The news that the world has America, not Italy, to thank for the tomato base on pizza has gone down about as well as putting cream in carbonara among Italian gastro-nationalists.

披薩上的番茄醬要歸功于美國，而不是意大利，這一消息在意大利美食民族主義者中的反響就像在意大利面中加入奶油一樣炸裂。
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In a new book called La Cucina Italiana Non Esiste (literally “Italian Cuisine Does Not Exist”), food historian Alberto Grandi claims, among other things, that Italians only discovered tomato sauce when they emigrated to the Americas, where tomatoes are native, in the 19th century.

在一本名為《意大利美食不存在》（La Cucina Italiana Non Esiste）的新書中，美食歷史學家阿爾貝托-格蘭迪（Alberto Grandi）聲稱，意大利人只是在 19 世紀移民到西紅柿的原產地美洲時才發(fā)現(xiàn)了番茄醬。

“Pizza became red in America,” Grandi told La Repubblica newspaper. “Before that it was plain focaccia, sometimes adorned with pieces of tomato.”

“披薩在美國變成了紅色，”格蘭迪告訴《共和報》。“在此之前，比薩是普通的福卡夏餅，有時會用番茄片裝飾。

It’s not the first time that Grandi, who teaches business history and the history of European integration at Parma University, has taken to the press to debunk myths about his own country’s (famously defended) cuisine. He’s made a career out of it.

格蘭迪在帕爾馬大學教授商業(yè)史和歐洲一體化史，這已經不是他第一次在媒體上揭穿關于自己國家美食（著名的捍衛(wèi)主義）的神話了。他已經以此為職業(yè)。

In an interview with the FT last year, he said that everything from parmesan and panettone to carbonara and tiramisu weren’t fundamentally Italian. Perhaps most controversially, he claimed that parmesan produced in Wisconsin was more authentic than Italy’s because it was closer to the original cheese produced in Parma-Reggio a millennium ago. A brave man, indeed.

去年，他在接受英國《金融時報》采訪時說，從帕爾馬干酪、帕內托內餡餅到意大利面和提拉米蘇，從根本上說都不是意大利的。也許最有爭議的是，他聲稱威斯康星州生產的帕爾馬干酪比意大利的更正宗，因為它更接近千年前帕爾馬-雷焦（Parma-Reggio）生產的原始奶酪。他是真的敢說。

While the journalist, herself Italian, said hearing a food expert say that her national cuisine is “based on lies” was like being let in on an unspeakable family secret, others, naturally, were furious. Coldiretti, a powerful and somewhat frightening agricultural body in Italy, described the article as “a surreal attack on the symbolic dishes of Italian cuisine”. On his equally divisive podcast, Grandi joked that he should only leave the house “with personal security guards, like Salman Rushdie”.

盡管這位記者本身是意大利人，但聽到一位美食專家說她的國家美食“建立在謊言之上”，就像被揭開一個不可言說的家族秘密一樣，其他人自然也感到憤怒。Coldiretti是意大利一個強大而有影響力的農業(yè)組織，將這篇文章描述為對意大利美食象征性菜肴的“超現(xiàn)實攻擊”。
格蘭迪在他同樣帶有歧義的播客中開玩笑說，他應該 “像薩爾曼-拉什迪那樣，有私人保鏢保護才能出門”。

You’d think, then, he might have been wary of publishing a book literally alleging that there’s no such thing as Italian food. He was quick to point out, though, that he’s never questioned the quality of Italian food or products. “The point is that we confuse identity with the roots, which we are crossbreeding,” he told La Repubblica. “We wrongly talk about identity: cuisine changes continuously.” For example, the Italians and French are the biggest consumers of sushi in Europe. And while “to taste Parmigiano-Reggiano as our grandparents ate it, we would have to go to Wisconsin”, he’s not saying that Italian Parmesan isn’t still the best.

