離奇美式中國菜左宗棠雞的淵源

The top-billed star of “The Search for General Tso” gets its close-up in the opening scene: the staging of that namesake chicken dish for a menu photo shoot. But like so many “in search of” documentary journeys before it, Ian Cheney’s roundabout talking-heads film has bigger quarry in mind; it looks at Chinese-American assimilation, the useful adaptability of cuisine and the complicated cultivation of heritage.

《尋找左宗棠》(The Search for General Tso)的頭號明星在影片一開始便得到一個特寫鏡頭：爲了給菜單拍攝照片，人們把這道以左宗棠命名的雞肉菜端上來。不過，和之前的很多“尋找”類紀錄片一樣，伊恩·切尼的這部迂迴曲折、採訪了大量人物的紀錄片有着更宏大的目標；它審視了華裔美國人如何融入美國、異國烹飪法的有益適應性以及文化傳承複雜的形成過程。

Mr. Cheney does get around to explaining the origins of General Tso’s chicken, but what’s more rewarding than the spoon-fed history — which covers the gold rush, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Nixon in China — is the film’s glimpses of history as lived. Shot around the United States, with surprising stops in New Orleans and elsewhere, the story benefits from the reminiscences of restaurateurs, who are often interviewed in multigenerational pairs. How to cook chicken seems at once a minor detail against backdrops of racism and economic struggle, and a key to finding a foothold among strangers.

切尼用很大篇幅解釋了左宗棠雞的起源，片中的歷史回顧有點像灌輸——包括淘金熱、1882年排華法案以及尼克松訪華——更有意義的還要算是活生生的人們講述的歷史。該片在美國各地拍攝，包括對新奧爾良等地的意外探訪，故事從餐館老闆們的回憶中獲益良多，他們通常是好幾代夫婦共同接受採訪。在種族主義和經濟鬥爭的背景映襯之下，雞肉烹飪方法似乎一度成爲次要細節，成了在陌生人中找到落腳點的一個方法。

General Tso’s namesake museum back in China also gets an amusing visit, as does Peng Chang-kuei, a nonagenarian chef with a strong claim to having invented a certain recipe. But Mr. Cheney’s movie, while teasing at times, does its celebrating and debunking in mild-mannered fashion, making points without seeming to try to score them. It also lacks any of the zest or cinematic skill of, say, a Les Blank jaunt involving food, but this easily digestible format proves an apt vessel for the mystery dish at its center.

該片也饒有興致地探訪了中國的左宗棠博物館，還採訪了彭長貴——這位九十多歲的大廚堅定地聲稱是自己發明了這道菜。不過，切尼的電影雖然時而戲謔，但總是用溫和的方式進行讚美和批判——它提出觀點，但似乎不想評判。它還缺乏萊斯·布蘭克(Les Blank)的美食旅行紀錄片中的熱情或電影拍攝技巧，但是這種易於理解的形式被證明是盛放這道神祕主菜的合適器皿。

Opens on Friday

週五上映

Directed by Ian Cheney

伊恩·切尼(Ian Cheney)導演

1 hour 13 minutes; not rated

1小時13分；未分級