吃中藥長大的豬 你敢做第一個吃它的人嗎?大綱

Forget grass-fed beef and free-range poultry. China’s farmers say they have found the next big health-food craze: cows, pigs and ducks raised on a steady diet of ancient Chinese medicine.

不要再談什麼吃草的肉牛和散養的家禽了。中國的農民表示，他們找到了健康飲食界的下一個狂熱增長點：規律餵食傳統中草藥的豬牛雞鴨。

Practitioners in China have prescribed bitter blends of medicinal plants and herbs for centuries to ward off disease in humans. Now, farmers are adapting the age-old elixirs — a dash of ginseng here, a speck of licorice there — for use on livestock. They’re hoping to tap into the growing popularity of traditional medicine and health food in Chinese society.

許多世紀以來，中國的醫師將藥用植物和芳草混合成口感苦澀的方子，用以抵禦人體疾病。如今，農民在把這種古老的靈丹妙藥用在牲畜身上——這裏加點人蔘，那裏放點甘草。他們希望以此搭上傳統醫藥與健康食品日益風靡中國社會的便車。

The results, they promise, are not only delicious but healthy: lean, juicy meats that can protect against colds, arthritis and other illnesses. (The science is less resounding, though one study did find that cows that were fed Chinese medicines performed better in hot weather.)

他們保證，這樣養出的肉類不僅可口，而且健康：肉質精瘦多汁，還可以預防感冒、關節炎及其他多種疾病。（其中的科學原理並不那麼令人信服，不過有一項研究的確認爲，吃了中草藥的牛在天氣較熱的情況下表現更好。）

In the southern region of Guangxi, Lin Wenluo, 53, began mixing 22 kinds of herbs into the daily feed for his livestock several years ago. The pigs that Mr. Lin raises sell for $460, about $200 more than the typical price for conventional pigs, he said, and some customers even eat his meats instead of taking medicine.

在華南省份廣西，現年53歲的林文羅幾年前開始將22味草藥加入自家牲畜的日常飼料中。他表示，自己養的生豬售價爲3000元人民幣，比傳統餵養的市價高1300元左右，一些顧客甚至用吃他出產的豬肉來代替服藥。

“The pigs raised this way don’t get sick, they have good texture and they’re meaty,” he said.

“這樣養出來的豬不會得病，豬肉口感好，肉質高，”他說。

Farmers like Mr. Lin hope that China’s increasingly health-conscious middle class will help bring medicinal meats into the mainstream. The health-food market in China reached $1 trillion last year, and it is expected to grow 20 percent annually for the next several years.

林文羅這樣的農戶希望，越來越重視健康問題的中國中產階級會有助於中草藥養殖的肉類成爲主流。中國的健康食品市場在去年達到了1萬億美元的規模，預計將在未來幾年裏取得每年20%的增長。

Mr. Lin said China was returning to something good from the past that had been neglected. “In the old days, we used traditional methods to feed the animals,” he said. “People’s longevity was very long.”

林文羅認爲，中國是在迴歸一度遭到忽視的優良歷史傳統。“過去的時候，我們用傳統辦法喂牲口，”他說。“人們很長壽。”