點擊本頁右上角「三個點」，可以把文章分享給朋友。歡迎關注我們，常讀外媒報導學英語。It’s national garlic day. The allium – such a staple in kitchens the world over – is as common as salt, and lacking the exoticism it once had in the UK. As recently as 30 years ago in many parts of Britain, cooking with garlic was considered 「foreign」 or eccentric.這是國民大蒜的時代。蔥屬植物們——他們是全世界廚房中的一個主題——已經和食鹽一樣常見，在英國也褪去了一度擁有的異國風味。僅在近30年前，用大蒜做菜在不列顛的部分地區還被看做是一種「異國的」或者古怪的行為。After several centuries of neglect, garlic reappeared during the Victorian era when French tastes were seen as the height of sophistication. But it fell out of favour during the second world war: food historian Ivan Day thinks garlic was seen as 「foreign muck」 by the generation of men and women living off bully beef and reconstituted egg - 「they got a taste for simplicity」.在幾個世紀的忽視之後，大蒜於維多利亞時代隨著法餐被推上格調的巔峰重現人前。然而到了二戰期間它再次失去了人們的歡心： 食物歷史學家伊凡∙戴認為那一代靠罐裝牛肉和雞蛋再造品為生的男男女女們「已經習慣了一種簡易的口味」，在他們眼中大蒜和「外國垃圾」沒有什麼兩樣。Natasha Edwards, who runs the Isle of Wight’s Garlic Farm remembers the 1980s. 「We started the farm when garlic wasn’t that popular. None of my friends knew what it was and those who did thought it was foreign and gave you bad breath,」 she recalls. 「But garlic’s been on the Isle of Wight for years. My granny got our first bulb from one of three French fighters in Cowes during the war who missed garlic so much they asked a resistance fighter to fly some out to them. Granny planted it from him.」愛爾蘭懷特大蒜農場的主人娜塔莎∙愛德華茲還記得20世紀80年代的情形。「我們開辦農場的時候大蒜還不太流行。我的朋友們都不知道它是什麼東西，並且認為他們是外國貨，還會帶給你口臭。」她回憶著，「但是大蒜已經被引進愛爾蘭懷特島好多年了。我奶奶在戰爭其間從駐紮在考斯的三個法國戰士之一那裡弄到了我們的第一個大蒜球莖，那些法國人太想念大蒜了，於是讓敵方飛行員空投了一些給他們。奶奶就是從他那開始種大蒜的。」Have a flick through a 1950s recipe book and you can see where the UK gets its reputation for bland food – it’s all pork chops with boiled carrots and cauliflower. Garden herbs slowly started to appear – softer flavourings such as dill and thyme subtly flavouring meats – but there’s barely a hint of the bulb most home cooks today swear by.輕輕翻遍20世紀50年代的菜譜書，你就能明白英國為何會以食物單調聞名世界——儘是些胡蘿蔔煮豬排和花菜。園藝香草們慢慢開始走上餐桌——用蒔蘿之類調和出更溫和的風味，用百裡香給予肉類更精細的味道——但是我發誓基本見不到這種現在絕大多數家庭都會用於烹飪的球莖。It was making appearances in some circles a decade later though, and not just in London’s French restaurants. Day remembers the fake salamis that became popular in the 1960s: 「They were so strong with garlic but they weren’t real salamis – not as we know them now,」 he recalls. 「At first, most people were rude about garlic, and then, after the war – as more people began to travel – it gradually became more popular.」儘管在十年之後，除了倫敦的法國菜館，某些圈子裡也出現了大蒜的身影。戴記得在20世紀60年代的時候山寨義大利蒜味香腸大為流行。「它們有著很衝的大蒜味，但是他們不是真正的義大利蒜味香腸——不是我們現在所知的這樣。」他回憶說，「一開起，大部分人很抵制這些香腸，但是戰爭過後——因為很多人開始旅行了——它們就慢慢地變得受歡迎了起來。」Fast forward and it is being used more than ever – even in sweets. Paul A Young, one of Britain’s master chocolatiers, developed a caramelised garlic chocolate for Halloween in 2014: the clove is roasted and combined with a ganache. And it is celebrated for more than just it’s heady aroma and taste. Arnaud Stevens, chef at Sixtyone thinks that garlic has become more popular in the UK because we』ve become more health conscious than ever. 「Garlic supposedly lowers cholesterol, is great for blood pressure and strengthens the arteries.」 (Some studies have indeed suggested that it may lower cholesterol, although other health benefits are disputed.)讓我們把時間快進到現在，大蒜被前所未有的廣泛應用——甚至在甜品中。保羅∙A∙楊是一位英國的巧克力製作大師，他把烤制過的丁香和甜巧克力混合在一起，為2014年的萬聖節創造出了一種熔狀的大蒜巧克力。它也不僅僅因為衝腦的強烈香味而著稱。「六十一餐廳」的主廚阿摩德∙史蒂芬認為，大蒜在英國的待遇上升和我們比以前更加關住健康問題也有關。「大蒜被認為能降低膽固醇含量，對舒緩血壓和增強動脈都有好處。」（有一些研究已經證明大蒜可以降低膽固醇，不過還有一些健康福利機構質疑這種觀點。）Fergus Henderson remembers well how 「the British literally woke up and smelt the garlic. Gone are the days of Carry On films with Sid James as Henry VIII complaining of his French wife Katherine of Aragon smelling of garlic.」 As Henderson has it, 「now, the musk of garlic on the breath is the musk of a good lunch.」 And that’s something we can all agree on.佛格斯∙亨德孫很清楚地記得 「英國文學覺醒過來，輕嗅大蒜。像「來吧」系列電影[1]裡希德∙詹姆斯所演的亨利八世那樣抱怨他的法國妻子阿拉貢的凱薩琳[2]聞起來一股大蒜味的日子都過去了。」如亨德孫指出的，「現在，呼吸中的大蒜香味就代表著一頓美味的午餐。」而這是我們都會贊同的一句話。
*註解：
[1]Carry on 系列，英國的系列喜劇片。
[2]阿拉貢的凱薩琳其實是西班牙公主……不知道原文中為什麼說是法國妻子。