双语 | 知否，知否，应喝下这碗腊八粥

腊八来啦！中国人常说，“过了腊八就是年。”腊八节敲响了过年的钟声。人们开始着手筹备各种各样的节日美食，来迎接期盼已久的团圆，来祝祷下一个年景的安泰。

节日美食往往被寄托了美好的寓意。比如，腊八粥（Laba porridge）又称“七宝五味粥”，是用多种食材熬制成的粥，具体配料因地制宜，意在祈祷来年风调雨顺、五谷丰登。

今天小编就借这一碗腊八粥，带大家走进中国的饮食文化，去看看咱们中国人吃什么、怎么吃。

Chinese Food Ingredients

琳琅食材，赏心悦目

中国人的“吃”讲究“色、香、味俱全”，色居首位。比如腊八粥便是由五颜六色的谷物组成，兼具观赏性和营养价值。

除谷物外，中国美食的“色”主要由各类食材来体现：比如莲藕山菌，各色蔬菜，家禽野味等。琳琅满目的食材，根据中国烹饪的灵活搭配，构成了赏心悦目的中国特色菜肴。

Chinese love to eat, and Chinese food includes a large variety of ingredients. Rice is a major staple food in China. It is mainly grown in southern China. Vegetables are, in general, the second most fundamental part of Chinese cuisine, after rice. Chinese people are fond of vegetables, like leafy greens, Chinese eggplants（茄子）, white radishes（白萝卜）, Chinese mushrooms（蘑菇）, onions, bamboo shoots（竹笋）and so on.

Cooking Methods

煎炒烹炸，垂涎欲滴

中国人“吃”的讲究还在于精湛的烹饪之法。传说中餐烹饪有28法: 炸、爆、烧、炒、溜、煮、汆、涮、蒸、炖、煨、焖、烩、扒、焗、煸、煎、塌、卤、酱、拌、炝、腌、冻、糟、醉、烤、熏。中国的烹饪大师们灵活运用这些技能，使美食达到色、香、味的统一，给人以精神和物质高度统一的特殊享受。

如今常用的烹饪技巧有五种：爆炒、红烧、清炖、笼蒸和醉酒，让我们来看一下英国作家J.A.G. 罗伯茨（J.A.G. Roberts）的总结吧~

Of the many cooking methods employed by Chinese cooks, five may be described as characteristic of Chinese cooking. These are stir-frying（爆炒）, red-cooking（红烧）, clear-simmering（清炖）, steaming（笼蒸） and cooking drunken foods（醉酒）.

Stir-frying is economical of heat, which has always been a consideration in a country where fuel is scarce. The food to be cooked is shredded or sliced and cooked rapidly thereby preserving flavor.

Red-cooking involves the cooking of meat in a broth of water, soy sauce, sugar and other ingredients, which gives it a deep brownish color.

Clear-simmering is similar to red-cooking, but soy sauce is not used, and the meat is only lightly seasoned.

Steaming is used not only for meat and vegetable dished, but also for pastries and desserts, in which case it may replace baking. As with stir-frying, steaming is economical of fuel and the food retains its flavor.

Drunken foods are meat or fish cuts which after cooking are steeped in wine or sherry for several days.

美味的食材，繁复的烹饪方法，还要辅以特殊的中国烹饪器具（cooking utensils），才能造就完美的中国菜肴，比如蒸笼（steaming basket）、漏勺（Chinese scoop strainer）、锅铲（wok shovel）、菜刀（Chinese cleaver），坛子（pot）等，每一种器具都体现着中国人独特的工具智慧和审美意识。

Cooking Utensils

看完这些您是否体会到中国饮食文化的妙处了呢？

博大精深的饮食文化承载着中国人对生活的虔诚和热忱。正如腊八粥开启了新一年的祷告与祝福，许多寄托美好愿景的节日美食也将伴随着新年的脚步纷至沓来。

欢迎您在留言区分享您最喜爱的美食，让我们一起在美食中感受节日的喜庆和祝福吧~

祝您腊八节快乐！