臺灣美食:「不臭不好吃」的臺灣臭豆腐 Taipei's tasty ＂House of Stink＂.

       周末到了，「思辯」 也來點輕松的旅遊內容，盡管今年不得不忍痛放棄 「深度遊」，但我們以文代替，先了解文化，明年再走起不遲！也別忘了，我們的 「大人基礎英語會話」 課程，包含實用主題：旅遊英語。

引讀：myWay大人的基礎英文會話 ｜myWay Elementary

      在臺北高檔的信義區，正準備橫穿馬路，一股刺鼻的腐臭撲面而來。戴記獨臭之家想必就在附近了，這是臺灣首都最受歡迎也最難聞的餐廳之一。

I was about to cross the road in Taipei’s upscale Xinyi District when a pungent and rotten stench smacked me in the face. That’s how I knew I was getting close to Dai’s House of Stinky Tofu, one of the Taiwanese capital’s most popular and putrid-smelling restaurants.

上圖：「戴記獨臭之家」 臭豆腐；Above：DAI'S HOUSE OF STINKY TOFU

       現年70多歲的吳許碧瑛打理這間家族餐廳已近30年。她利用父母傳下來的秘密發酵工藝，創造了10種臭豆腐：一種深受民眾喜愛的臺灣美食，含有活菌，經常被稱為臺灣的國民小吃。臭豆腐散發著濃烈的腐臭，隔得老遠就能讓人聞到一股像是餿掉的牛奶或者腐爛垃圾的氣味。喜歡它也好，討厭它也好，這些經過調味和切塊的發酵厚豆腐塊帶有一種獨特的變質味道，成為了臺灣街頭美食的象徵。

For nearly 30 years, Wu Hsu Pi-ying, now in her 70s, has been running the family business at Dai’s, using a secret fermenting process passed down by her parents to create 10 varieties of stinky tofu, a beloved Taiwanese dish that’s full of live bacteria. Often referred to as the national snack food of Taiwan, stinky tofu gives off a putrid odour that’s so intense, it engulfs its surroundings in a foul-smelling funk that’s reminiscent of sour milk and rotting garbage. Love it or loathe it, these spiced and sliced fermented slabs pack a uniquely spoiled taste that’s all their own, and have come to symbolise Taiwanese street food.

       店裡只有幾張桌子，四名和尚圍坐在其中一張桌子，正在享用泛著綠色的臭豆腐。牆上一幅鑲了框的書法宣傳臭豆腐有益於健康，貼在牆上的圖片展示的是該店必嘗的各款臭豆腐，或油炸或清蒸或做成麻辣湯，價格從20元到100元新臺幣不等。

Inside the restaurant, I saw four Buddhist monks munching on cut slabs of the glistening green dish at one of the joint’s few tables. Framed calligraphy signs in Mandarin characters highlighted stinky tofu’s health benefits, while images of menu items tacked to the wall showed the eatery’s stinky star served deep-fried, steamed or in a spicy soup, with prices ranging from NT$20 to NT$100 (about 50p to £2.50).

上圖：在戴記獨臭之家，吳許碧瑛的臭豆腐採用的是有60年歷史的祖傳秘方。Above: Wu Hsu Pi-ying uses a secret, 60-year-old family recipe to ferment each slab of her stinky tofu at Dai's.

       一個身穿紅色夾克、身型瘦小、說話輕聲細語的女人，正在餐廳後面的發酵室與兒子兒媳婦一道工作。她感覺到我的猶豫，即從後邊出來，走到我的桌邊。笑著說：「我們開業30年，從來沒有客人吃我家的臭豆腐會吐的。」

Sensing my hesitation, a slight and softly spoken woman in a red jacket came out of the restaurant’s back fermentation room, where she was working alongside her son and daughter-in-law, and approached my table. 「We have opened for 30 years,」 she said, smiling. 「No guest has ever thrown up (from eating my stinky tofu).」

上圖：Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern 是美國旅遊頻道相當受歡迎的節目，他節目好看就好看在主持人Andrew Zimmern，總是能吞下各種不可思議的食物，但令人百思不解的是，連生豬肉都吃得津津有味的他，竟然在節目一開始，就把臭豆腐夾牛肚這道菜給吐了出來！我的天啊！一個敢吃貓腦、生吞蟲子的人，竟然不敢吃臺灣的臭豆腐，不可思議、不可思議，太不可思議了！不過後來我發現，Andrew Zimmer到泰國時，也不吃榴槤。或許對他來說，食物的外型不是最大致命點，是他對有臭味的食物都很抗拒吧！