因此，你可能認為他會對出版一本關于意大利食品根本不存在的書。不過，他很快指出，他從未質疑過意大利食品或產品的質量?！八麑Α豆埠蛧鴪蟆氛f：”問題的關鍵在于，我們混淆了身份和根源，而我們正在雜交根源。“我們錯誤地談論了身份：美食在不斷變化”。例如，意大利人和法國人是歐洲最大的壽司消費者。雖然 “要想品嘗到我們祖輩吃過的 Parmigiano-Reggiano，我們必須去威斯康星州”，但他并不是說意大利的帕爾馬干酪仍然不是最好的。


He’s not wrong: on that or tomato sauce on pizza. Tomatoes today might seem like a central element of all European cuisines, but it’s true that they’re actually a newer ingredient, and certainly not one that’s native to Italy. The Spanish discovered them in central America in the 16th century, and brought them back to Europe as part of what’s known as the Columbian Exchange: the transfer of plants and animals between the old and new worlds. Without it, all cuisines would look, and taste, quite different today. There’d be no oranges in Florida, for example. No chillies in Asia. No coffee in Columbia. No chocolate in Switzerland. No cigarettes in France. Quelle horreur!

他說得沒錯：對于披薩上的番茄醬也是如此。如今，番茄似乎是所有歐洲美食的核心元素，但事實上，它們實際上是較新的食材，而且絕對不是意大利的本土產物。16世紀，西班牙人在中美洲發(fā)現(xiàn)了它們，并將它們帶回歐洲，作為所謂的哥倫布交換的一部分：即在新舊世界之間的植物和動物的交換。沒有這種交換，今天所有的美食看起來和味道都會大不相同。例如，佛羅里達州就沒有橙子。亞洲就沒有辣椒。哥倫比亞就沒有咖啡。瑞士就沒有巧克力。法國就沒有香煙。如果是這樣就太可怕了！

Tomatoes didn’t initially take off on the continent, partly because they resembled their deadly cousin the nightshade, and partly due to an early example of fake news, which circulated after some upper-class Europeans died after eating them (it was actually a result of lead poisoning from their pewter dinnerware).

西紅柿最初并沒有在歐洲大陸流行起來，部分原因是西紅柿與其致命的表親--茄科植物相似，還有一部分原因是早期的一則假新聞，即一些上層歐洲人在食用西紅柿后死亡（實際上是他們的錫制餐具導致鉛中毒）。

The earliest traces of pizza can be found with the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, as flatbreads, which first emerged in Italy in Naples in the 18th century. To cater to a surging population, street vendors in the city started selling flatbreads with simple toppings like lard, garlic, salt, basil and, only occasionally, cheese and fresh tomatoes. Margherita pizza was born when Queen Margherita invited a man called Raffaele Esposito to cook the dish that had become so popular among her people. Her favourite was the one with slices of tomato, basil and mozzarella: the colours of the Italian flag.

披薩最早的雛形是埃及人、希臘人和羅馬人制作的扁面包，18 世紀在意大利那不勒斯首次出現(xiàn)。為了迎合激增的人口，城市里的街頭小販開始出售扁面包，配以豬油、大蒜、鹽、羅勒等簡單的配料，偶爾也會加入奶酪和新鮮番茄。瑪格麗塔披薩誕生于瑪格麗塔王后邀請一位名叫拉斐爾-埃斯波西托（Raffaele Esposito）的人烹制這道在她的子民中頗受歡迎的美食。她最喜歡的是用番茄片、羅勒和馬蘇里拉奶酪制成的披薩，這也是意大利國旗的顏色。

While fresh tomatoes were commonly used on pizza, Grandi suggests that “pizza rossa”, or pizza with a tomato base, came about when Italians emigrated to the States en masse in the 19th century, and took advantage of the ingredients they found there. It would make sense, as the canning industry was only just taking off as a means to preserve fresh ingredients and streamline cooking. Pizza became enormously popular in the US – it was cheap, easy to make and, obviously, tasted good. So much so, Grandi suggests, that by the Second World War, there were more pizzerias in America than Italy. “When American soldiers landed in Sicily, they discovered to their surprise that pizzerias barely existed,” he wrote. According to Grandi, this is also when spaghetti alla carbonara was invented, using the bacon, cheese and powdered eggs that the American troops brought with them.

