又中又英｜French delicacy

Many years ago, a Japanese diplomat invited me to lunch in an upscale (expensive) restaurant in Central. I ate something without knowing what it was. The taste didn’t agree with me at all. I asked my host what it was. He said it was a piece of frog leg. It made my stomach turn when I heard it. I had never eaten frogs’ legs before and had carefully avoided this French delicacy. But the conversation between my host and I was so animated that I ate whatever was being served. I tried to get rid of the taste with water, but it was mission impossible.

If food doesn’t agree with you, it means it makes you feel slightly ill. If food makes your stomach turn, it means it makes you sick. Spoiled food can also make your stomach turn. The word “delicacy” when referring to food means something that is rare, expensive, and tastes good. I have a weak stomach and avoid delicacies except truffle, which is a kind of underground edible fungus. An animated conversation is a lively and interesting conversation. Experts recently warned that Europe’s love of eating frogs is endangering certain frog species in Asia and south-east Europe.

Those news reports reminded me of mistakenly eating frogs’ legs many years ago. More than 500 experts have urged French President Emmanuel Macron to end the overexploitation of frogs and to give them special protection. The European Union imports up to 200 million frogs a year, which are mostly eaten in France. Everyone should cut back or stop eating delicacies such as frogs’ legs and shark-fin soup to save such species.

許多年前，一位日本外交官邀請我到中環一間高檔（upscale）餐廳共晉午膳。我吃了些東西，卻不知道是甚麼。那味道令我有點不適（didn’t agree with you），於是我問做東的人那是甚麼，他說是一塊蛙腿，我一聽到就感到反胃（stomach turn）。我從未吃過蛙腿，也努力避開這道法國佳餚（delicacy）。但當時我跟做東的人談得正興高采烈（animated），甚麼食物奉上來我都照吃如儀。我嘗試喝水沖走那個味道，但那是不可能的任務。

若食物 doesn’t agree with you，那意思即是它令你感到輕微不適；若食物令你 stomach turn，即令你惡心、倒胃。當用 delicacy一字談食物時，它的意思是稀有、昂貴和味美的山珍海錯。我的胃很弱，盡量避免吃珍饈（delicacies），除了松露（truffle），即那種生長在地底的食用菌。An animated conversation就是熱烈且有趣的交談。最近有一些專家警告，歐洲熱愛吃青蛙正在危及某些亞洲和歐洲東南部的青蛙物種。

這些新聞報道令我想到了許多年前誤吃蛙腿的事來。超過500名專家促請法國總統伊曼努爾‧馬克龍終止過度開採青蛙，給牠們特別的保護。歐盟每年進口的青蛙達2億隻，大部分都是給法國食用的。人人都該削減或罷吃蛙腿和魚翅這類珍饈（delicacies），以救救這些瀕危物種。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