節目中提到了一句很有意義的話：要融入當地的文化，就要先了解當地的食物。這句話我覺得說得很棒！或許在我們大叫噁心恐怖的時候，這卻是當是人最傳統的美食。就像豬血糕跟大腸一樣，在外國人眼中也是多麼不可思議的食物！學習尊重他人文化，也是這節目的另一個教育意義。

Above: A four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer and teacher, Andrew Zimmern is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable personalities in the food world. In 2020, Andrew returns to television with two new programs. What’s Eating America premiered on MSNBC in February and Family Dinner, currently in production, will air on the forthcoming Magnolia Network. As the creator, executive producer and host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods franchise, Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food and The Zimmern List, he has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance and understanding through food.

        雖然這番話稍稍讓人寬下心來，但我還是不禁想起美國電視節目主持人齊默恩（Andrew Zimmern），他在自己的節目《古怪食物》（Bizarre Foods）中跑遍世界，品嘗最奇怪、最噁心的食物。他來到戴記獨臭之家，點了一個牛肚臭豆腐漢堡，最後還是把食物吐在了餐巾紙裡，說：「這個我沒辦法……太可怕了。」

While slightly reassuring, I couldn’t help but think about American TV host Andrew Zimmern, who criss-crosses the globe to taste the world’s strangest and most disgusting dishes in his show Bizarre Foods. After stopping at Dai’s to order a cooked cow stomach hamburger in a fried stinky tofu bun, Zimmern spat the food into his napkin, saying, 「I can’t do it… that is absolutely horrifying.」

       我選擇了用蘑菇、胡椒和辣椒做的麻辣臭豆腐湯，慢慢地，把一匙又臭又油的湯汁送到嘴邊。

I settled on the málà (spicy) stinky tofu soup, made with mushrooms, peppercorn and chillies, and slowly lifted a spoonful of the fetid, oily broth towards my mouth.

上圖：臭豆腐經常被稱為臺灣的國民小吃。Above:  Stinky tofu is often referred to as the national snack food of Taiwan.

       根據傳說，臭豆腐是幾百年前在中國偶然發明的，當時一個艱難謀生的豆腐商販，打開了裝著幾天前沒賣完的豆腐的容器，發現豆腐和豆漿的混合物已經開始發酵。這個豆腐商隨後鼓起勇氣，嘗了一口這種臭氣燻天的綠色混合物，味道居然相當不錯。他忙不迭地開始銷售這種發酵食品，這個帶臭味的小吃大受歡迎，甚至連慈禧太后都把臭豆腐列入了貢品清單。

According to legend, stinky tofu was accidentally invented in China hundreds of years ago when a struggling tofu merchant opened his container of unsold goods after several days to discover that his bean curd and soy milk mixture had started to ferment. At some point, the merchant built up the courage to bite into the rancid, green-hued concoction and realised it was quite tasty. He quickly started selling the fermenting food, and the stinky snack became so popular that China’s Empress Dowager Cixi added it to the list of imperial foods served at her Qing Dynasty palace.

       食物是在國共內戰之後傳入臺灣。1949年，有大約200萬人跟隨國民黨領導人蔣介石逃到臺灣。根據《臺灣美食：來自美麗島的食譜》（The Food of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island）一書的作者厄韋（Cathy Erway）的說法，亞洲各地，有各種形式的臭豆腐，但最受歡迎的就是臺灣。在臺灣的夜市，賣臭豆腐的小販在室外推車上對臭豆腐做油炸、醃製處理，並用各種佐料來調味。

The dish arrived in Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War, when some two million people followed Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek in 1949 as he fled to the island after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communist government. According to Cathy Erway, author of The Food of Taiwan: Recipes from the Beautiful Island, stinky tofu now exists in various forms across Asia, but nowhere else is it more beloved than in Taiwan, where vendors deep-fry it, pickle it and enhance it with different flavours at small outdoor carts at the island's night markets.

