QA討論:你喜歡美國文化中哪一點:飲食、社區(qū)主義、愛國、對貧困的看法？

People are surprised by how much Americans smile. Some think we are idiots because we smile even if nothing particularly funny is happening. Just roll with it. :)
Our society is made up of every culture you can think of: except for the Native Americans, all of us originally came here from somewhere else and we brought our traditions with us. Americans will tell you they are Irish or Italian or so on, but they sometimes mean that’s where their ancestors came from. And those “hyphenated cultures” (Italian-American, African-American, Irish-American, Mexican-American, etc) are different from the origin cultures. It’s super interesting, especially in big cities.

人們對美國人經(jīng)常微笑感到驚訝。有些人甚至認為我們有些愚蠢，因為我們即使在沒有特別有趣事情發(fā)生時也會微笑。不過，這只是一種習(xí)慣，不必太過在意。
我們的社會融合了你能想到的所有文化：除了原住民，我們所有人都是從其他地方來到這里的，帶來了各自的傳統(tǒng)。美國人會告訴你他們是愛爾蘭人或意大利人等，但他們有時指的是他們的祖先來自那里。那些“混血文化”（如意大利裔美國人、非裔美國人、愛爾蘭裔美國人、墨西哥裔美國人等）與原文化有所不同，這在大城市中尤其有趣。

This isn’t just America of course, but our wild lands and national parks are jaw-dropping. If you visit National Parks you’ll never forget the landscape. The place is huge: you could spend weeks here driving around the country exploring.
So those are a few cool things about America.

美國的特點不僅僅是這些，我們的荒野和國家公園真是讓人驚嘆不已。如果你去過國家公園，你一定永遠無法忘記那里的景色。這里的面積非常廣闊，你可以花上好幾周時間，開車穿越各地進行探索。
這些就是美國的一些有趣之處。

Will Vong
What is your favorite thing about American culture?
Culinary Autonomy

你最喜歡美國文化的哪一點？
飲食自主權(quán)。

More than any other culture I’ve experienced, Americans are by far the most respectful and considerate regarding allergies. I have G6PD deficiency which means I could literally die if I eat fava beans. Fava beans are popular in Sudan, Egypt and Yunnan, China. In all three places, local people consistently and without fail urged me to eat their home-cooked fava bean meal out of genuine but misguided hospitality. With clinical assurance, they insisted that I wouldn’t die from the fava beans because they’ve been eating fava beans their whole lives and had no problems.

在我體驗過的文化中，美國人對待過敏問題的態(tài)度無疑是最為尊重和周到的。我有G6PD缺乏癥，這意味著如果我吃蠶豆，我可能會有生命危險。蠶豆在蘇丹、埃及和中國云南很受歡迎。在這三個地方，當?shù)厝丝偸浅鲇谡嬲\的好客，卻不顧可能的風(fēng)險，堅持讓我品嘗他們自家做的蠶豆菜肴。他們信心滿滿地保證，我不會因吃蠶豆而出事，因為他們自己一生都在吃蠶豆，從未有過問題。

It was always easier to just say I hate the taste and find it disgusting rather than explain I have a genetic mutation which will cause me to die from hemolytic anemia. It seemed the culture of hospitality was more powerful than the awareness of and respect for allergies/genetic disorders/dietary preferences. I really do appreciate the hospitality I received in those communities but it can be very exhausting interrogating the chefs about what beans they used.

說我討厭它的味道，覺得它很惡心，總是比解釋我有基因突變會導(dǎo)致我死于溶血性貧血更容易。在這些地方，好客的文化似乎比對過敏、遺傳疾病或飲食偏好的認識和尊重更為重要。我確實感激這些社區(qū)的熱情款待，但是不斷地詢問廚師他們使用了哪些豆類，確實令人疲憊。

Are the falafels made of chickpeas or fava beans?
I don’t know. Same thing. Very tasty! Very clean! I cook for many years. You will not be sick. Trust me.

那些鷹嘴豆泥是用什么做的，是鷹嘴豆還是蠶豆？
我不知道，都一樣。很好吃！很干凈！我做飯很多年了，你不會生病的，相信我。

On some occasions, people seemed to take it personally as if I was accusing them of having low hygiene standards so it was often quite frustrating.
Breaking the language barrier does not help either. I carry around a piece of paper with the words “fava beans” and “allergy” in about 50 different languages and it has done very little in reducing mis-communications.

在某些情況下，人們似乎認為這是針對個人的，就好像我在指責(zé)他們衛(wèi)生標準低一樣，所以這常常讓人很沮喪。
語言障礙也加劇了這一問題。我隨身攜帶著用大約50種不同語言寫的“蠶豆”和“過敏”的紙條，但這在減少溝通誤解方面幾乎沒有任何幫助。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

I do not have this problem in the US. Not only does American food packaging have labels for various common allergens. There also labels for all manner of culinary preferences and diets available such as kosher, halal, organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, etc. Even the cheapest American buffets will have separate utensils for each dish so that allergens do not spread.

