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纽约时报:丹麦糕点的奇特故事
发布时间:2019-03-11 17:51 作者:高斋外刊双语精读 点击:

2018.8.6纽约时报:丹麦糕点的奇特故事

The curious story of Denmark's rebel cakes

丹麦糕点的奇特故事

After a long, uphill cycle to the Danish battlefield of Dybbøl, I stopped to gaze at the brilliant-white windmill with its black-capped roof and great red sails, sitting high in the clouds above the fishing town of Sønderborg. I was cycling from the German border to Copenhagen across Denmark's islands – but had been side-tracked by the curious story of southern Jutland's rebel cakes.

一段漫长的爬山骑行后,来到丹麦的德波尔古战场,我停下来凝视着明亮的白色风车,那黑色的车顶和巨大的红色翼板,风车高高耸立在渔港小镇桑讷堡上的白云间。我当时正从德国边境骑往哥本哈根,正在穿过丹麦的岛屿——但是南日德兰半岛反抗糕点的传奇故事让我忘了骑行一事。

Dybbøl Windmill had ground wheat into flour across the centuries from 1774, despite being pummelled in two Schleswig wars and destroyed more than once by fire. After the Prussian-Austrian occupation of southern Jutland in 1864, the mill was, if anything, busier than ever. When the occupiers refused to give the Danes an alcohol license for their community halls, the defiant Jutlanders thought that if they couldn’t have their beloved coffee punch with schnapps, they’d have cake instead – made with flour from the mill, of course.

自1774年的几百年以来,德波尔这个丹麦小镇的风车磨坊一直忙碌着把小麦磨成面粉,虽然在两次丹德战争(丹麦与德意志)战争中受到连续冲击,也不止一次遭到火灾破坏。1864年普鲁士和奥地利联军占领南日德兰半岛后,要说有什么不同的话,德波尔磨坊比以往任何时候都更加繁忙。当地居民为其社区公所申请酒类执照时,占领军拒绝授予,日德兰半岛市民不服,觉得如果无法享用他们钟爱的杜松子酒调制的咖啡五味酒,他们可以改为糕点——当然,是使用德波尔磨坊制成的面粉。

The community hall was an important part of Danish culture; a place to meet and share ideas. During the occupation, the need for the Jutland Danes to preserve their national identity became even more important. The hall became a Danish micro-society, a safe haven, where the southern Jutlanders could sing patriotic Danish songs and celebrate their Danish-ness. The kaffebord, or coffee table, was not so much about coffee (now that the Danes couldn't make coffee punch) but about the Danish cakes that stretched along the long table.

社区公所是丹麦文化中重要的组成部分,是丹麦人会谈和交流思想的场所。在占领时期,对日德兰半岛的丹麦人而言,保护他们民族特征的需要反而变得更加重要。公所成为丹麦的社会缩影,一处避风港,在那里南日德兰半岛市民可以唱丹麦爱国歌曲,庆祝丹麦情怀。咖啡桌和咖啡没有那么大关系(因为丹麦人无法制作咖啡五味酒),而是与摆满长桌的丹麦糕点有关。

With every year that passed under the occupation, the spreads became more elaborate, as Jutland's cake-making housewives jostled to be queen of the kaffebord. Cream cakes, pastries, fruit tarts and biscuits of every sort crammed the table. It was full-on competition, but more importantly, it was an act of defiance and resistance against the oppressor. After a referendum in 1920, southern Jutland was handed back to the Danes, and although the liquor license was granted again, the coffee table, too good to abandon, continued to thrive. To this day, it's a favourite way to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and other special events in the region.

