美食保卫战：法国人的面包复兴运动CNN

Paris Journal
A French Dining Staple Is Losing Its Place at the Table
By ELAINE SCIOLINO August 02, 2013
巴黎日志
美食保卫战：法国人的面包复兴运动
ELAINE SCIOLINO 2013年08月02日
PARIS — The French, it seems, are falling out of love. Not with free health care, or short workweeks, or long vacations in August.
巴黎——法国人似乎不再爱一样东西。不是免费医疗，不是短的工作周，也不是8月的长假。
But with bread.
而是面包。
The average Frenchman these days eats only half a baguette a day compared with almost a whole baguette in 1970 and more than three in 1900. Women, still the main shoppers in most families, eat about a third less than men, and young people almost 30 percent less than a decade ago.
法国人现在平均每天只吃半个长棍面包，1970年他们每天几乎吃一整个，而1900年则要吃掉3个以上。在大多数家庭中，女人仍负责买东西，她们吃的面包比男人要少三分之一。而年轻人对面包的消费比十年前减少了几乎30%。
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Agnes Dherbeys for The New York Times
在巴黎菲利普·勒万的面包店，传统慢加工的面包依然大受欢迎，他说这里的生意现在正处在顶峰。
The decline is so worrisome that [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], the bakers’ and millers’ lobby, started a nationwide campaign in June that champions bread as promoting good health, good conversation and French civilization.
这种下降趋势如此令人担心，以至于面包店和磨坊主游说组织面包观察([要查看本链接请先注册并登录])在6月份开始发起一项全国宣传活动，称面包有益健康、增进交流，还促进法国文明。
“Coucou, tu as pris le pain?” (“Hi there, have you picked up the bread?”) is the campaign’s slogan. Modeled on the American advertising campaign “Got Milk?” the bread slogan was plastered on billboards and inscribed on bread bags in 130 cities around the country.
宣传活动的标语是“嘿！你买面包了吗？”(Coucou, tu as pris le pain?)。他们模仿那个美国的“喝牛奶了吗？”(Got Milk?)的广告活动，把这些面包广告词张贴在全国各地130个城市的广告牌上，印在面包袋上。
“Eating habits are changing,” said Bernard Valluis, a co-president of the lobby. “People are too busy or work too late to go to the bakery. Teenagers are skipping breakfast. Now when you see the word ‘coucou,’ we want it to be a reflex for consumers to say to themselves, ‘Ah, I have to buy bread today.' ”
该游说组织的联合主席之一伯纳德·瓦呂斯(Bernard Valluis)说，“饮食习惯正在变化。人们不是太忙就是工作得太晚，没时间去面包房。青少年都不吃早饭。现在我们想让消费者一看到‘coucou’这个词，就会条件反射地对自己说，‘啊，我今天得去买面包。’”
The campaign’s Web site, [要查看本链接请先注册并登录], explains that “France is a ‘civilization of bread’ and this food is part of the traditional meal ‘à la française.' ”
这一宣传活动的网站[要查看本链接请先注册并登录]上解释说，“法国有‘面包文明’，这种食品是‘法式’传统餐的一部分。”
Bread is described as healthy and useful in avoiding weight gain. “It is rich in vegetal protein and fiber and low in fat; glucides are a source of energy,” the Web site says, using the French word for carbohydrate.
宣传把面包描写为健康食品，有利于避免体重增加。该网站写道，“面包富含植物性蛋白、纤维，脂肪含量低；碳水化合物是一种能量来源。”
If people on diets want “to avoid giving in to something with fat and sugar, bread is there,” it says. “Its satiating effect allows you to wait for the next meal.”
网站称，如果正在节食的人“不能避免屈服于含脂肪和糖的食物的诱惑，面包是最好的选择。面包的饱腹作用可以让你等到下顿饭的时间。”
Then there is the congeniality effect: “Remember that buying fresh bread on the way home is a simple way of showing loved ones that you have thought about them and of giving them pleasure during the day.”
面包还有让人感到情投意合的效果：“记住啊，在回家的路上买上新鲜的面包，是向你所爱之人表示你在白天一直想着他们、要给他们带来快乐的一种简单方法。”
At a bit more than a dollar a loaf, the basic baguette is one of the country’s cheapest food staples. Ten billion baguettes are sold every year in France.
法式长棍面包(baguette)每个售价1美元多点（相当于7元人民币），这种普通面包是法国最便宜的主食之一。法国每年能卖出100亿个长棍面包。
A national bread festival is held every May around the feast of Saint Honoré (the patron saint of bakers) so that the French can sample different breads, learn how bread is made and even learn how to become a baker.
法国的全国面包节在每年5月份的圣欧诺莱(Saint Honoré)（面包师的守护神）日前后举行，面包节期间，法国人不仅可以品尝到各种面包，了解面包制作的知识，甚至还可以学习如何成为面包师。
And Paris holds an annual contest to select the city’s best artisanal baguette maker, with the winner’s breads then gracing the tables of President François Hollande at the Élysée Palace for a year. In April, after an afternoon of tasting 152 baguettes, the jury chose Ridha Khadher, who left Tunisia as a teenager 24 years ago to become a baker in France.
巴黎每年还举行一场竞赛，评选出该市最佳手工长棍面包师，获胜者的面包将在之后一年里供应给法国总统弗朗索瓦·奥朗德(François Hollande)在爱丽舍宫(Élysée Palace)的餐桌上。今年4月，在经过一个下午品尝了152种长棍面包之后，评委会选中了里达·卡迪尔(Ridha Khadher)，卡迪尔24年前在十几岁时离开突尼斯，来法国当了一名面包师。
“It’s a great honor for a Tunisian to be elected best baguette maker,” Mr. Khadher said. “I wonder what the president is going to think about our baguettes.”