在美國，我沒有遇到這樣的問題。美國的食品包裝上不僅有各種常見過敏原的標簽，還有各種烹飪偏好和飲食需求的標簽，比如猶太潔食、清真、有機、非轉(zhuǎn)基因、無麩質(zhì)等。即使是最便宜的美國自助餐，也會為每道菜提供單獨的餐具，以防止過敏原交叉污染。

Taiwanese are generally mindful of allergies and diets but many buffets still give you only one utensil to load up your plates from all the dishes. I have good friends with deadly peanut allergies so I am mortified to see everyone load up their plates with peanuts and then dig into the bok choy with the same scoop. Similarly, when I go to restaurants with Muslim friends in Taiwan, I have tried to explain that this person doesn’t eat pork. Many times, the dish will still have pork and when I tell the owner, they will say “oh our restaurant is very clean and the pork is very good quality! Don’t worry, the extra pork is on the house!”.

臺灣（地區(qū)）人通常對過敏和飲食很在意，但許多自助餐仍然只提供一種餐具來取用所有菜肴。我有一些對花生過敏非常嚴重的朋友，所以當我看到人們用同一個勺子先盛花生，再挖小白菜時，我感到非常驚恐。同樣，當我和穆斯林朋友去臺灣（地區(qū)）餐館時，我試圖解釋這個人不吃豬肉。很多時候，菜里仍然有豬肉，當我告訴老板時，他們會說“哦，我們的餐館非常干凈，豬肉質(zhì)量很好！別擔(dān)心，額外的豬肉免費！”

No matter how ridiculous or non-scientific your chosen diet is, Americans will generally respect it and will not push you to eat what you don’t want to eat. Especially on the West Coast. Especially in Northern California. You could be raw vegan, paleo, Atkins, keto, pescatarian, poultritarian, Halal, Kosher, Hindu, Jain, Mahayana Buddhist, Seventh Day Adventist, fasting-for-Ramadan/Yom Kippur, caffeine-free, a teetotaler, intermittent fasting, high-carb, low-carb, no-carb, gluten-free, allergic-to-everything or “I only eat hunted meat” and people will generally let you be.

不管你遵循的飲食多么不合常理或缺乏科學(xué)依據(jù)，美國人通常都會予以尊重，不會強迫你吃你不愿意吃的食物。特別是在西海岸，尤其是北加州，更是如此。無論你是純素生食者、古法飲食者、阿特金斯飲食者、生酮飲食者、魚類素食者、家禽素食者、清真飲食者、猶太潔食者、印度教飲食者、耆那教飲食者、大乘佛教飲食者、安息日會飲食者、齋月或贖罪日禁食者、無咖啡因飲食者、戒酒者、間歇性禁食者、高碳水化合物飲食者、低碳水化合物飲食者、無碳水化合物飲食者、無麩質(zhì)飲食者、對所有食物都過敏的人，或者“我只吃自己狩獵的肉”，人們一般都會尊重你的選擇。

Yes some Americans will make annoying or ignorant comments, but it is rare to pressure someone to eat something they don’t want to. In places such as Portland or San Francisco, they may even go out of their way to cook dishes that are appropriate for you. I grew up as a Buddhist vegetarian and was active in the Boy Scouts in Oregon. I went to many parts of rural Oregon where vegetarianism was almost unheard of.

確實，有些美國人可能會說一些煩人或者無知的話，但很少會強迫別人吃他們不愿意吃的食物。在波特蘭或舊金山這樣的地方，人們甚至可能會特地為你準備合適的菜肴。我從小在俄勒岡州長大，是一個佛教徒素食者，并且積極參與當?shù)氐耐榆娀顒印Ｎ以ミ^俄勒岡州的許多鄉(xiāng)村地區(qū)，那里幾乎沒人聽說過素食主義。

People were not exactly friendly or accommodating about it but they did not care if I chose to just eat the buns with tomato and lettuce. More often, they would just laugh and offer me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yes, I understand that in other cultures it would be appalling to let a guest eat only plain bread for dinner while everyone else is eating a juicy steak or fava bean soup but I personally prefer the ‘culinary autonomy’ in the US. I would rather eat PB&Js every night for dinner for a week than die.

當?shù)厝藢ξ页运氐倪x擇算不上特別熱情或者支持，但他們也不會因為我只吃番茄和生菜的小圓面包而介意。通常，他們只是笑著，然后會給我一個花生醬和果凍的三明治。我理解，在其他文化中，如果客人只能吃白面包，而其他人都在享用多汁的牛排或蠶豆湯，這可能看起來不太合適。但我個人更傾向于在美國享有的這種“飲食自主”。對我來說，寧愿連續(xù)一周每晚都吃花生醬和果凍三明治，也不愿意冒險去吃可能讓我過敏的食物。

I do not expect people to accommodate or cook special meals for guests - I really don’t mind just eating bread or two bananas - but I really do appreciate the fact that Americans just let you be at the dinner table. Another benefit of this is that if you are not hungry, you can just nibble a few things and people will not be offended. In fact, it seems Americans will secretly think “Awesome! That’s some more leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.”

我并不期待人們?yōu)榱擞峡腿硕貏e準備或烹飪食物——我自己吃面包或者兩根香蕉也完全沒問題——但我確實非常欣賞美國人在餐桌上給予的自由。另一個好處是，如果你不太餓，你完全可以只吃一點點，別人也不會介意。實際上，美國人可能心里還會暗自高興：“太棒了！這樣明天午餐就有更多剩菜可以吃了?！?/b>