上圖：一些人認為，聞麵包有助於吸收酒精和抵消伏特加的味道。
「Somebody in Bristol started making a vodka called Novichok,」 said our host, Natasha Ward, faux-scandalised at the reference to the toxic nerve agent. 「And they were immediately told, 『Stop it at once!』」 She laughed as she finished setting the table for the day’s gathering in her home in South London, introducing the dishes as one might introduce guests at a party. 「We start with herring, salted, not pickled – English people hate beetroot because they』ve only ever met it in this horrible vinegar, and those rollmop herrings that look like corpses, you know?」
Note: For decades, scientists, spies and chemical weapons specialists have known about and feared Novichok. It is a potent neurotoxin, developed in the Soviet Union and Russia in the 1980s and 90s, that can be delivered as a liquid, powder or aerosol, and is said to be more lethal than nerve agents that are better known in the West, like VX and sarin. Well last year The Charité hospital in Berlin, where Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s opposition leader, was in a medically induced coma. The German government said he had been poisoned with a deadly nerve agent from the Novichok family.
沃德是在不同文化之間遊走的高手。她有一半俄羅斯、一半英國血統，曾為不同的機構和人士做過翻譯，包括聯合國的機構、美國好萊塢巨星安吉莉娜‧朱莉（Angelina Jolie）和戈巴契夫（Mikhail Gorbachev）在內。今天，她的任務是向我們解釋俄羅斯人為什麼會在喝伏特加的時候，必定嗅聞麵包。這個任務可能不如她之前的工作那麼耀眼，但在一個文化洞察力極度缺乏的時代，這的確為我們提供了一個了解俄羅斯人真實生活情況的窗口。
Ward is a master of moving between cultures. She’s half-Russian, half-English, and has worked as an interpreter for such diverse parties as the United Nations, Angelina Jolie and Mikhail Gorbachev. Today’s task – explaining exactly why Russian people might sniff bread while drinking vodka – may not be quite so starry, but it does offer a portal into the realities of Russian life at a time when sympathetic cultural insight is sorely lacking.
在不深入實際的膚淺觀察人士看來，目前俄羅斯與西方的關係，似乎如漫畫裡所誇張的一樣寒冷。最近有關俄羅斯和美國退出核武器條約，以及英國索爾茲伯裡（Salisbury）的神經毒劑中毒事件等新聞報導，帶來的不僅僅是一絲冷戰的寒意。
當然，2018年俄羅斯世界盃是個例外。
To armchair observers, relations between Russia and the West currently seem cartoonishly chilly; there was more than a touch of Cold War frost to recent news reports about the Russian and American withdrawal from a nuclear weapons treaty, the Salisbury nerve agent poisonings in the UK and, of course, the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
「俄羅斯隊最後輸了的時候，我們都很高興耶，✌️」 安娜·伊萬諾夫（Anna Ivanov）說。丈夫米沙（Misha）則在一旁聳了聳肩，他們的女兒海倫娜·貝利斯（Helena Baylis）是沃德最好的朋友。當20年前貝利斯遠嫁英國時，把父母一塊接過來，從俄羅斯移民到了英國。「俄羅斯隊贏球的時候，天知道媒體吹了多少牛，嘴巴沒停過！」
「We were happy when the Russian football team finally lost,」 said Anna Ivanov, while her husband Misha shrugged. Anna and Misha are the parents of Ward’s best friend, Helena Bayliss, and the couple moved here from Russia 20 years ago when their daughter married an Englishman. 「When the team were winning, there was so much hot air in everything the media said. The mouth didn’t shut for a moment!」
「好了啦，」 沃德說，「我們先喝哪種伏特加？」
「Now,」 Ward said, 「which vodka shall we start with?」
最終的選擇令人印象深刻，倒也順理成章，俄羅斯畢竟誕生了化學家門捷列夫（Dmitri Mendeleev）。門捷列夫不僅發明了元素周期表，據說還完善了伏特加的配方，將其酒精度嚴格限定為40度（此說法流傳甚廣，是一個有趣的迷思）。因此，沃德拿出了用辣椒、純俄羅斯伏特加、好萊塢演員艾克羅伊德（Dan Aykroyd）在紐芬蘭打造的伏特加，加上自製檸檬伏特加調製的烈性珀特索伏卡伏特加（pertsovka vodka）。沃德實事求是地說，「這其實是一種醫用酒精，酒精度95度，然後按一比一的比例兌水，再加入檸檬。」 換句話說，這就是私釀酒？
「當然不是，如果是私釀酒，我們得有蒸餾器。」 貝利斯大笑起來。「娜塔莎，你讓我失望咯！」
The choice was impressive, as it should be. Russia, after all, is the birthplace of the chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, who created the Periodic Table and is also said to have perfected the recipe for vodka as strictly 40% proof (a popular myth but a fun story). Accordingly, Ward offered fiery pertsovka vodka made with chillies, plain Russian vodka, vodka made in Newfoundland as part of a new venture by Hollywood actor Dan Aykroyd and homemade limonaya (lemon) vodka. 「This is actually medical alcohol which is 95% proof,」 said Ward matter-of-factly, 「which you then water down, half and half, and add lemon.」 Moonshine, in other words? 「No, if it was moonshine we』d have to have a still.」 Bayliss started laughing. 「Natasha, you disappoint!」
我們這一小群人聚在一起有兩個原因：一：為了享受快樂時光，二：搞清楚俄羅斯人喝伏特加的習俗，即相聚飲酒時以禮儀的名義嗅聞麵包這個由來已久的傳統。
Our little company was assembled for two reasons: firstly, to have a convivial time; and secondly, to get the bottom of the Russian vodka ritual – a time-honoured tradition that has social drinkers sniffing bread in the name of propriety.