在占领的控制下过了一年又一年,糕点荟萃变得更加精美,因为日德兰半岛制作糕点的家庭主妇争着抢着当咖啡桌糕点会的出色女主厨。桌上排满了奶油糕点、油酥点心、水果甜饼和什锦饼干。那是干劲十足的竞争,但更重要的是,是反对压迫者的违抗和抵制行动。1920年公民投票后,南日德兰半岛归还丹麦,尽管再次申请时酒类执照获得批准,但是排满美味糕点的咖啡桌好得令人难以放弃,于是继续发展壮大。到今天,这一地区最喜欢用咖啡桌来庆祝生日、纪念日和其它特别活动。

Dybbøl Windmill didn't just produce flour for the coffee-table cakes, however; the patriotic miller allowed Danish soldiers to use it as an observation post during the second Schleswig war of 1864. Signals were transmitted to the men on the watch, but despite the army's best efforts, they were unable to hold their line of defence at Dybbøl against the better equipped Prussian-Austrian army. The Danish were overwhelmed and south Jutland was captured.

然而,德波尔风车不只是生产咖啡桌糕点所用的面粉;1864年第二次丹德战争期间,爱国的磨坊工人允许丹麦士兵把风车当作烽火台。站岗的士兵收到了传送的信号,但尽管丹麦军队尽了最大努力,由于对方是装备更加精良的普奥军队,因此未能守住防线击退敌军。丹麦军被打败后,南日德兰半岛被占领。

The visitor centre attached to the windmill tells this story, while across the road, on the site of the Dybbøl Battlefield, a memorial pays homage to the fallen Danish soldiers. Below it, the land drops away to the Strait of Alssund and the fishing town of Sønderborg just out of sight, where I was heading in search of the Jutland coffee table and its mountain of cake.

风车附属的游客中心向访客介绍这一传奇故事。而马路对面,在德波尔战场遗址上,建有一座纪念碑向阵亡的丹麦士兵致敬。遗址下方,地势一路向下直至阿尔松海峡和在视线外的渔港小镇桑纳堡。我正要前往桑纳堡,去寻找日德兰半岛的咖啡桌和那一大堆糕点。

I swung my leg over my bicycle and free-wheeled through fields of bright rapeseed down to the strait. Across the water, the red roofs and colourful facades of the harbour houses stretched out along the quayside to a heavily fortified castle. Now a museum, Sønderborg Castle tells the story of Prussian-Austrian occupation of southern Jutland after the 1864 Schleswig War, and again of German occupation in World War II. I wanted to find out more.

我单腿一跃跨上自行车,不需双脚踩踏板,让自行车一路下滑,穿过明亮的油菜籽田抵达阿尔松海峡。海峡对岸,沿着码头是一排红色屋顶,外墙颜色各异的海港别墅,走到尽头是一个戒备森严的城堡——桑纳堡。如今的桑纳堡城堡是一座博物馆,展出内容是1864年第二次丹德战争后普奥联军占领南日德兰半岛,以及二战中重新遭受德军占领这两段历史。我想对这两段历史作更深的了解。

Ignoring the attractive waterfront with its terraced cafes and castle for the moment, I crossed the drawbridge and pushed on up the hill to a pedestrianised shopping street in the heart of the town. The restaurant, Det Sønderjyske Køkken (The South Jutland Cuisine), was hosting a coffee-table event – and I was about to eat my own weight in cake and biscuits, or so it seemed. Inside, the room was filled with locals and a handful of Dutch and Germans, along with my holidaying British companions. At the head of the room, a long table was stacked high with meringues, puddings, cakes, pastries and biscuits. Working along the table from left to right, I piled my plate high, glad that most of the portions were small or bite-sized.

我暂时没有理会码头区那排诱人的小餐厅和城堡,经过吊桥,继续向前蹬上小山,来到小镇中心的购物步行街。南日德兰半岛料理这一餐馆正在主办一场咖啡桌糕点会——我预计自己将大吃特吃许多糕点和饼干,至少看起来像是这样。进去后,屋子里到处是当地人,和为数不多的荷兰人和德国人,还有我那些度假的英国伙伴们。在屋子的前端,长桌上整齐地堆放着蛋白酥、布丁、糕点、起酥和饼干。沿着长桌子从左慢慢移动到右端,我盘子中的糕点已堆得高高的,不过令人庆幸的是,大部分糕点份量很小,有点只刚好一口大小。

“The number of cakes on the table has varied through the years,” Jesper, the restaurant owner explained to me. “But somehow we seem to have settled on seven. Nowadays, tradition decrees there should be seven soft cakes and seven hard cakes – and sometimes, when there's a really extravagant kaffebord, there will be seven layered cream cakes as well.”