卡迪尔说，“一个突尼斯人能被选为最佳面包师是个很高的荣誉。我想知道总统会怎么看我们的面包。”
Bread is ceding its place on the table to rivals like breakfast cereals, pasta and rice. France may still enjoy the highest density of independent bakeries in the world (32,000), but in 1950 there were 54,000.
面包在餐桌上的地位正在被早餐谷物、意式面食，以及米饭所取代。法国或许依然是世界上拥有最高密度的独立面包房的国家，全国现有3.2万家，然而在1950年，这个数字是5.4万。
According to Steven L. Kaplan, an American historian whom even the French consider [要查看本链接请先注册并登录]on French bread, bread*** has followed two trends in the last century: a steady decline in the quality of most products, and the emergence of a new breed of artisanal bakers devoted to excellence and tradition.
历史学家史蒂文·L·卡普兰(Steven L. Kaplan)说，过去一个世纪里，法国的面包制作经历了两个趋势：一个是大多数产品质量的持续下降，另一个是出现了追求卓越和传统的新一代手工面包师。甚至连法国人都认为美国人卡普兰是世界上研究法国面包的最高权威。
The decline in quality started in 1920 with the transition from slow bread*** with a sourdough base to a quick process using yeast. Mechanization in the 1960s contributed to the *** of bread that lacked taste and aroma.
面包质量的下降是从1920年开始的，那时，做面包的方法发生了变化，从一个使用酸面团发酵的缓慢过程，变为一个使用酵母的快速过程。20世纪60年代的机械化导致做出来的面包失去了原有的味道和芳香。
The trend began to reverse itself in the 1980s. French millers provided bakers with a better flour and more marketing support. The renowned Parisian baker [要查看本链接请先注册并登录] blended large-scale production with artisanal practices like lengthy sourdough fermentation and wood oven baking.
20世纪80年代这一趋势开始出现逆转。法国磨坊主向面包师供应更好的面粉，以及更多的销售支持。著名的巴黎面包师利昂内尔·普瓦拉纳([要查看本链接请先注册并登录])将大量生产与手工制作方法结合起来，使用了像长时间酸面团发酵和木头燃料烤炉等做法。
Then in 1993, the government came to the rescue with a decree that created a special designation: “the bread of French tradition.” That bread has to be made exclusively with flour, salt, water and leavening — no additives.
后来在1993年，法国政府也出面帮忙，立法创造了一个特殊的称号：“法国传统面包”。这种面包只能使用面粉、盐和水发酵制作，不含任何添加剂。
The “tradition,” as it is called, is more expensive than the ordinary baguette, which uses additives, a fast-rising process and mechanization, and accounts for about 75 percent of the country’s bread sales.
这种被称为“传统”的面包，比使用添加剂、快速发酵和机械化制造的长棒面包要贵，在法国全国面包销售中占75%。
“The methods for *** the two breads are not at all the same,” said Philippe Levin, a baker in Paris’s Ninth Arrondissement on the Right Bank with 25 years in the business. “The secret to *** a good tradition is time, time, time. Fermentation is very, very slow. The aromas, the sugar have to emerge. It takes a good three and a half, four hours from start to finish.”
巴黎第9区右岸一名有着25年经验的面包师菲利普·勒万(Philippe Levin)说，“制作这两种面包的方法完全不同。制作传统面包的绝招第一是时间，第二是时间，第三还是时间。发酵的过程很慢很慢。这样芳香和糖份才会出来。从开始做到烤好需要差不多三个半或四个小时的时间。”
To show the difference, he sliced a tradition and then a classic baguette in half and lengthwise as if to make a sandwich.
为了展示两者的不同，他把一个"传统"和一个普通长棍面包纵向切成两半，像是做三明治那样。
“Look at all the uneven cavities, the beautiful golden brown crust,” he said of the tradition. “Smell the aroma, sweet and spicy. Every one is made by hand. It’s magnificent!”
他指着“传统”面包说，“你看这里面大大小小的窟窿，这个美丽的金黄色面包皮。闻闻有多香，又甜又刺激。每一个都是手工制成的。这叫棒！”
As for the baguette, “It’s different, whiter, done by machine.”
再看看普通面包，他说，“那就不一样了，它更白，是机器制作的。”
Mr. Levin sells more traditions than baguettes, even though the baguettes cost 20 cents less. On Sunday mornings his traditions are so sought after that he sets up a special table for customers, who often have to line up down the block.
勒万卖出的"传统"面包要比普通面包多，尽管普通面包要便宜20美分。周日早上，他的传统面包如此地受欢迎，以至于他需要专门为顾客们摆一张桌子，他们经常沿着街道排出长长的队等着买面包。
Both Mr. Levin and Mr. Kaplan, the historian, say the bread lobby’s campaign is more cuckoo than coucou.
勒万和历史学家卡普兰都说，面包游说组织的宣传活动与其说是唤起人们对面包的好感，不如说是发了精神病。
“My quality has never been better,” Mr. Levin said. “My business, too.”
勒万说，“我铺子面包的质量前所未有地好，生意也如此。”
Mr. Kaplan was more critical. “This campaign looks like the inside of a white baguette: insipid,” he said. “It’s asking people to buy bread as part of their routine, like washing your hands or brushing your teeth. We need to talk about bread as an object of pleasure. We need to celebrate breads that make your taste buds dance.”
卡普兰对宣传活动就更看不上了。他说，“活动看起来就像是普通白面包的瓤子：淡然无味。它想让人们把买面包做为日常生活的一部分，就像洗手和刷牙似的。我们需要把面包当成一种享乐之物来谈论。我们需要热爱那种让你的味蕾跳舞的面包。”