舌尖上的美食 第31期:鶴慶 八大碗 Eight Dishes for the Eight Immortals
Eight Dishes for the Eight Immortals
鶴慶-八大碗
Eight Dishes for the Eight Immortals, consisting of seven meat dishes and one vegetable dish, are often served at celebrations in Heqing. As the name suggests, the dishes are connected with the Eight Immortals .
在我國民間，每逢喜事節日宴賓會客。最是講究用八仙桌上八大碗，七葷一素。而八仙桌與八大碗的由來，傳說與蓬萊八仙有關。
Legend has it that when the Eight Immortals went across the East Sea, they accidentally offended the Dragon King , also known as the God of Rain. Being furious, he launched the war which lasted for hours. Since both sides could not win the battle, they, starved plus exhausted, decided to cease fight to search for food. Unfortunately, there seemed no chance finding food around the boundless sea. Disappointed, all of the immortals except Royal Uncle Cao decided to head home.
相傳八仙過海時無意惹怒龍王，東海龍王便與之交戰起來。因兩邊實力相當而久戰難勝，勞累疲憊，退踞海灘稍憩，頗覺腹中空空，飢餓難忍，便分頭尋食充飢，哪知一眼望去的海灘薄地，荒無人煙。除曹國舅一人未回，其餘個個掃興而歸。
It turned out that Royal Uncle Cao traveled a great distance to the inland to search for food. When arriving at Heqing, he was fascinated by the pleasant flavor floating from a local house where mortal people were celebrating the 50th birthday of the host. Disguised as a farmer, he gazed around and found the inviting dishes were served one after another to the table seating eight. “Being the brother-in-law of the emperor, I have tasted all the splendid dishes in the imperial court, but I have never tried farm food. I must have a good taste of it. ” He murmured. But before doing so, it occurred to him that it was unfriendly to enjoy the dishes alone while other immortals were starved. Therefore, he decided to bring seven dishes for them. In addition, he suddenly realized that the only Goddess in the group, Immortal Woman He, was a vegetarian, so he took another dish just for her. Before leaving, he left a message to the locals: Royal Uncle Cao had borrowed eight dishes for the Eight Immortals and promised to pay back in the near future. Since then, in order to have an auspicious year, people in Heqing began to name the table “the table for Eight Immortals”, which could seat eight people with eight dishes served.
原來曹國舅一人不辭勞苦，遠行至內地，忽聞一股奇香撲鼻，不覺垂涎三尺，立即尋香進入凡間一莊上，喬裝農家村夫在莊主宅院窺視，只見四方桌上八人圍座、誘人的菜餚一個接一個地上。國舅尋思道：我原乃朝廷國舅，宮廷菜餚我享用得發膩，農家菜餚我未曾見過，何不先讓我大飽口福，忽想衆仙友腹空我豈可獨享，繼而採帶了七樣菜餚，又想起仙姑不食葷，所以又爲其獨帶了—素菜，計八大碗並留言：國舅爲衆仙借菜八碗，日後定當圖報。
