1 Growing up in England with a British father and a Chinese mother, I』ve enjoyed food from both countries ever since I was able to hold a knife and fork—and chopsticks!
我在英國長大，我爸爸是英國人，媽媽是中國人。從能拿刀叉——還有筷子——開始，我就一直享受這兩國的食物！
2 Mum has sweet memories of the food from her home town in Sichuan, and often cooks spicy dishes. Thanks to this, Dad has come to love hot pot! But there are still some dishes that Dad dare not try even after many years of marriage to my mother. He once told me he was surprised by what he saw on the table when he first visited my mother’s parents in China. He was even shocked at their wedding when he saw how the Chinese ate almost every part of an animal. Even today, he still does not easily take to eating things like chicken feet.
媽媽對四川家鄉的食物有著美好的回憶，她經常會做一些辣菜。正因為如此，爸爸已經逐漸愛上了火鍋！但是，雖然與媽媽結婚多年，爸爸還是有一些不敢嘗試的菜餚。他曾告訴我，第一次去中國拜訪我媽媽的父母時，餐桌上擺的東西讓他大吃一驚。在婚禮上，他更是嚇了一跳，因為他差不多動物的所有部位中國人都吃。直到今天，他還是不習慣吃雞爪之類的東西。
3 But I enjoy that sort of food myself. Last week, I went to the butcher’s and asked, 「Do you have pigs』 ears?」 「No,」 the butcher said, pulling at his own ears, 「just these ordinary ones.」 He must have thought I was joking.
不過我自己很喜歡這類食物。上周，我去肉店問：「你們這裡有豬耳朵嗎？」「沒有，」肉店老闆拽了拽自己的耳朵說，「只有這種普通的耳朵。」他肯定覺得我是在開玩笑。
4 Dad can cook a super 「full English breakfast」 of bacon, eggs, beans, sausages and toast with butter—Mum and I just have to find a way to get him into the kitchen! He also does a typical Sunday roast. We all love roast beef and vegetables, but Mum says we』d better not eat too much roast food as it may make us suffer from heat inside our bodies, according to traditional Chinese medicine.
爸爸會做美味的「全套英式早餐」，有培根、雞蛋、豆子、香腸和黃油吐司——不過我和媽媽得想辦法讓他進廚房！他還會做傳統的星期天烤肉大餐。我們都喜歡烤牛肉和蔬菜，但媽媽說最好不要吃太多燒烤食物，因為根據傳統中醫的說法，這會引起上火。
5 I』ll never forget my first visit to China. Mum encouraged me to try different kinds of food, and I did! I loved everything. But just when I thought I could deal with all Chinese food, I came across stinky tofu, a horrible grey thing that looked and smelt like a burnt sports shoe. 「You needn’t try it if you don’t want to,」Mum said, but I gathered all my courage to take a bite and was amazed to find it wasn’t so bad. It reminded me of blue cheese, a similarly strong smelling type of food you either love or hate. Maybe I』ll fall in love with stinky tofu—someday.
我永遠不會忘記自己的第一次中國之旅。媽媽鼓勵我嘗試各種食物，我照做了！我什麼都喜歡吃。可是就在我以為自己能夠接受所有的中國食物時，我遇到了臭豆腐，一種可怕的灰色食物，樣子和味道就像是燒焦的運動鞋。「如果你不想嘗試的話，可以不吃，」媽媽說。但我還是鼓起勇氣咬了一口，結果驚奇地發現味道還不錯。它的味道讓我想起了藍紋奶酪，一種類似的有著濃重氣味的食物，你要麼你愛上它，要麼會恨死它。也許我會愛上臭豆腐的——將來總有那麼一天吧。
6 People say that one man’s meat is another man’s poison, but I feel at home with food from both my cultures. To me, there’s nothing better than a cross-cultural afternoon tea of English biscuits and a cup of Chinese oolong tea in a fine china cup!
人們常說，一個人的美食是另一個人的砒霜(蘿蔔青菜各有所好)，但中英兩種文化中的食物我都喜歡。對我來說，用英國餅乾搭配一杯盛在細瓷杯中的中國烏龍茶——沒有什麼比這樣一次跨文化的下午茶更好的了！