《舌尖上的中國》與飲食文化

We all love the food we grow up on, but we also seek adventure in the food we have never tasted. A hugely popular TV documentary series puts the spotlight on a culinary tradition that should make China proud. Of all the subjects fit for documentary filmmaking, food is probably not high on the priority list.

There have been a smattering of fictional feature films with food as the main theme, such as Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman - but food in such films is the icing on the cake, while the human drama is the cake, per se.

That's why A Bite of China has been such a surprise hit since first appearing on our TV screens in 2012.

Without anything like a promotional fanfare, the series has attracted a following larger than the biggest drama or comedy shows.

Its main ingredient is the clever interweaving of human stories with the preparation of food. But in this case, the audience mainly sees the human stories as the appetizer, and details about the food as the real beef.

There were even some complaints when human characters took up more screen time than the dishes.

But still, the runaway success of this well-made TV recipe has whipped up a food frenzy in the Middle Kingdom.

Items featured on the show have seen their sales skyrocket within a short time of being aired. In the first season, a rare mushroom made its way from a Tibetan forest into an upmarket coastal city restaurant.

The difficulty in collecting the elusive fungus meant an eye-watering price on the menu. As well as its fantastic taste, the filmmakers probably quite rightly considered the livelihood of the collectors when they highlighted that particular delicacy.

But it still had an unexpected fallout: So many people (the rich, of course) were alerted to it, that demand shot up and the fragile ecosystem where it grows is now threatened.

In Season 2, which has just ended, the show switched its focus to items more affordable to everyone. No longer were rare delicacies the main attraction, and so maybe gastronomic enthusiasm has been dampened slightly.

For many, curiosity remains the main driving force behind high-end Chinese cuisine.

Some seek out rare plants and animals in the name of gaining better health benefits, or delectability.

But I challenge that.

I have been enticed to try a few such rare delicacies in my time, and the truth be told, they are often not as delicious as billed.

On a trip to Hainan, one fish I was sold for 10 times the price of a regular one was not half as tasty as the lesser option.

No, it is the inaccessibility that raises the perceived value of some items.

The thought of eating items only a few can afford is the reason why some species are endangered. In that sense, the makers of A Bite of China have been right to steer away from those rare edibles that represent status symbols in high society.

But maybe the biggest upside of the series is the awakening of love among a wider swath of the Chinese public, simply for the food they consume on a daily basis.

It is not every day that people treat what they eat as part of their culture. But it could certainly be argued that Chinese food is the only part of Chinese tradition that has deeply touched almost every other culture around the globe.

In the US, for instance, even small towns with no Chinese inhabitants have Chinese restaurants.

Chinese food is known to be delicious and affordable - maybe not exactly Michelin-caliber - and for those places which do have a Chinese community, the restaurant can act as a lifeline of many who settle there.

However, for a long time, some have harbored the elitist view that food is somehow low on the list of a country's cultural markers.

In the 1980s, I joined a group of Chinese dignitaries on a tour of North America.

They dined out in so many Chinese restaurants (they were not yet accustomed to Western food, not even fast food) that some feared that many Americans might simply consider Chinese food was all China had to offer.

That offended many Chinese-Americans, who made a good living as restaurateurs. But after watching this show, surely nobody would now dare make such a flippant remark.

Today, people are so genuinely proud of Chinese food that some have moved to the other end of the scale, believing in the superiority of what they eat, to the exclusion of everything else. In an era of little mobility, people ate what they grew, with almost no chance of tasting things from afar.

People grew attached to their own foods, taking them along when they relocated.

This was extolled as a virtue, or a sign of nostalgia, in the series.

I certainly view our food as a key part of our cultural identity, which is etched on us, mainly because of economic necessity.

Nowadays young people in big cities have access to all kinds of food. They may not like all of them, but that smirk of disdain is no longer visible on their face because they probably don't have their home cuisine as the only benchmark.

There is nothing wrong with thinking your hometown's food is the best.

However, one should caution against the flip side of this belief - that unfamiliar foods are simply inferior.

When CNN's website ran an article headlined "Top 10 disgusting foods in the world" about two years ago, many cried foul.

