走远了的那道菜

林佳，你看这张菜单，上面居然写着一道"美式左宗棠鸡"，这是专门做给外国游客尝新鲜的吧？我从小在湖南长沙长大，家里从来没做过这样的鸡。

Lin Jia, look at this menu, it actually has a dish called "American-style General Tso's Chicken" written on it. This must be made specially for foreign tourists to try as a novelty, right? I grew up in Changsha, Hunan, and my family never made chicken like this.

哈哈，这道菜我可太熟悉了。我是在纽约长大的，家里几乎每星期都会做一次左宗棠鸡。今天能在中国的菜单上看到这个名字，我反而觉得特别有意思。

Ha, I know this dish extremely well. I grew up in New York, and my family made General Tso's Chicken almost every week. Seeing this name on a menu in China today actually strikes me as pretty interesting.

你从小吃的，是这种甜甜的、炸得很脆的鸡吗？我们湖南人做鸡，讲究又辣又香，很少放这么多糖，跟你说的完全不一样。

What you grew up eating, is it this sweet, crispy fried chicken? We Hunanese cook chicken with an emphasis on spicy and savory flavor, and rarely add this much sugar. It sounds completely different from what you're describing.

对，我们家做的就是又甜又脆的版本。其实这道菜是被改良过的。历史上真有这么一位厨师，叫彭长贵，他本来是湖南出身，学的是正宗的湖南菜。

Right, what my family makes is exactly that sweet, crispy version. Actually this dish has been adapted. There really was a chef in history named Peng Chang-kuei, who was originally from Hunan and trained in authentic Hunan cuisine.

彭长贵？我好像在哪里听过这个名字。那他后来是怎么把湖南菜改良成你们家吃的这个样子的？

Peng Chang-kuei? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere. So how did he later adapt Hunan cuisine into the version your family eats?

他先在台湾工作，后来又到了纽约开饭馆。为了让更多美国人喜欢吃，他把做法改良了，加了更多糖，还改成了过油炸，慢慢就变成了美国人熟悉的味道。

He first worked in Taiwan, and later went to open a restaurant in New York. To get more Americans to enjoy it, he adapted the recipe, added more sugar, and changed it to deep-frying, and it gradually became the flavor Americans knew.

这么说，彭长贵一开始做的正宗湖南菜，才是这道菜本来的样子。后来在美国改良出来的，只是为了让本地人容易接受，跟湖南本土的做法已经差得很远了。

So then, the authentic Hunan dish Peng Chang-kuei made at first was this dish's original form. What was later adapted in America was just to make it easy for locals to accept, and it's already very far from how it's made back home in Hunan.

改良以后的做法，确实跟湖南本土的做法差别很大。但是这个改良过的版本，在美国已经传承了几十年，很多像我这样的华人家庭，从小吃的就是这个味道，对我们来说，这也是真实的记忆。

The adapted recipe really is very different from the way it's made back in Hunan. But this adapted version has already been passed down in America for decades, and a lot of Chinese-American families like mine grew up on exactly this flavor. For us, this is also a real memory.

我明白你的意思，但我还是觉得，如果一道菜已经改良得跟本来的样子完全不一样了，是不是就不该再叫它"正宗"的湖南菜了？至少不应该让不知道这段历史的人，误会这就是湖南人平时吃的东西。

I understand what you mean, but I still feel that if a dish has already been adapted so much that it's completely unlike its original form, shouldn't we stop calling it "authentic" Hunan food? At the very least, people who don't know this history shouldn't mistake it for what Hunanese people normally eat.

这个我同意，如果有人不知道历史，以为这就是湖南菜的传统做法，确实容易产生误会。但"正宗"这两个字，也要看是对谁而言。对我们这些在美国长大的华人来说，这道改良过的鸡，就是我们从小传承下来的家的味道。

I agree with that, if someone doesn't know the history and thinks this is the traditional way of making Hunan food, that really could cause a misunderstanding. But the word "authentic" also depends on who you're asking. For those of us who grew up in America, this adapted chicken is the taste of home that's been handed down to us since childhood.

你说的"本土"，跟我说的"本土"，好像已经不是同一个地方了。

The "home turf" you mean and the "home turf" I mean don't seem to be the same place anymore.

是啊，这道菜现在其实有了两个"本土"，一个是湖南，一个是我们这些在美国长大的华人。它离开中国几十年，早就变成了另外一道菜，有自己的历史，也传承了自己的记忆。

Right, this dish actually now has two "home turfs," one is Hunan, and one is us Chinese-Americans who grew up in the States. It left China decades ago and long since became a different dish, with its own history, and its own inherited memory.

那你怎么看，现在这家饭馆又把"美式左宗棠鸡"端回中国，给我们这些湖南人当作新鲜菜来尝？这算不算它又"回家"了？

So what do you make of this restaurant now bringing "American-style General Tso's Chicken" back to China, for us Hunanese to try as a novelty? Does that count as it coming "home" again?

我觉得这挺有意思的。它当初从湖南出发，被改良成了美国人喜欢的样子，现在又被端回来，让我们当作一道新的菜来尝一尝。它走了那么远，还能回来，只是回来的时候，已经不是当初离开时的样子了。

I find it pretty interesting. It set out from Hunan, was adapted into a form Americans liked, and now it's being brought back for us to try as a new dish. It traveled so far, and it can still come back, it's just that when it comes back, it's no longer the same shape it was when it left.

这么说来，"正宗"这个词，可能本来就没有一个固定的答案，它是会跟着时间和地方一起改变的。

Put that way, the word "authentic" maybe never had one fixed answer to begin with. It changes along with time and place.

我也这么觉得。你尝尝这道美式左宗棠鸡吧，虽然跟你从小吃的湖南菜不一样，但也许你会喜欢上这个改良过的味道，这也是一种传承。

I feel the same way. Go ahead and try this American-style General Tso's Chicken, even though it's different from the Hunan food you grew up eating, maybe you'll come to like this adapted flavor too, this is also a kind of inheritance.

好，那我尝尝，看看这道走了那么远的菜，现在到底是什么味道。

All right, let me try it, and see what this dish that has traveled so far actually tastes like now.