美語情景對話 第1104期:Strange Foods(2) 奇怪的食物2

Rory: I will try it, but I do think that's a bit strange. Okay. So in Nigeria, are there any foods, which to you are normal but maybe you think people from other countries might find a bit strange?

羅瑞：尼日利亞有沒有什麼食物，你們認爲很正常，但是其他國家的人卻認爲有些奇怪？

Abidemi: I think the whole idea of eating with their hands, and also the fact that we eat a lot of – I don't know how say it, describe it but solid food, we call it.

阿比德米：我想應該是用手吃飯這種習俗吧，而且我們會吃很多……那要怎麼形容……我們稱之爲固體食物。

Rory: Right.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: So we have food that's made from yam like we call it pounded yam. A lot of food that's made from – it's hard to describe. So they're like solid. They're kind of like mash potatoes but thicker.

阿比德米：我們有一種用山藥做的食物，叫做Pounded Yam。我們的許多食物都是用……這很難形容。這些都是固體食物。很像土豆泥，不過比土豆泥稠。

Rory: Right. So a yam is a type of potato?

羅瑞：好。山藥是土豆的一種嗎？

Abidemi: A cousin of potatoes, I would say.

阿比德米：應該說山藥是土豆的兄弟。

Rory: Right. Okay.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: Kind of but it's starchier than potatoes. So we have a lot of food that's made in that way. So to people that might not be used to that, they find it quite strange that we're eating something so starchy and thick. So I think we have that. One thing that's strange to us from the Japanese side is eating raw food.

阿比德米：山藥的澱粉含量比土豆多。我們有很多食物都是這樣做的。所以其他國家的人可能吃不習慣，他們認爲我們吃這種澱粉含量高又很稠的東西非常奇怪。我想我們的食物是這樣的。而我們認爲日本食物很奇怪的地方在於，日本吃生食。

Rory: Right.

羅瑞：對。

Abidemi: Like raw meat or raw fish, raw fish especially. For us, even vegetables, we don't – that's another thing actually. And almost anything that's raw, we don't really like. I remember the first time I had salad. It was "What is this? Am I an animal? Why am I eating uncooked carrots or lettuce?" So it needs to be cooked.

阿比德米：他們吃生肉和生魚片，特別是生魚片。而對我們來說，即使是蔬菜，我們都不會生吃，不過這是另一回事了。我們不喜歡任何生的食物。我還記得我第一次吃沙拉的感覺。當時我想：“這是什麼？我是動物嗎？我爲什麼要吃生的胡蘿蔔和萵苣？”我認爲那些應該烹飪過後再吃。

Rory: Right.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: Maybe it goes back to our history. If you don't cook, we didn't have a lot of refrigeration so maybe we're still in that mode a little bit. If you don't cook it, it's not as healthy. So we always want to cook it and make sure it's hot or spicy. So I think maybe that would be it.

阿比德米：也許原因要追溯一下我們的歷史。如果食物不烹煮……因爲我們沒有足夠的冷藏空間，也許我們現在依然是這種情況。如果食物不烹煮，那食物就會變得不太健康。所以我們會烹煮食物，以確保食物是熱的或辣的。我認爲這可能是原因。

Rory: Right.

羅瑞：好。

Abidemi: Raw food, raw vegetable, we're still kind of like, "No," I think.

阿比德米：對於生的食物、生蔬菜，我想我們依然會拒絕。

Rory: So one thing, when I first came to Japan, I used to – I mean, in England, people often eat rice with something else. So they might put soy sauce on it. They might have it fried, like an egg fried rice or something. And it was strange for me to eat plain rice when I first came here.

羅瑞：我第一次去日本的時候……英國人吃米飯時會搭配其它食物。可能會在米飯上放調味料，或是做成炒飯，雞蛋炒飯之類的。所以我第一次去日本的時候，看到他們吃白飯感到很奇怪。

Abidemi: Actually, I had a similar experience too when I was in Japan. I remember the first time they served me rice, just plain rice. In Nigeria, maybe now it's changing a little bit, but in Nigeria, eating plain, white rice is the epitome of poverty. You have no money; you have nothing but plain rice. So for me, it was like, "Whoa, what is this? This is really strange. I need to put something on this rice." And when I did that, I think I kind of like saw the Japanese people around me...

阿比德米：我剛到日本的時候和你有類似的經歷。我還記得第一次他們給我端來的白飯。現在尼日利亞的情況可能有了一些改變，不過在尼日利亞，吃白飯代表着貧窮。這說明你沒有錢，除了白飯什麼都沒有。當時我在想“哇，這是什麼？這太奇怪了。我要在米飯上放些東西。”而我那樣做的時候，我還看了看我周圍的日本人……

Rory: Yeah. They never do it, do they?

羅瑞：對，他們從來不那樣做，對吧？

Abidemi: No, they don't. Yeah.

阿比德米：對，沒錯。

Rory: The other thing is if you put soy sauce on rice, it makes it really difficult to eat with chopsticks.

羅瑞：另外，如果你把醬料放在米飯上，那用筷子吃會非常困難。

Abidemi: That's true. That's true. It's not as sticky anymore.

阿比德米：對，沒錯。就不那麼黏了。

Rory: Yeah. So in England we just use a fork. I think if you use the fork for your rice in Japan, probably, also you might cause a bit of a scandal.

羅瑞：對。所以在英國我們用叉子吃。我想如果在日本用叉子吃米飯，可能會引起反感。

Abidemi: A little bit. I think the longer you live in that country, the more you're expected to eat chopsticks, right?

阿比德米：可能會。在日本生活的時間越長，越希望用筷子吃飯，對吧？

Rory: You're right. Yeah.

羅瑞：你說得沒錯。對。

Abidemi: At least, you'll be able to. Yeah. But now I think I'm more used to it. I can eat white rice with something on the side, of course.

阿比德米：至少，你能做到了。我認爲我現在已經很習慣了。如果旁邊有配菜，我也可以吃白飯。

Rory: Yeah.

羅瑞：嗯。

Abidemi: But not necessarily with the sauce or something on top of it. Yeah.

阿比德米：不一定要在白飯上放醬料。

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重點講解：

1. be used to sth./doing sth. 習慣於；
例句：It doesn't frighten them. They're used to it.
這可嚇不倒他們。他們已經習慣了。
2. go back to 追溯到；回溯到；
例句：The feud with the Catholics goes back to the 11th century.
與天主教的夙怨可以追溯到11世紀。
3. make sure 一定要；設法保證；
例句：Make sure that you follow the instructions carefully.
一定要認真按照操作指南來做。
4. on the side 作爲配菜；
例句：Serve a bowl of warm tomato sauce on the side for dipping, if desired.
如果你喜歡，可以上一碗熱番茄調味汁來蘸着吃。