民以食為天

       

      讀完下麵這首有關中餐的打油詩，作為中國人，你覺得被冒犯了嗎？還是覺得中國土地富饒人口眾多？抑或是中國人的太多精力和創造力放在了吃上，畢竟民以食為天？就是有趣的打油詩那麽簡單？
先介紹一下作者Calvin Trillin，自1963年起就是紐約客的常年撰稿人，內容包括幽默段子和紀實等廣泛題材。當然他也是許多其它雜誌的投稿人。他出版了18本書(有小說有紀實有專欄文集)，很多書是暢銷書。Calvin Trillin 寫過不少關於吃的文章，而且也很好中餐。
Have They Run Out of Provinces Yet?
BY CALVIN TRILLIN

 Have they run out of provinces yet?
If they haven’t, we’ve reason to fret.
Long ago, there was just Cantonese.
(Long ago, we were easy to please.)
But then food from Szechuan came our way,
Making Cantonese strictly passé.
Szechuanese was the song that we sung,
Though the ma po could burn through your tongue.
Then when Shanghainese got in the loop
We slurped dumplings whose insides were soup.
Then Hunan, the birth province of Mao,
Came along with its own style of chow.
So we thought we were finished, and then
A new province arrived: Fukien.
Then respect was a fraction of meagre
For those eaters who’d not eaten Uighur.
And then Xi’an from Shaanxi gained fame,
Plus some others—too many to name.
 Now, as each brand-new province appears,
It brings tension, increasing our fears:
Could a place we extolled as a find
Be revealed as one province behind?
So we sometimes do miss, I confess,
Simple days of chow mein but no stress,
When we never were faced with the threat
Of more provinces we hadn’t met.
Is there one tucked away near Tibet?
Have they run out of provinces yet? 

中文版：
他們的省份到底有完沒完？
沒完我們就會很煩。
很久以前隻有廣東餐，
(很久以前我們很容易意足心滿)。
但是後來來了個四川，
搞得廣東菜成了舊歡。
四川菜是我們的新寵，
雖然麻婆豆腐會把你的舌頭辣穿。
然後冒出來個上海菜，
啜小籠湯包得把腮幫鼓圓。
再然後是毛的家鄉湖南，
又是一種獨特的佳饌。
我們以為差不多了，然後
又來個新省叫福建。
再之後沒吃過維吾爾菜的人，
就不怎麽遭人待見。
然後聲名鵲起的是陝西的西安，
還有其他的省份－太多了數不完。
現在每當新的省份出現，
都會帶給我們緊張和不安： 
每次我們發現一個新的地方，
背後是否都有一個新省遮掩？
所以我承認有時候我們會懷念，
那些隻有炒麵而沒緊張的簡單，
那時我們不需麵對新的威脅，
不需和沒見過的省份打個照麵。
西藏附近是否還藏著個省份？
他們的省份到底有完沒完？