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When it comes to cultural exchanges, including culinary ones, I am firmly in favor of staying true to tradition.
在文化交流中，包括烹飪方面，我堅決支持忠於傳統。
And so, in the name of honoring authenticity, I recently participated in a delightful roundtable discussion in Beijing with three Chinese friends, a meeting that helped advance East-West cultural relations in a most delicious way.
所以，最近我以尊重正統為名義，與三位中國朋友在北京進行了一次愉快的「圓桌會議」，以最為滋滋有味的方式推動東西方文化關係的發展。
Our roundtable exchange was actually conducted at a square table, but our discussion focused on something definitely round: a pair of pizzas baked to perfection — and perfectly authentic.
說是「圓桌會議」，實際上是在一個方桌上進行的，但我們的討論卻圍繞著圓的東西：兩個披薩，火候恰到好處——而且絕對正宗。
That welcome genuineness was why I invited my friends, two of whom had never tasted pizza before, to Casa Gusto, my favorite Beijing pizzeria.
正是出於這份對正宗的熱情，我邀請了之前從未吃過披薩的朋友到我最喜歡的北京披薩店Casa Gusto。
I had stumbled across this deceptively simple pizza house, just upstairs from the Yonganli subway station on Line 1, several months ago during one of my many trips to the multistory (and growing) Silk Street mall — a wonderland of silk, shoes, clothing and jewelry.
我經常逛北京秀水街市場，這裡分好幾層（還在擴建），是匯聚了絲綢、鞋子、衣服和珠寶的好地方。幾個月前，在我前往秀水街市場途中，無意間發現了這家看似簡陋的披薩店，它就在地鐵1號線永安裡站的樓上。
I had passed by many times, assuming that the restaurant, which caters to the mall’s many foreign visitors, would, like many pizza places in Beijing, be far from authentic and disappoint in the usual ways (a lack of sauce or flavorless sauce and a dearth of gooey cheese, for starters). How wrong I was.
我之前路過這家店好幾次，但是一直認為這裡同北京很多披薩店一樣，只是為迎合前來市場的外國遊客，實際上同正宗的披薩相去甚遠，令人失望，那些披薩店的開胃菜沒有醬料或醬料沒滋沒味，也缺少粘稠的奶酪。但是我錯了。
I finally stopped in for a beer one evening with Western friends. While waiting for our frothy brews, served ice-cold in skyscraper-size beer glasses on that warm summer evening, we caught a whiff of a pepperoni pizza at a nearby table. It was, as the late Lou Reed once sang, 「the beginning of a great adventure」.
有天晚上，我和幾個來自西方國家的朋友去Casa Gusto喝了杯啤酒。那個微熱的夏日夜晚，我們正在那兒等著喝冒著泡的超大杯冰啤酒時，聞到了鄰桌的義大利辣香腸披薩的香氣。不錯，正如已故歌手婁•裡德所唱：「一場偉大冒險的開始。」
In my many years, I』ve tasted a bazillion excellent pies of countless varieties, including the ones my mom made from scratch, slathered with her savory homemade sauce. I』ve visited boisterous pizza houses from Chicago, Illinois, to Itu, Brazil, including the once-popular Shakey’s Pizza, where banjo players and automated pianos pounded out tunes to enhance the kiddy-centric experience.
多年來，我品嘗過無數種美味可口的餡餅，包括我媽媽親手做的那種，上面塗滿了她自製的美味醬汁兒。我光顧過生意非常火爆的披薩店，從芝加哥、伊利諾斯州一直到巴西的伊圖，包括曾風靡一時的喜客比薩店。喜客比薩店裡有班卓琴演奏者和自動鋼琴彈奏歌曲，提供以孩子為中心的用餐體驗。
Casa Gusto boasts no such gimmicks or gewgaws — no stuffed crust, no arcade games, just wonderfully baked, no-frills pizzas topped with fresh ingredients and friendly service.
