our lives.
我们如何和食物相连接定义了我们生活的方方面面。
It defines how we connect with our bodies, because our bodies are ultimately food.
食物定义了我们和身体连接的方式,因为我们的身体归根结底就是食物塑造的。
It defines our basic sense of connection with our existence.
食物定义了我们与自身存在相联系的基本感受。
We need these foods most today to be able to redefine our space as humans within the natural scheme of things.
如今,我们最需要这些食物帮助我们重新定义身为人类在自然中的位置。
And are we needing such a redefinition today?
今天我们是否需要这样的重新定义?
For me, the only real answer is love, because love is the only thing that counters shame.
对于我来说,唯一真正的答案是爱,因为爱是唯一能与羞耻相抵的法宝。
And how do we bring more of this love into our connections with our food?
那么我们该如何把更多的爱注入我们与食物的联系之中?
For me, love is, in a big way, about the willingness to slow down, to take the time to feel, sense, listen, inquire.
对于我来说,爱在很大程度上是关于甘愿放慢脚步,花时间去感受、感觉、聆听、探询。
It could be listening to our own bodies.
爱可以是倾听我们自己的身体。
What do they need beneath our food habits, beliefs and addictions?
在我们的饮食习惯、信仰和嗜好之下,我们的身体有什么需求?
It could be taking time out to examine those beliefs.
爱可以是留出时间研究这些信仰。
Where did they come from? It could be going back into our childhood.
它们从何处而来?爱可以是回溯我们的童年。
What foods did we love then, and what has changed?
那时我们喜欢吃什么食物,又有什么发生了改变?
It could be spending a quiet evening with an elder, listening to their food memories,
爱可以是和老人静静度过的夜晚,倾听他们关于食物的回忆,
maybe even helping them cook something they love and sharing a meal.
甚至可以帮他们做一道喜欢的菜一起分享。
Love could be about remembering that humanity is vast and food choices differ.
爱可以是想起人类的种群如此多样,饮食选择各不相同。
It could be about showing respect and curiosity instead of censure when we see somebody enjoying a really unfamiliar food.
爱可以是在看见别人享用非常陌生的食物时,表现出尊敬与好奇,而不是训斥。
Love could be taking the time to inquire, to dig up information, reach out for connections.
爱可以是花时间去询问,去挖掘信息,去主动建立联系。
It could even be a quiet walk in the fynbos to see if a certain plant speaks up to you.
爱甚至可以是在灌木丛生的原野中静静地散步,看看是否会有某株植物跟你搭话。
That happens. They speak to me all the time.
这种事情是会发生的。植物们总会对我说话。
And most of all, love is to trust that these little exploratory steps
而最重要的是,爱是相信这些微小的探索性的步伐
have the potential to lead us to something larger, sometimes to really surprising answers.
能够将我们领向更加伟大的事物,有时甚至是非常惊人的答案。
An indigenous medicine woman once told me that love is to walk on Mother Earth as her most beloved child,
一位女性土著医师曾告诉过我,爱就是身为大地母亲最怜爱的孩子在她的胸怀中行走,
to trust that she values an honest intention and knows how to guide our steps.
相信她珍视每份诚实的用意,并知道该如何指引我们。
I hope I have inspired you to start reconnecting with the food of your ancestors. Thank you for listening.
希望我能启发各位开始和你们祖先的食物重新构筑联系。谢谢。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
willingness ['wiliŋnis]

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n. 乐意,愿意

 
ecology [i:'kɔlədʒi]

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n. 生态学

 
crucial ['kru:ʃəl]

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adj. 关键的,决定性的

联想记忆
ultimately ['ʌltimitli]

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adv. 最后,最终

 
diabetes [.daiə'bi:ti:z]

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n. 糖尿病

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mighty ['maiti]

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adj. 强有力的,强大的,巨大的
adv.

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dissonance ['disənəns]

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n. 不一致,不和谐 [音]不协和音

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comfort ['kʌmfət]

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n. 舒适,安逸,安慰,慰藉
vt. 安慰,使

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fatigue [fə'ti:g]

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n. 疲乏,疲劳,累活
adj. 疲劳的

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respectable [ri'spektəbl]

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n. 品格高尚的人
adj. 值得尊重的,人格

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