上圖: 臺灣美食對我們來說，早已熟到不能再熟，但本書將給您不同的觀點，讓您重新看待我們日常生活中的食物。跟著知名美食作家 Cathy Erway的腳步，帶你認識關於臺灣美食的大小事，從大家熟悉的家常菜，到街上常見的傳統攤販，包括刈包、三杯雞、牛肉湯和菜脯蛋等等，超過100道食譜盡收其中。如果您有外國朋友對臺灣食物感興趣，本書將是您送禮的最佳選擇。

Above: While certain dishes from Taiwan are immensely popular, like steamed buns and bubble tea, the cuisine still remains relatively unknown in western. In The Food of Taiwan, Taiwanese-American Cathy Erway, the acclaimed blogger and author of The Art of Eating In, gives readers an insider’s look at Taiwanese cooking with almost 100 recipes for both home-style dishes and street food. Recipes range from the familiar, such as Pork Belly Buns, Three Cup Chicken, and Beef Noodle Soup, to the exotic, like the Stuffed Bitter Melon, Oyster Noodle Soup, and Dried Radish Omelet. Tantalizing food photographs intersperse with beautiful shots of Taiwan’s coasts, mountains, and farms and gritty photos of bustling city scenes, making this book just as enticing to flip through as it is to cook from.

       厄韋說：「為了吸引客人到自己的攤位，（他們）必須想出一些非常聳人聽聞的東西。得是與眾不同的東西才行。」

「（In）trying to lure people to come to their stand, （they had） to come up with something really sensational,」 Erway said. 「It’s something that really stands out in the crowd.」

       今天，在臺灣各地，臭豆腐仍然主要是街頭小吃，跟臺灣的牛肉麵和各地的街頭夜市齊名。當我前往臺北最大、最著名的夜市之一：臺北士林夜市時，我看到（也聞到）的臭豆腐有烤的、有燒的、有蒸的、有竹籤串起來的，還有加泡菜的臭豆腐。

Today, stinky tofu is still primarily a street food throughout Taiwan, where it’s as synonymous with the country’s outdoor night markets as beef noodle soup. When I visited one of Taipei’s largest and most famous outdoor bazaars, the Shilin Night Market, I saw (and smelled) stalls serving the stuff barbecued, braised, steamed, skewered and fried into chips served with pickled vegetables.

       臺北動物園東邊的深坑老街，整條街都在賣臭豆腐，小販們把臭豆腐裝在盒子裡賣，放在麻辣湯底裡煮，甚至還有臭豆腐冰淇淋。雖然有些餐館賣鴨血臭豆腐或者把臭豆腐作為配菜，但戴記獨臭之家是少數幾家專賣臭豆腐的餐館之一，每道菜品都圍繞著臭豆腐做文章。

East of Taipei Zoo, Shenkeng Old Street is an entire boulevard dedicated to the dish, with hawkers selling it boxed, boiled in a spicy soup and even as a flavour of ice cream. While certain restaurants may serve stinky tofu with duck’s blood or as a side item, Dai’s is one of the few restaurants dedicated exclusively to the pungent dish, and it serves as the centrepiece for every menu item.

上圖：臺灣小販有很多辦法來烹製臭豆腐，包括油炸、麻辣湯臭豆腐，甚至還有臭豆腐冰淇淋。Above: Taiwanese hawkers prepare stinky tofu in a variety of ways, including deep fried, in a spicy soup or even as an ice cream flavour.

       近年來，戴記獨臭之家已經成為挑剔的臭豆腐食客的聖地。除了在臺北夜市常見的煎臭豆腐、串起來的臭豆腐和麻辣臭豆腐，這裡還有獨特的涼拌臭豆腐，覆以香脆的海苔酥、蔥花和棕色的調味醬。

In recent years, Dai’s has become something of a mecca for stinky tofu lovers with discerning palates. In addition to the many griddled, skewered and spiced tofus found throughout Taipei’s night markets, Wu also serves a unique cold and raw variety of the versatile dish, topped with crispy seaweed-flavoured batter, spring onions and brown sauce.

       因為越臭越好吃，吳許碧瑛菜單上的每道菜品都有一個臭味等級，從捏著鼻子的麻辣臭豆腐湯（10級）、配泡菜吃的炸臭豆腐（12級）到她家獨創的涼拌臭豆腐（13級）。

And for a dish where the smellier is the better, each of Wu’s menu items comes with an accompanying 『stink score』, ranging from the hold-your-nose Sichuan-style soup (10) to the fried cuts served with pickled cabbage (12) to the cold and raw slabs that she and her family invented (13).