首先，從冰箱裡取出伏特加和玻璃杯，貝利斯簡單介紹了喝伏特加的要領，當然是俄羅斯式的。她說，「伏特加得是冰涼的，酒杯得用小杯子。然後，喝完酒一定要吃鹹的東西，或者黑麥麵包。喝完伏特加後吃奶油泡芙是沒有意義的，沒用。」 沃德補充說道，「或者什麼都不吃。但願不會出現這樣的情況！」
To begin, both the vodka and the glasses were retrieved from the freezer, and Bayliss outlined the essentials for drinking vodka, Russian-style. 「Vodka should be cold, glass should be tiny and there must be something salty, or rye bread, to follow,」 she said. 「There’s no point in drinking vodka and following it with an eclair, it doesn’t work」. 「Or,」 added Ward, 「God forbid, following it with nothing!」
冰點伏特加，讓人想都不用想，仰脖一飲而盡，冰涼的酒更為潤喉。貝利斯說，「喝伏特加不存在小口抿，慢慢品味。」 為什麼人們要喝伏特加？她的母親笑了。「哎呀，是喝下去之後🔥燒的感覺啊，強烈的滿足感！」
The freezing temperature of the drink is a no-brainer; it sends the shot down the throat more comfortably. 「It’s not something you sip and savour,」 Bayliss said. So why do people drink it? Her mother laughed. 「Well, the afterwards, the glow!」
實際上，我正是在這種強烈的滿足感中，第一次見到俄羅斯人飲酒時聞麵包。沃德的女兒瑪莎（Marsha） 是我最好的朋友。十幾歲時，瑪莎和我都很任性，但我們非常喜歡參加她母親去俄羅斯出差回來後舉辦的聚會。我們會看著沃德和客人們開懷大笑、講奇聞異事，最重要的是，暢快地喝下伏特加後馬上大吃零食。客人的胃得到充分滿足，但仍然不斷相互祝酒，他們會在喝下伏特加後快速聞一下麵包，而不是把麵包吃掉哦。看到此場面，我們都頗為吃驚。
The glow, in fact, is how I first encountered the Russian bread-sniffing ritual. Ward is the mother of my best friend Marsha, and as wayward teenagers, Marsha and I were more than happy to sit in on the gatherings her mother held following her work trips to Russia, the table heaving with exotic booze, salty pickles and black bread. We would watch Ward and her guests laughing, telling tall tales and – crucially – munching on snacks immediately after knocking back shots of vodka. When the guests』 appetite had been amply satisfied – but the toasting continued – they would give the bread a quick sniff after downing their vodka shot, in place of eating it. We were transfixed.
二十年後，我又看到了這個場面，這次是在黃金時段的電視節目上。在Netflix的電視劇《紙牌屋》（House of Cards）的其中一集裡，俄羅斯總統在和美國總統共進晚餐時，演示了如何像俄羅斯人一樣喝伏特加，包括聞麵包在內的所有要素。在電視上，這是一個複雜、戲劇化的過程，而且不一定準確（沃德尖叫著說，「你不會那麼對貴賓的！」），但聞麵包用力吸氣的動作很明顯。評論此集電視劇的文章稱，聞麵包是為了吸收酒精和抵消伏特加的味道，而俄羅斯鹹菜，就像沃德餐桌上那些鹹菜一樣，其中的鹽和酸有助於中和酒精。
Two decades later I saw the ritual again, this time on primetime television. In an episode of Netflix series House of Cards, the Russian president dines with the US president, and he demonstrates how to drink vodka like a Russian – with sniffs and all. It’s a complicated, theatrical process on the TV show, and not necessarily accurate (「You wouldn’t do that with a posh guest!」 Ward exclaimed), but the sharp inhalation is clearly there. Articles were written in response to the episode, suggesting that bread is sniffed to soak up the alcohol and offset the taste of the vodka, while the salt and acid in Russian pickles – like the ones on Ward’s table – help neutralise the alcohol.