Casa Gusto披薩店並沒有這些噱頭——沒有芝心披薩皮，也沒有遊戲機。有的只是友好的服務，烘焙得恰到好處、沒有花樣、材料新鮮的披薩。
Look beyond that, though, and you』ll see the authenticity that is the restaurant’s real secret to success. The top of each pizza, every time, bears the tell-tale sign of truly proper baking: Leopard-like spots of brown demonstrate that the bubbly cheese has been toasted just right, and this has a profound effect on the texture and flavor of the cheese — perhaps the most crucial ingredient.
但是，透過這些，你會發現這家餐廳成功的真正秘訣是它的原汁原味。每張披薩表面都有表明烘焙恰到好處的標誌：豹子般的棕色斑點說明起泡奶酪烤得正好，這對奶酪的質地和味道有很大影響，而奶酪可能是披薩最重要的成分。
There’s more. The delectable crust is thin but never burned, and crisp yet chewy (no small achievement). The sauce has just the right touch of Italian spices, and the cheese and toppings extend to nearly the edges of the pizza, with the toppings, ranging from Canadian bacon to jalapeno peppers, spread evenly.
還有呢，美味的披薩外皮薄而不焦，酥脆而有嚼勁，能做到這樣實屬不易。醬汁中加入了剛剛好的義大利香料，奶酪和配料幾乎蔓延到了披薩的邊緣，加拿大培根、墨西哥胡椒等各種餡料均勻分布在披薩上。
And, a joy to behold, at each table are two containers of grated parmesan cheese and a shaker of oregano.
而且每張桌子上都放著兩盒磨碎的帕爾瑪奶酪和一罐牛至葉，這實在是一種愉快的享受。
The way that the Chinese owners and staff have mastered the art of the excellent pizza shows how fully the pizzeria has embraced the culture of a far-flung land, down to the last detail.
Casa Gusto的中國老闆和員工已經掌握了美味的披薩藝術，這說明他們是多麼細緻地揣摩來自一個遙遠國度的文化。
It turns out the authenticity is no accident. When Casa Gusto opened in 2009, its fortunes rested on a pizza oven imported, impressively, from Italy. The sturdy steel behemoth looks nothing like the traditional domed ovens, but it bakes like magic and is highly efficient and dependable: Prepared pizzas are fed one-by-one onto a moving belt, which takes each pie for a seven-minute basking that leaves them toasty gorgeous, red-hot and intensely aromatic.
事實證明，這家店的原汁原味並非偶然。2009年Casa Gusto開業時，它靠的是一個從義大利進口來的披薩烤箱，這著實令人欽佩。這個堅固的鋼鐵巨獸看起來與傳統的圓頂烤爐完全不同，但它擁有烘焙的魔法，而且高效又可靠：準備好的披薩麵餅一個接一個放到傳送帶上，在傳送帶上烤七分鐘，這樣披薩就會烘烤得恰到好處，熱乎乎的，香味濃鬱。
There’s an element of people-to-people exchange as well. For its first year of operation, the pizzeria employed an Italian who made the pizzas according to tradition and trained his Chinese friends to do likewise.
人與人之間的交流也是一個因素。開業的第一年，這家披薩店便僱傭了一位義大利人，這位義大利人按照傳統方式製作披薩，並將手藝教授給他的中國朋友們。
The lessons were obviously taken to heart. No wonder, then, that the pizza at my favorite hangout is more than a slice above the others. It’s a whole pie better.
中國員工顯然將這些教導牢記於心。難怪我最愛的比薩店的披薩比其他店的好吃得不只是一點點。因為整張披薩都更好吃！
翻譯：陳美君（實習）
編審：董靜 丹妮
音頻編輯：焦潔
來源：CHINA DAILY 微信公眾號：
About the author & broadcaster
James Healy is from the United States and has been a copy editor at China Daily since 2014. He is an advanced student of Chen style tai chi and enjoys Chinese culture, food and carvings.
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