店主贾斯伯(Jesper)向我解释道,"多少年来桌上糕点的样式数量经常改变,但不知怎的我们最后选定了以七种为准。如今,按传统规矩应该有七种软糕点和七种硬糕点——有时候咖啡桌确实壮观,也会有七层的裸蛋糕。"

“So, where do I start?” I asked.

"那么,我先吃哪个?"我问道。

“We start with pomle – the bread roll with butter,” he answered.

"我们先吃肉桂卷——黄油面包卷,"他回答说。

I ate the cardamom-flavoured roll with jam before going on to try the Sønderjysk festkringle, a buttery Danish pastry made with candied citrus peel and raisins.

我尝了果馅肉桂卷,接着试了丹麦包,一种添加糖渍橙皮和葡萄干的丹麦黄油酥皮。

“Now we eat the two ‘stop cakes’,” said Jesper. “‘Stop’ meaning have a rest with the lighter cakes before returning to the richer soft cakes. Honningkage is honeyed gingerbread topped with apricot compote – and krydderkage is a plain spicy cake.”

"现在我们来两块'稍息糕点',"贾斯伯说。"'稍息'意为用较清淡的糕点加以缓和,然后重返更重油的软糕点。姜饼小人是加了蜂蜜的甜味姜饼配甜煮杏——香料糕点是添加香料的原味糕点。"

“It must have been very expensive to lay on so many elaborate cakes during the Prussian occupation, was it not?” I asked.

我问道,"普鲁士占领其间,安排如此之多的精美糕点一定非常昂贵,不是吗?"

“That's true. The most elaborate coffee tables were held in rural areas where country folks had the ingredients on their farms,” he said.

"是的。郊区开设的咖啡桌最为精细,那里的农民直接从农场上买来原料。"

Returning to the richer soft cakes, I tried the rabarber trifli, a delicious rhubarb trifle, then the blommetærte, a plum tart, before finishing with the brø'tort, a nutty rye cake with a blackcurrant topping. There was no question; I was on a sugar rush.

回到更重油的软糕点,我试了大黄乳脂松糕,一种很香的大黄卡仕达甜点,然后是李子塔,一种李子甜饼,最后是小布勒,一种有黑加仑装饰的坚果味黑麦糕饼。我摄入了很高糖分,这是毫无疑问的。

But just as partakers think they have reached a saturation point with these rich and filling ‘soft cakes’, the thoughtful Jutland cake-makers calm the palate – and the stomach – with seven plainer and lighter ‘hard cakes’, or biscuits.

但正当宾客们认为他们品尝这些重油和夹心的"软糕点"已达到饱和的程度,日德兰半岛的糕饼师傅体贴入微,用七块更原味更清淡的"硬糕点"饼干来缓和我们的味蕾与肠胃。

First up was the knepkager, its delightful name describing the crunch the biscuit makes when you bite into it, then the fedtkager, a biscuit made with lard. Next, I tried the almond nøddetvebakker, baked twice (once to harden the biscuit, and again to give it its warm brown colour). After that came the herrnhutkager, a syrupy, spicy bake with orange and lemon zest, cloves and pepper.

首先上的是膝盖骨,这一有趣的名字描述了你咬这种饼干的松脆感。然后是油糕,一种由猪油制成的饼干。接下来,我试了杏仁丹麦酥,两次烘烤而成(一次烘干饼干,第二次为其上色为焦糖暖色)。下一个是柠檬酥,一种添加许多香料的糖浆点心,有柑橘柠檬屑、丁香和胡椒。

My cake marathon had almost come to an end: I feasted on vaniljekrans (a vanilla ring cake) and the wonderfully named goderåd, which translates as ‘good advice’. Last of all, I bit into the ingenting, a meringue drizzled with rum. The meringue name demonstrates the Danes mischievous sense of fun: when guests had munched their way through six hard cakes, they would be asked what they could still eat. ‘Nothing,’ they would usually reply, and would promptly be offered ingenting, which means ‘nothing’.