但據沃德和她的朋友稱，聞麵包這種酒禮，不僅能起到藥物的效果，還有社交作用。喝完酒後吃麵包或聞麵包，表明你猛灌伏特加不是為了喝醉。貝利斯說，「如果喝完伏特加後，沒有東西可吃，比如鹹麵包或鯡魚，魚子醬更好，那就聞聞麵包，這是象徵性的。」
But according to Ward and her friends, the ritual is not merely medicinal, it also serves a social function; by eating or sniffing bread after the shot, you’re demonstrating that you’re not just knocking back vodka to get drunk. 「If you don’t have something to chase the vodka with, like a piece of salty bread or some herring, or, even better, caviar, then you do the sniffing,」 Bayliss said. 「It’s symbolic.」
沃德表示同意：「只有在窮得買不起合適的食物時，才會聞麵包。」 當然，還有太飽了的時候。如果聚會上麵包很少，人們會在一桌人之間傳遞麵包，這樣每個客人都能聞到。
Ward agreed: 「The sniffing only happens if you’re too poor to have proper food.」 Or, of course, too full. Indeed, if you only had a small amount of bread at a gathering, you』d pass it around the table so that each guest could smell the bread in turn.
上圖：貝利斯說：「伏特加得是冰涼的，酒杯要用小杯子，喝完酒一定要吃鹹的東西」。
如果根本沒有麵包呢？「那就聞自己的衣袖！」
And if you don’t have any bread at all? 「You sniff your sleeve!」
於是，我們喝下了這次聚會的第一杯伏特加：米沙發表了一通優美的祝酒詞，冰冷的伏特加喝下肚，口感順滑，接著我們咬下一大口黑麵包和黃油。幾杯酒下肚後，每個人都興高採烈地撕下一塊麵包，然後使勁地聞。
Accordingly, we took the first shot of the party: Misha made a gracious toast, the ice-cold vodka slipped down smoothly and we followed it with a big bite of black bread and butter. Several drinks later, and quite merry, we each tore off a piece of bread and gave it a good sniff.
社交活動
隨後，就是關於俄羅斯人怎么喝伏特加。這可是有嚴格規矩的。但同樣重要的是人們為什麼要喝伏特加。在俄羅斯，這是極具社交屬性的活動。俄羅斯的聚會是圍著桌子暢飲笑談，喝酒應該是一種集體活動，而不是個人娛樂。聚會上的零食是用來分享的，必須自己主動，而不是等著別人拿給你。沃德甚至講了一個真實性存疑的俄羅斯故事，是關於兩個美國間諜喝伏特加的。他們因為沒有一邊喝酒一邊吃零食，而暴露了自己的身份。
There are firm rules, then, regarding how one drinks vodka in Russia. But equally important is why one drinks vodka. In Russia, it’s a supremely social activity; Russian parties take place around the table, and drinking should be a group activity, never a private pleasure. The zakuski (snacks) are there to be shared, and you must help yourself, not wait to be offered. Ward even shared an apocryphal Russian story about two American spies drinking vodka; their cover was blown by the fact that they were not chomping zakuski as they drank.
然後是祝酒這個行為。談到祝酒的重要性，米沙情緒高漲，強調祝酒的意義。他說，「要喝酒，就得說點什麼！不像（在英國），每個人都坐在自己的角落裡獨酌。我們歡聚一堂！所以需要說一些話給在場的每一個人。向大家祝酒會讓人感覺彼此是團結相連。」
Then there’s the act of toasting itself. Misha was animated and emphatic about its significance. 「If you drink, you need to say something!」 he said. 「It’s not like [in England], where everybody sits in his corner. We are together! So there needs to be something for everybody. It helps people to feel that they’re united.」
在前蘇聯加盟共和國喬治亞，祝酒要精心設計，甚至可能會為了特殊的目的而聘請職業祝酒人。
相比之下，俄羅斯的祝酒很簡單，至少他們認為是簡單的。
那天，為我們的聚會、為桌上美麗的女士們、為英女王的健康，頻頻熱情舉杯。米沙帶頭祝酒，每個人都跟著發出一聲由衷的 「Poyekhali！」（乾杯！）。這句話是被蘇聯太空人加林（Yuri Gagarin）帶火的。1961年，他在自己駕駛的宇宙飛船起飛時喊的就是這句話。
In the former Soviet republic of Georgia, toasts are such elaborate affairs that professional toasters may be hired for special functions. Russian toasts, by contrast, are simple – at least, that’s the idea. That day, enthusiastic toasts were made for our meeting together, for the beautiful women at the table and to the health of the Queen. Misha led the toasts and everyone followed with a hearty 『Poyekhali!』 (『Let’s go!』), as popularised by the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who exclaimed it when his spacecraft took off in 1961.
