bad-mouthing

2019/01/24 04:12:56 網誌分類: 生活

24 Jan

        　　In my previous column I wrote about famous Hong Kong food and restaurant writer Chua Lam getting flak (criticism) on social media here and on the mainland for bad-mouthing hotpot. To “bad-mouth” something or someone means to criticize in a very unkind or unpleasant way. Chua Lam bad-mouthed hotpot on TV by saying he wanted to see it gone forever because hotpot is boring and not tasty. What he said, in fact, meant hotpot is the worst Chinese dish. That made me think about which country has the world’s best and worst cuisine. The word “cuisine” means the style of cooking of a country or region.

        　　There are many surveys about which country has the best or worst cuisine. I researched them on the internet but found most of the surveys showed different results. I expected different results because everyone has different tastes. Whether you feel a country’s cuisine is delicious or unpalatable is purely subjective. The word “unpalatable” means unappetizing or not pleasant to taste. Snake soup and chicken feet are unpalatable to me but this is subjective because many Hong Kong people like snake soup and chicken feet. The word “subjective” means based on a person’s feelings, taste, or opinion rather than on facts.

        　　Although my research showed different survey results about which country’s cuisine is the worst, many of the surveys showed Britain, Russia, and Jamaica were among the countries with the worst cuisine. To make sure this was correct, I changed my research to find out which countries had the best cuisine. Britain, Russia, and Jamaica were not among these countries. Some surveys included China and India as among the countries with the worst cuisine but other surveys said they are among the countries with the best cuisine. Most surveys showed French and Italian cuisine are among the world’s best. Some also included Vietnamese and Japanese cuisine. I love Japanese cuisine, except for sea urchins. I also love simple Cantonese food such as steamed fish and stir-fried vegetables with very little oil. But pizza, hamburgers, and French fries are my favorite foods although I can’t eat them now because I am on a low-carb diet.

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        　　在上一篇專欄中我寫到，香港知名飲食作家蔡瀾因為苛刻批評（bad-mouthing）火鍋，在本地和內地的社交媒體上遭受猛烈抨擊（flak）。To 「bad-mouth」某事或某人，就是毫不客氣地批評或惡意攻擊之。蔡瀾在電視節目上苛刻批評（bad-mouthed）火鍋，說希望見到火鍋永久消失，因為它很沒趣又不美味。他所說的，意思其實是，火鍋是最差勁的中華料理。這令我想到，哪一個國家擁有世上最好和最差的菜式（cuisine）呢？ Cuisine是指一個國家或地區的菜式風格。

        　　有很多關乎哪一國擁有最佳或最差菜式（cuisine）的調查。我在網上做了些研究，卻發現大部份的調查呈現出很不同的結果。我想，結果差異是因為不同人有不同的喜好。你認為一個國家的菜式（cuisine）是美味抑或難吃（unpalatable），純屬主觀（subjective）的事。Unpalatable即令人很不開胃或味道很差的。蛇羹和鳳爪對我來說都很不開胃（unpalatable），但這是很主觀的（subjective），因為許多香港人也喜歡吃蛇羹和鳳爪。 Subjective即是依據一個人的主觀感覺、口味或意見，而非憑客觀事實。

        　　雖然我的研究，就哪一國的菜式（cuisine）最差劣顯示了不同的調查結果，但許多調查都顯示，英國、俄羅斯和牙買加是其中幾個擁有最差菜式（cuisine）的國家。為了驗證這是否屬實，我轉而研究有哪些國家擁有最好的菜式（cuisine），而英國、俄羅斯和牙買加都不在此列。有些調查會包括中國和印度為擁有最差菜式（cuisine）的國家，但也有其他調查說它們是擁有最佳菜式（cuisine）的國家之二。大部份的研究也顯示，法國和意大利菜式（cuisine）是全球最好的，另一些則包括了越南和日本菜（cuisine）。我很喜愛日本菜（cuisine），海膽除外。我也喜歡簡單的廣東菜，例如蒸魚和用很少的油來炒的菜。薄餅、漢堡包和炸薯條是我最喜愛的食物，雖然我現在不能吃了，因我正在進行低碳飲食。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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