我的糕点马拉松就快抵达终点:我尽情享受香草环形蛋糕,和名字好听的好意多,可译作"好建议"。最后,我咬下"不要",一种朗姆酒淋酱蛋白酥。这一蛋白酥的怪异名字表现出丹麦人调皮的玩乐感:当客人们品尝了六种硬糕点后,被问到还能吃下什么时。"不需要,"他们常常这样回答,然后立刻就有"不要"蛋白酥传上来,因为这种蛋糕就叫"不需要"。

A huge variety of cakes and biscuits can be found at coffee tables across southern Jutland, some with strange and amusing names: søsterkage (sister cake), and kys og klap (kisses and applause), for example. But the most intriguing of all are the fried biscuits called klejner, or ‘twisted boys and girls’. The boys are cut into rectangular shapes, with one end of the pastry pulled through the hole in the middle to make clear the boy's gender, while the girls are cut with a round glass and twisted into a feminine shape, with a hole made with a thimble.

在整个南日德兰半岛,咖啡桌上的糕点和饼干数量都很庞大,品类极之丰富,有些糕点名称奇怪有趣,例如糕点修女,和小甜酥饼等。但最令人好奇的是名为油炸酥或名"旋转的男孩女孩" 的一种软炸糕。男孩面团切成长方形,拉起面团一边穿过中间的小孔,表明男孩的性别,而女孩面团用圆形玻璃杯切割,扭成一个女性的形状,然后用顶针戳出小孔。

I staggered out of Det Sønderjyske Køkken, my stomach filled with spice and sugar and fruit and nuts. I thought about the Danish gathered in their community halls, defiantly holding meetings, singing patriotic Danish songs and eating cake in spite of their Prussian oppressors, only to experience German occupation all over again in World War II. “What must that have been like?” I wondered.

我摇摇晃晃地走出南日德兰半岛料理时,肚子里填满了香料和糖分,还有果馅和坚果。我想象当年丹麦市民是如何无视普鲁士压迫者,在社区公所里抗命聚会,唱丹麦爱国歌曲,大吃丹麦美味糕点。不料二战中重新受到德国占领。我想知道,"那又会是什么样?"

I spent the night in a country cottage overlooking the Baltic Sea just a few miles through the woods on the other side of the harbour. Outside, the wind rustled in the great copper beech, a red tree once planted next to many dwellings across southern Jutland to mark the home of Danish patriots, who also painted their doors red to demonstrate their alliance to the Danish flag.

我在一间乡村小屋留宿,小屋俯瞰着海港对面穿过树林仅几英里远的波罗的海。外面,巨大的棕红山毛榉在风中飒飒作响,从前南日德兰半岛的许多人家会在房屋旁边栽种这样的红树,表示这是丹麦爱国者之家,他们也把房门刷上红色,宣示他们与红色的丹麦国旗心心相连。

In the morning, I had a visit from the 78-year-old former mayor of Sønderborg, Mr Hansen. Nobody seems to know his Christian name, and he is simply referred to as AP. He had come by to tell me about life under the second German occupation. Born at the beginning of World War II, his early childhood was marred by war and the new German occupation. We sat down under the window, surrounded by sofa throws and candles, the blue of the Baltic Sea sparkling in the sunlight beyond the barley field. It was hard to imagine those turbulent times in this peaceful place.

今天早晨,78岁的桑纳堡前任市长汉森先生来做客。似乎没有人知道他的教名,人们只简单地称他为AP(对最高神职人员的尊称)。他对我讲述了第二次德国占领下当地人的生活。他出生于二战开始时,幼年生活因战争和德国的再次占领而饱受创伤。我们坐在窗下,身边有很多沙发薄毯和蜡烛,窗外是大麦田,再往过去,蓝色的波罗的海在阳光下闪闪发光。今日在此宁静的地方已很难想象那些动荡的岁月。

“How did the Jutland Danes feel about being occupied all over again in the Second World War?” I asked.