       然後，臭到沒有對手的，當屬她家臭到令人作嘔的15級臭膏，這是一種奶油狀的灰色粘稠狀豆腐膏，經過超長時間的發酵，已經呈腐爛狀。因這種東西功效很強，吳許碧瑛不是賣給客戶吃下肚，而是將這種富含蛋白質的糊狀物作為藥膏出售，幫助人們潤滑緊緻肌膚。

Nothing, however, compares to the gag-inducing smell of Wu’s stinky tofu paste, a creamy, grey goo of tofu that’s been fermented for so long that it’s decomposed. The stuff is so potent that, instead of serving it to customers, Wu only sells the protein-rich paste as an ointment to help smooth and firm people’s skin.

       吳許碧瑛坐在我對面說：「我從小就喜歡吃臭豆腐，而且，不臭我還不愛吃呢。」

「I really love eating stinky tofu since I was little,」 said Wu, sitting across the table from me. 「But also, I would not like it if it is not stinky enough.」

       吳許碧瑛在臺北長大，記得小時候父母在家裡做臭豆腐，然後到街上去賣。她曾加入一個武術表演團，離開臺灣到世界各地表演。後來，回到臺北，用家中60年歷史的臭豆腐秘方，在1989年創辦了戴記獨臭之家（餐館以她繼父的姓命名）。

Growing up in Taipei, Wu remembers her parents making stinky tofu in their home and selling it on the street. An acclaimed martial artist, Wu left Taiwan to tour the world for many years as part of a kung fu performance troupe. She eventually returned to Taipei and used her family’s 60-year-old secret stinky tofu recipe to open Dai’s (named after her stepfather) in 1989.

上圖：戴記獨臭之家。Above: Since 1989, Dai's House of Stinky Tofu has brought one of Taiwan's most famous street foods inside and given it a home.

       今天，戴記獨臭之家仍然是一個家族企業；吳許碧瑛的兒子和兒媳幫她準備菜餚、招待客人，而她的弟弟則負責壓豆腐。不過，這家企業無可爭辯的頭腦和跳動的心臟，還是吳許碧瑛，她掌握著這份家族配方，親手製作每一批特色臭豆腐。

Today, Dai’s is still very much a family business; Wu’s son and daughter-in-law help her prepare the dishes and serve guests, while Wu’s younger brother makes the pressed tofu. Yet, the undisputed brains and beating heart of the business is Wu, who maintains the family recipe and creates each batch of her specialty stink by hand.

       跟所有的發酵食品一樣，做臭豆腐也需要時間。吳許碧瑛從弟弟那裡接過壓制好的豆腐塊，放入餐廳狹小的後屋裡的罐子裡，每個罐子都裝滿了不同的純天然蔬菜和滷水，這些滷水在常溫下已經慢慢發酵了兩年。跟海綿一樣，這些豆腐慢慢地吸收深綠色的混合物，時間長達兩周。豆腐放置的時間越長，吸收的汁液越多，就會越軟越臭。

Like all fermented food, stinky tofu takes time. Once Wu receives the pressed tofu slices from her brother, she dumps the slabs into a series of vats in the restaurant’s cramped back room, each filled with different consistencies of an all-natural vegetable and herb brine that’s been slowly fermenting at room temperature for two years. Like a sponge, the tofu slowly absorbs the dark-green mixture for up to two weeks. The longer the tofu sits, the more it absorbs – and the softer and smellier it becomes.

       「我真的認為，臭豆腐是一種吃慣了才會喜歡的味道。越吃你會越喜歡，就像發酵過程中增強臭豆腐味道的細菌一樣，」《吃臺北》（Taipei Eats）美食之旅的聯合創始人李（Mike Lee）說。「獨特的是那些糊糊，它們不過是發酵產生的細菌。」

「I really think stinky tofu is an acquired taste. It grows on you over time, just like the bacteria that enhances the tofu’s flavour as it’s fermented,」 said Mike Lee, co-founder of Taipei Eats food tours. 「What’s unique is that the batter is just the bacteria that is developed through fermentation.」

       大多數臭豆腐愛好者堅持認為，如果能忍受臭豆腐的氣味，就會發現這種食物聞起來臭但吃起來香，就像某種味道很刺激的發酵奶酪。儘管對於吳許碧瑛和許多臺灣人來說，這種食物最重要的是對人體健康益處多多，據吳許碧瑛說，好處包括助消化、治療感冒症狀等。但這還不是全部。根據最近的一些研究，吃臭豆腐還可以幫助預防骨質疏鬆症，降低患前列腺癌和乳腺癌的風險，並降低膽固醇。

Most stinky tofu aficionados maintain that if you can stomach the stench, the dish tastes far better than it smells – not unlike a sharp, fermented cheese. Though for Wu and many Taiwanese, the most important aspect of the dish is its many health benefits, which, according to Wu, include helping the digestive system and treating cold symptoms. But that’s not all: according to a number of recent studies, eating stinky tofu can also help prevent osteoporosis, lower the risk of prostate and breast cancer, and reduce cholesterol.

