【我們的醬油】
文/天玉之
中美混血的兒子捧著一碗白米飯 問
為什麽西班牙人的米飯 美國人的米飯
都有各種味道 而中國人愛吃白米飯?
我說:我們有醬油拌飯。已經吃了三千年多年了
五六十年代 三年大饑荒時
正在醫學院讀書的母親 以醬油加水充饑
文革時 母親因出身不好 遭到捆綁批鬥
同事抱著繈褓中的我 以醬油水替代母乳 喂我
七八十年代 妹妹與我中學放學後
最喜歡的零食 便是醬油和芝麻香油拌米飯
就像美國人餓了 吃一碗 cereal 一樣
隻是 我們的牛奶和肉 都是限量配給 稀缺的
現在 我們可以成桶地購買牛奶 雞蛋 和醬油了
而且還擁有許多別的東西:房產 股票 和選舉權
隻吃醬油加水的日子 大概
永遠不會再來了。但願。
【Chinese Soy Sauce】
By Tian Yu Zhi
My half Chinese half American son asked me,
holding a bowl of white rice
why Spanish rice, American rice
are all flavored, but Chinese like to eat plain white rice?
I answered: we have soy sauce. We have been eating it
for more than three thousand years
During the Great Chinese Famine*
in the 1950s and 1960s
my mother, studying in medical school
added soy sauce to water to satisfy her hunger
During the Cultural Revolution*, my mother was taken away
denounced and beaten in public
only because she came from a family of landlords
her colleague fed me, a new born infant
using soy sauce water to replace breast milk
In the 1970s and 1980s
my sister and I attended middle school
our favorite after school snack was
a bowl of rice mixed with soy sauce and sesame oil
much like Americans eat a bowl of cereal
only that milk and meat were all rationed and scarce for us
Now we are able to buy milk, eggs, and soy sauce
in buckets; and own many other things ——
houses, stocks, and voting rights
the days when we only eat soy sauce water for dinner
may never be back again. I hope.
2021.1.8
* The Great Chinese Famine (1958-1962)is widely regarded as the deadliest famine and one of the greatest man-made disasters in human history, with an estimated death toll due to starvation that ranges in the tens of millions (15-55 millions+) (from Wikipedia)
* The Culture Revolution (1966-1976), estimates of the death toll in Cultural Revolution, including civilians and Red Guards, vary greatly, ranging from hundreds of thousands to 20 million (from Wikipedia)