雖然披薩通常使用新鮮番茄，但格蘭迪認為，“羅薩披薩”（即以番茄為底的披薩）是 19 世紀意大利人大規(guī)模移民美國后，利用當?shù)氐氖巢闹谱鞫傻?。這也是情理之中的事，因為當時罐頭業(yè)剛剛起步，是保存新鮮食材和簡化烹飪的一種手段。比薩在美國大受歡迎--它便宜、易做，而且顯然味道不錯。格蘭迪認為，到第二次世界大戰(zhàn)時，美國比薩店的數(shù)量已經超過了意大利?！八麑懙溃骸碑斆绹勘谖魑骼锏顷憰r，他們驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)比薩店幾乎沒有。根據(jù)格蘭迪的說法，意大利面也是在那個時候利用美軍帶來的熏肉、奶酪和雞蛋粉發(fā)明的。

While America’s influence on the cuisine cannot be overstated, Italians aren’t too happy with their food identity being called into question yet again.

雖然美國對意大利美食的影響無論如何強調都不為過，但意大利人對自己的飲食身份再次受到質疑并不太高興。

Michele Pascarella, owner of Chiswick restaurant Napoli on the Road – who has won countless awards for his pizza (eighth best in Europe) including being declared best pizzaiolo in the world last year – says it’s not about who does it first, but who does it best. “Italy is a country with an enormous food culture, passed down through generations, that doesn’t need to win any contest for who did it first in the world,” he tells me. “Our cuisine is envied all over the world and we even continue to make a difference today. Alberto Grandi is the flat-earther of gastronomy.”

Chiswick 餐館 Napoli on the Road 的店主 Michele Pascarella 因其披薩（歐洲第八佳）贏得了無數(shù)獎項，包括去年被評為世界最佳披薩師?！八嬖V我：”意大利是一個擁有世代相傳的巨大飲食文化的國家，它不需要贏得任何關于誰是世界第一的比賽。他告訴我："我們的美食令全世界羨慕不已，我們今天甚至仍在繼續(xù)創(chuàng)造不同。阿爾貝托-格蘭迪是美食界的平頭哥”。

This kind of culinary classicism exists in other cuisines, though rarely is it expressed so vehemently. It’s always struck me as odd, as so many of the foods we consider to be symbolic of a particular country are not actually from there.

這種烹飪經典主義在其他菜系中也存在，不過很少表現(xiàn)得如此強烈。我一直覺得這很奇怪，因為許多我們認為是某個國家象征的食物實際上并不來自這個國家。


Take croissants, for example. They’re not French; they were invented in Vienna, Austria, where moon-shaped breads date back centuries. Their history is about as indeterminate as pizza. Some say they were presented to Duke Leopold in 1227 as a Christmas treat; others that crescent-shaped pastries mimicking the moon on the Turkish flag were prepared to celebrate the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the 1600s. Elsewhere, Parisians adapted the recipe after the first Viennese bakery closed in 1838. The most famous story is that Vienna-born Queen Marie Antoinette missed the Austrian pastry so much that she had her French bakers make them for her.

以羊角面包為例。羊角面包不是法國食品，而是在奧地利維也納發(fā)明的，那里的月亮形面包可以追溯到幾個世紀以前。羊角面包的歷史就像披薩一樣難以確定。有人說它們是 1227 年它作為圣誕禮物送給利奧波德公爵的；還有人說，模仿土耳其國旗上月亮的月牙形糕點是為了慶祝奧斯曼帝國在 1600 年代戰(zhàn)敗而準備的。在其他地方，1838 年第一家維也納面包店倒閉后，巴黎人對配方進行了改良。最有名的故事是，出生于維也納的瑪麗-安托瓦內特王后非常想念奧地利糕點，于是讓法國面包師為她制作。
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Whatever the truth, you don’t hear much whining from the French about the debated provenance of their most iconic food item.