顯然，俄羅斯人對伏特加這種酒，有著深厚的感情。連其名都很令人感到親切：「voda」 的意思是水，其暱稱 「vodka」 翻譯過來就是 「小水」 的意思。但在俄羅斯，喝伏特加也有黑暗面。歷史上，酗酒在俄羅斯很普遍，伏特加（或者任何你能弄到的不管什麼酒）能讓人逃避日常生活的艱辛。沃德說。「蘇聯時代的酗酒情況，呵呵，可能糟透了。」
Clearly, Russians have a deep affection for vodka. Even the name of the drink is endearing – 『voda』 means water, and 『vodka』, its diminutive, translates to 『little water』. But there is a dark side to drinking vodka in Russia, too. Historically, alcoholism has been rife in Russia, and vodka (or whatever you could get your hands on) offered an escape from the harshness of everyday life. 「It could be such hell in the Soviet Union,」 Ward said.
確實，在貝利斯嫁給一個英國人，然後米沙和安娜來英國和她團聚之前，米沙從事的 「機密」 工作意味著他不能離開俄羅斯。米沙談到他們在蘇聯時代的俄羅斯生活時說，「我們習慣了這種生活方式，不過當然這不是正常的生活。我們經常聽BBC、美國之音，我們知道有不一樣的生活方式。但是，你生在那裡，所以你知道自己哪兒都去不了。」 安娜點頭表示同意。「就像做不可能的夢一樣。」
Indeed, before Bayliss married an Englishman and Misha and Anna moved to the UK to join her, Misha’s 『classified』 job meant that he couldn’t leave the country. 「We were accustomed to this way of life, but of course it wasn’t normal,」 said Misha, of their life in Soviet-era Russia. 「We regularly listened to the BBC, Voice of America, and we know there is a different life. But, you’re born in this, so you know you can’t go anywhere.」 Anna nodded in agreement. 「That was like dreaming of the impossible.」
他們夫婦兩講述了一些蘇聯時代，人民貧困和政黨特權的故事，既不誇張也不自悲自憐。安娜說，「有些東西能弄到，有些弄不到。需要買東西？你會發現蘇聯共黨的本事。去商店買不到任何鞋子，但卻有一個專門為黨和克格勃（KGB）大佬服務的部門。」
儘管留下了這些不快的回憶，但那天我們在餐桌上也分享到他們對俄羅斯傳統的巨大熱情，從敬酒行為到講古老的俄羅斯故事和笑話。
The Ivanovs recounted stories of privation and party privilege without so much as a shred of drama or self-pity. 「You had access to things, or didn’t have access,」 Anna said. 「You need to go and pay for something? You find a party function. You go to the shop and you can’t buy any shoes, but there is a special department for party bosses and KGB bosses.」 But despite these memories, there was a great warmth to the Russian traditions we shared at the table that day, from the act of toasting to recounting old Russian stories and jokes.
沃德說，「有客人帶了沙丁魚來赴宴， 當女主人打開時，發現沙丁魚已經過期不能吃了。帶沙丁魚來的那位客人說：『抱歉你誤會了，那不是用來吃的，是用來送人的！』」
「Somebody brought sardines to dinner,」 Ward said, 「and when the hostess opened them they were so old that they were no longer edible. And the person who brought them said, 『I’m so sorry you misunderstood – those weren’t eating sardines, those were gifting sardines!』」
該進行下一輪祝酒了。米沙現在已經習慣站著發言了，這些話是說給不在場的朋友的。我們大口喝伏特加，大塊吃麵包，用叉子吃鹹魚。桌上的每個人都喝得面頰緋紅，心滿意足。
夜幕降臨時，米沙淡然地說：「伏特加就像一把刀。不好，也不壞。你可以用刀做任何事情。切肉，切麵包，特製的刀還可以做手術。刀也可以殺人，但不能該怪罪於刀。」
It was time for another toast, and Misha had now taken to standing to deliver his words – these ones to absent friends. The vodka was knocked back, chunks of bread were seized and forks were plunged into salty fish. Everyone around the table was pink-cheeked and satisfied. As the afternoon melted into evening, Misha observed, stoically, 「Vodka is like a knife. It’s not good, it’s not bad. You can do anything with a knife. Cut meat, cut bread – with a special knife you can make operation. But another knife can kill a person; the knife is not to be blamed.」
他略頓了頓後說，「同樣，我們也不能怪罪於伏特加。飲酒，不能以好壞而論。如你知道這一點，就一通百通了。」
He paused. 「So, the same with vodka. It’s a drink, it’s not bad, it’s not good. If you know, you know. Everything is okay.」
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