Most of the items highlighted were from Asia, including my personal favorite, pidan: the famous "hundred-year egg" or "thousand-year egg". Duck, chicken or quail eggs are preserved in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice hulls for up to several months.

I have to admit, I would not have had the guts to taste some of the other choices. But I'm sure their own locals love them. All have to be taken in perspective.

I'm sure most citizens of Atlanta, Georgia, where CNN is headquartered, would have been appalled by some of these foods.

But CNN is not just an Atlanta operation. It has viewers across the world.

Maybe to be accurate, the piece should have added a qualifying clause "from the point of view of middle Americans".

Likewise, Chinese foodies intoxicated by the pride of their own food should avoid rushing to any prejudicial conclusions.

Yes, Chinese cuisine is rich in its regional diversity, but it is not the world's only great food.

The way the Chinese prepare their food has as much flair as art - but so does French food.

Worldwide, Chinese food may not be on a par with French in terms of prestige. Then again, I'm not bothered by prestige.

Cultural confidence lies in the conviction of your own roots and at the same time in the awareness that there are other equally great things to consider in the national identity mix.

There is no conflict between preserving our own cultural heritage and absorbing nutrients from other cultures.

Only when one is extremely weak would one see all things different as a threat.

Food culture evolves with time. Unlike other culture-based products, food is first of all a necessity and, as such, its health values should not be ignored.

But food rises above that. It goes beyond filling the stomach and satisfying hunger, and slips into the realm of culinary art that appeals to all senses.

As the pace of globalization accelerates, there will be less and less pure-bred food.

So, for a younger generation so fixated on Western-origin fast food, this documentary is a gentle reminder of a luxury being offered up every day in our own kitchens, that we all may well have been taking for granted.我們喜歡那些從小吃到大的食物，但也會去嘗試那些從未嘗過的食物。大型電視紀錄片《舌尖上的中國》播出令國人自豪的傳統美食。在這紀錄片的所有主題中，食物不是最主要的主題。