無論真相如何，你都不會聽到法國人對他們最具標志性的食品的來源爭論不休。

Nor do you hear protestations from the Japanese about tempura or the Indians about vindaloo. Both have Portuguese origins. Catholic missionaries brought the Western-style cooking method of deep frying to Japan in the 16th century, while vindaloo is derived from the Portuguese “vinha de alhos”, referring to the dish’s two main ingredients, wine and garlic. The latter was originally a means for Portuguese sailors to preserve fresh ingredients, but they adapted it with spices and chillies when they got to Goa, transforming it into one of the most popular – and hottest – curries in the world.

你也不會聽到日本人對天婦羅或印度人對 vindaloo 的抗議。兩者都源自葡萄牙。天主教傳教士在 16 世紀將西式油炸烹飪法帶到了日本，而 vindaloo 則源自葡萄牙語 “vinha de alhos”，指的是這道菜的兩種主要配料--酒和大蒜。后者原本是葡萄牙水手保存新鮮食材的一種方法，但他們到果阿后將其與香料和辣椒進行了改良，將其變成了世界上最受歡迎、也是最辣的咖喱之一。

Portugal can’t even claim its own famous piri piri seasoning, a la Nando’s, as its own. Much like tomatoes to Italy, the bird’s eye chilli used in the flavouring isn’t native to Portugal. It was discovered in the Americas in the 15th century during Portugal’s mercantile – cough, empirical – era and brought back to the colonies in Africa to cultivate before selling it on to Asia and Europe. And so the global spice trade was born. It didn’t make its way into Portugal until the late Sixties.

葡萄牙甚至無法將其著名的辣椒醬（如Nando's）歸為自己的產品。就像番茄對意大利一樣，用于調味的鳥眼辣椒并不是葡萄牙的本土產物。這種辣椒在15世紀被發(fā)現(xiàn)于美洲，正值葡萄牙的商業(yè)時代，并被帶回非洲殖民地進行種植，然后再銷往亞洲和歐洲。于是，全球香料貿易誕生了。直到六十年代末，它才進入葡萄牙。

Marco Mendes, co-founder of MJMK Restaurants, which runs the Portuguese piri piri chicken franchise Casa do Frango, has no problem acknowledging that his country’s cuisine would be nothing without the controversial history that brought so many ingredients to Portugal. “It’s definitely to do with Portuguese mercantile history in some form or another,” he tells me. “But I believe in turn we received a ton back from the countries and the people that formed part of that mercantile exploration.”

馬可·門德斯（Marco Mendes）是MJMK餐廳的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人，該餐廳經營著葡萄牙辣椒雞連鎖品牌Casa do Frango。他毫無避諱的承認，“他的國家美食如果沒有那段充滿爭議的歷史所獲得的食材，葡萄牙的美食將一無是處。 ” 他告訴我：“這肯定與葡萄牙或多或少的重商歷史有關。但我相信，反過來，我們也從那些參與商業(yè)探索的國家先輩們那里得到了巨大的好處。

With all that in mind, I have to wonder: does it really matter who invented tomato sauce on pizza? Or where your croissant is from? To acknowledge that one country might have had an impact on the food of another isn’t to be complicit in cultural appropriation. Point to any dish on a menu and you’ll have a hard time finding one that hasn’t got war, politics, economics, emigration or poverty to thank for its place there.

想到這些，我不禁要問：披薩上的番茄醬是誰發(fā)明的真的重要嗎？或者你的羊角面包來自哪里？承認一個國家可能對另一個國家的食物產生過影響，并不意味著要默許文化挪用?？纯床藛紊系娜魏我坏啦?，你會很難找到一道菜沒有受到過戰(zhàn)爭、政治、經濟、移民或貧困的影響。