       吳許碧瑛說：「有世界各地的人來（這裡）吃（臭豆腐），但如果他們知道我豆腐裡的營養成分，（它）或許還能治好他們的病咧。」

「People from every country come [here] to eat [stinky tofu],」 Wu said. 「But if they could find out the goodness of what is inside my tofu, it may get rid of their illness.」

      說到這裡，吳許碧瑛走進了後面的發酵室，再出來的時候，拿著一罐味道濃烈的臭膏。小小的氣泡升到了泡沫狀綠色混合物的頂部。她把它倒進一個小碟子裡，舀了一勺粘稠的膏狀物，告訴我抹在皮膚上，說可以讓皮膚變得又嫩又滑。

Just then, Wu disappeared into her back fermentation room and emerged with a jar of the potent stinky tofu paste. Tiny bubbles rose to the top of the foamy, green concoction. Tilting it into a small saucer, Wu spooned the thick paste and told me that rubbing it on my skin would help smooth and soften it.

上圖：臭膏可以使得皮膚變得光滑緊緻。ABOVE: Stinky tofu paste can be used to smooth and firm skin.

       她在我的右手食指上沾了一團混合物，示意我擦在左手掌上。有意思的是，我手上的皮膚立刻就感到變得緊實、光滑，但即使洗了8次手，濃烈的臭豆腐氣味還是持續了7個小時。

She dipped a dollop of the mixture on my right index finger and instructed me to rub it on my left palm. Remarkably, the skin on my hand instantly felt firmer and smoother, but even after eight washes, the robust smell of concentrated stinky tofu lingered for more than seven hours afterwards.

       事實上，雖然我點的麻辣臭豆腐湯有醬油湯底和辛辣的調味料，但口感的順滑多過辛辣，而且吃起來比聞起來好太多。豆腐帶出了蘑菇和辣椒的鮮味，雖然臭豆腐味道濃鬱，但湯的味道卻出人意料的清淡。

It turned out that, despite its soy sauce base and piquant pepper flavouring, the málà stinky tofu soup I ordered was more smooth than spicy and smelled much worse than it tasted. The tofu actually helped bring out the freshness of the mushrooms and chilli, and the broth was surprisingly light, given the tofu’s rich thickness.

       其實，我非常喜歡臭豆腐，於是我在臭味級別表上連升三級，點了涼拌臭豆腐。這道菜味道很重，在咬到一口溼漉漉的、果凍狀的東西之前，我幾乎透不過氣來。不過，跟臭豆腐湯一樣，如果你能忍受臭豆腐的味道，涼拌豆腐其實相當美味，讓人想到某種成熟的奶油芝士。

In fact, I liked it so much that I then went up three notches on the stink-o-meter and ordered the cold and raw stinky slabs. The raw stuff packed a punch, and I nearly gagged before biting into the moist, jelly-like pieces. Though, as with the stinky tofu soup, if you can stomach the stench enough to taste it, the raw tofu was actually quite pleasant and reminiscent of a ripe cream cheese.

       吳許碧瑛現在不再每天來到她一手打造的殿堂裡工作，而是把餐廳大部分的日常運營和祖傳秘方都託付給了兒子。正如她的父母把他們的技術傳給她一樣，她也希望兒子能好好守護這個家族的傳統。

Wu no longer works every day at the shrine to stink she built, and now entrusts her son with much of the restaurant’s day-to-day operations and her family’s secret recipe. Just as her parents passed down their technique to her, Wu hopes that her son will keep the family tradition alive.

       我謝過吳女士，走出餐廳，回到臺北夜晚清爽、潔淨的空氣中，我把手伸到鼻子邊，又聞到了臺灣這種臭哄哄的小吃味道。

I thanked Wu and walked out of Dai’s and back into the crisp, clean air of the Taipei night, lifting my hand to my nose to smell Taiwan’s stinky snack once more.

Illustration & Graphic ｜Cheung


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