只有很少的故事片是以食物爲主要題材，例如李安的《飲食男女》，影片中的食物可算錦上添花，然而最主要的還是人物劇情本身。

這就是爲何《舌尖上的中國》在2012年開播以來反響巨大的一個原因。

沒有過多地推廣宣傳，但《舌尖上的中國》這個系列卻擁有一大批粉絲，比最大型的戲劇或喜劇演出還受歡迎。

紀錄片在描述食物取材時，巧妙地融入人們的故事。在這種情況下，觀衆就把人們的故事當作開胃菜，把對食物的詳細介紹當作主菜。

當然，當影片過多地刻畫人物而不是介紹美食時，也會引起觀衆的抱怨。

但這絲毫不影響《舌尖上的中國》在中國的成功，還激起人們對食物的狂熱。

在紀錄片播出後不久，片中出現的食材，其銷量就直線飆升。

在第一季中，一種西藏森林中的稀有蘑菇被運到沿海城市的一所高級餐廳中。

由於這些稀有的菌類食物取材困難，所以餐廳菜單上的菌類價格就高的驚人。製片人在強調這種獨特的美味時，不單考慮食材的美妙口感，而且還考慮到採集者的生活。

紀錄片仍出現始料未及的結果：那就是太多的有錢人開始注意它，需求涌動，導致當地脆弱的生態系統面臨威脅。

在剛剛結束的第二季中，紀錄片把食材的重心放在那些人人可得的食材上。不再以稀有美食來吸引觀衆，所以觀衆的烹飪激情或許有些減退。

對於很多人來說，在博大精深的中國烹飪背後，好奇仍然是主要的驅動力。

爲了更加健康，體驗更美味的食物，人們就會去尋找那些稀有的動植物。

但是我卻很懷疑這個。

我曾被勸說去嘗試一些稀有美食，但事實是，它們常常沒有宣傳中所描述的那般美味。

有一次在海南，我以10倍於普通價的價格買了條魚，之後發現還沒有普通價的魚一半好吃。

要提升對食物價值的認知是有難度的。

只有一些人能吃得起，這種想法是導致一些物種瀕臨滅絕的原因之一。

鑑於此，製片人通過《舌尖上的中國》避開那些象徵着上流社會的稀有食材是正確的。

或許這個系列的最大正能量是喚醒了神州大地上的人們對日常飲食的熱愛。

日常生活中，人們不會把飲食當作其文化的一部分。但是，中國的傳統文化中只有中國飲食能深深地影響世界上其他國家的文化，當然這點肯定是有爭議的。

例如，在美國，就算居住地沒有中國人，也會有中國的餐廳。

中國食物價廉物美，爲世人公知。或許沒有米其林水準，在那些有中國社區的地方，中國餐廳對居住在那裏的人們來說就像是他們的命脈。

然而，在很長一段時間，一些人會有一種觀念，覺得在一個國家的文化中，飲食文化應該是屬於低端文化。

20世紀80年代，我隨同中國高官去北美旅行。

他們在很多中國餐廳都吃過（他們還不適應西餐，快餐也不行），他們當中有些人擔心美國人會以爲中國飲食文化是中國文化的全部。

這讓美籍華人很不舒服，他們開餐廳謀生，而且過得還不錯。但是看完《舌尖上的中國》，相信沒人會作這種膚淺的評論。

如今，中國人真正以中國飲食自豪，有些人會較爲極端，只相信自己所吃的就是最好的，其他一切都得靠邊站。

在一個定居的時代，人們從小到大吃的都是身邊的食物，很難有機會吃到他鄉的食物。

人們對他們自己的食物情有獨鍾，就算移居也會帶上。

在《舌尖上的中國》中，這種情況被歌頌爲一種美德，或是思鄉之情。

我當然覺得飲食文化是文化認同的一個關鍵部分，銘刻在我們身上，主要還是跟經濟有關。

如今，大城市裏的年輕人有機會品嚐各類食物。他們可能不會喜歡全部的食物，但是也不會對別的食物流露出鄙夷的表情，因爲他們不會只以家鄉菜爲尊。

認爲家鄉菜最好吃，這也沒什麼錯。

但是，這種觀念容易使人做出輕率的判斷，就是會覺得不熟悉的食物就是下品。

大概兩年前，CNN網站上有這麼一篇文章“世上最難吃的10種食物”，其中很多都不合事實。

其中多數食物都是來自亞洲，包括我個人最愛的皮蛋：著名的“百年老蛋”或“千年老蛋”。鴨蛋，雞蛋或鵪鶉蛋保存在粘土罐中，連同灰，食鹽，石灰和米糠放一起幾個月。

我必須承認，我沒有勇氣去品嚐其中一些新食物，但我確信他們當地人會喜歡它們。我能做的就是求同存異。

CNN總部位於喬治亞州亞特蘭大，我相信大多數亞特蘭大人會被這些食物嚇到。

但是CNN不是一個僅爲亞特蘭大服務的平臺，它的觀衆遍佈全球。

準確地說，上面的標題應該加個定語“來自美國中部人們的觀點”

同樣地，中國美食家沉醉於他們引以爲豪的食物，他們應該避免作出那些帶有偏見的結論。

沒錯，中國美食豐富多彩，每個地區都不一樣，但它不是世界唯一的美食。

中國人準備美食很有藝術性，法國也是這樣。

中國美食在世界範圍內可能還沒有法國美食來得有聲望。不過，再說一次，我不會被聲望困擾。

在混雜的國家身份認同中，當有其他同樣偉大的東西同時存在時，文化信心根植于堅定的信仰。

保留傳統文化和吸收外來文化，這兩者之間沒有衝突。

只有當一個人極端不自信時，纔會視所有不一樣的東西爲一種威脅。

飲食文化隨着時間不斷髮展，不像其他文化產品，飲食在日常所需中排行首位，所以，飲食健康不應被忽視。

但是，飲食有更多的含義，不單單是把東西吃進胃裏，填飽肚子這麼簡單。它是能吸引各個感官的美食藝術。

隨着全球化進程的加速，純品種食物將會越來越少。

所以，對於常吃西式快餐的年輕一代人來說，《舌尖上的中國》提醒着我們：我們每天吃着自家廚房的東西，覺得沒有什麼，其實是豪華盛宴。