披薩讓中國人吃下了臭奶酪

China may be the hardest place in the world to sell cheese, but Liu Yang has been trying anyway — and Western fast food may be his salvation.

中國可能是世界上最難賣奶酪的地方，但劉洋還是嘗試了——而西方快餐可能是他的救星。

There has not been dairy in the mainstream Chinese diet for centuries — no butter, no milk, no cheese, nothing. Ninety percent of the population is said to be lactose intolerant. So when Mr. Liu opened a tiny two-room cheese shop on the outskirts of Beijing five years ago, “People said, ‘What is this strange stinky thing?’ ” he recalled. “ ‘How am I supposed to cook it? How am I supposed to eat it?’ ”

幾十年來，中國主流飲食中並沒有乳製品這一項——沒有黃油、沒有牛奶、沒有奶酪，統統都沒有。據說90%的中國人都有乳糖不耐症。所以，五年前，當劉洋在北京郊區開辦了一家小小的、只有兩個房間的奶酪店時，“人們說，‘這種奇怪的臭東西是什麼？’”他回憶道。“這東西要怎麼做，怎麼吃？”

Mr. Liu’s offerings of brousse, crottin, Camembert and tomme at first mystified Chinese customers, even though prosperity was driving demand for other European luxuries. He now sells about 33 pounds of cheese a day from his little shop, and he hopes to do better as more Chinese become acquainted with the stuff.

一開始，劉洋店裏的布魯斯(brousse)、哥洛汀(crottin)、卡蒙貝爾(Camembert)和多姆(tomme)奶酪令中國消費者大惑不解——儘管對其他歐洲奢侈品的需求日益繁榮。如今，劉洋的小店一天可以賣出33磅奶酪（約合14.9公斤——譯註），他希望隨着中國人對這種東西更加了解，他的生意也會更好。

That is already happening, albeit through a side door: a growing appetite for American-style fast food. The average Chinese city dweller eats it at least once a week, by one estimate; Pizza Hut is opening stores on the mainland at a rate of about one a day.

中國人確實對奶酪有了更多瞭解，不過是通過間接的途徑——對美式快餐日益增長的愛好。根據一項估算，每個中國城市居民至少平均每週都要吃一次美式快餐；必勝客在中國大陸幾乎每天都要新開一家分店。

Pizza, of course, contains cheese. Theo Spierings, chief executive of Fonterra, a major New Zealand dairy producer, said the popularity of pizza was driving up demand for cheese across Asia. Supermarkets in big cities are starting to put blocks of cheese on display. And China’s imports of cheese rose 70 percent from 2009 to 2014, according to Mintel, a market research company.

披薩中當然含有奶酪。新西蘭大型乳品製造商恆天然(Fonterra)公司的首席執行官西奧·施皮爾斯( Theo Spierings)說，披薩的流行刺激了整個亞洲的奶酪需求量。大城市中的超市開始陳列大塊奶酪。根據市場調查公司英敏特(Mintel)的數據，從2009年到2014年，中國的奶酪進口增加了70%。

Chinese leaders once considered cheese to be too barbaric for the national diet. That stigma is gone, but for many shoppers, another one remains.

中國領導人一度認爲奶酪是一種蠻夷的食品。如今這種污名已經不復存在，但是對於很多消費者來說，還有另一個問題。

“I’m afraid it will make me fat,” said Zhao Lin, 32, who lives in Beijing. “It’s too unhealthy.”

“我擔心它會讓我長胖，”32歲，現居北京的趙琳（音）說。“它太不健康了。”