"日德兰半岛的丹麦居民怎么看二战中再次被德国占领?"我问道。

“You know, it was very peaceful to begin with,” he said. “The Germans didn't try to suppress our Danish culture. We were allowed to get on with our lives as usual, so there was little resistance initially. The resistance came later in 1943 when Hitler called for the deportation of Danish Jews. When the Danish Resistance organised a strike, the German occupiers became more heavy-handed. Nonetheless, even in the early days, it was still a shock to be occupied all over again. The Germans arrived in the springtime. The air was different and there was the constant drone of planes. Whenever I hear the sound of planes in spring, it’s still emotional for me.”

他说,"你知道,起初十分平静,德国人没有想要压制我们的丹麦文化。他们允许我们像往常一样正常生活,因此一开始很少抵抗。到1943年抵抗开始,因为当时希特勒要求将丹麦的犹太人驱逐出境。抵抗行动组织了一场罢工,德国占领军以高压手段作回应。不过,即使在刚开始的时期,再受到德国人占领仍然令人非常震惊。德军是春季来到的,当时天空中有异常情况,飞机的嗡嗡声不断。以后每当我在春天听到飞机声,我的情感依然为之牵动。"

Mr Hansen ran his fingers over a stock of white hair, lost in memories of the war. “My parents were good people,” he said. “They took in a Jewish boy, Hans Franz, and eventually helped him to get to Sweden. Later, my mother sheltered a Danish woman who'd had a child to a German soldier. My parents weren’t the only decent Danes: many other ordinary Danes helped to evacuate more than 7,000 Jews to Sweden.”

汉森先生用手指捋一捋一头白发,沉浸于战争的回忆中。他说,"我父母是好人,他们收留了一个犹太男孩汉斯·弗朗茨,最后把他送到瑞典。后来,我母亲收留了一位丹麦妇女,她怀着一名德国军人的孩子。正派的丹麦市民不只是我父母:许多普通的丹麦人帮助超过7000名犹太人撤往瑞典。"

“And how do people feel about the Germans now after two occupations?” I asked.

"两次占领后如今人们对德国人怎么看?"我问道。

“There is still a German minority group living here, and they are encouraged to preserve their own culture,” he replied. “They have their own schools, libraries and sports clubs. We have a good relationship with our German neighbours too. There are many German tourists who come back faithfully year after year to spend their holidays here. They love Denmark and its culture.”

他回答说,"这里仍然生活着一个德国的少数族群,其自身文化得到保护,为此他们很鼓舞。他们拥有自己的学校、图书馆和体育俱乐部。我们与自己的德国人邻居关系很好。有许多德国人年年都要来这里度假,他们热爱丹麦与丹麦文化。"

I thought of the German visitors who had mingled with the Danes at the kaffebord at Det Sønderjyske Køkken the day before. The coffee table, once associated with war and rebellion, had become an opportunity for shared friendship and cake.

我想到昨天在南日德兰半岛料理的咖啡桌前,德国的游客和丹麦人来回走动并聊着天。咖啡桌曾经与战争和反抗有关联,现已成为一起交友与品尝蛋糕的场合。

When chatting to Gerda Bouma from the local tourism office, she mused: “You know, the coffee table has been southern Jutland's best-kept secret. It's always been a very personal experience for the local people who have held it in their own homes on special occasions with close family and friends over the decades. But it's time to share the coffee table experience with others, don't you think?"

跟当地旅游局的格尔达·布玛聊天时,她略作沉思后说:"你知道,咖啡桌糕点会是南日德兰半岛最为保守的秘密。对当地的人们来说一直是非常私人的事,几十年来他们只与亲密的朋友家人在各自的家里为特别的活动而举办。不过现在已到应该与他人一起感受咖啡桌的时候,你不觉得应该这样吗?"

I couldn't have agreed more as I cycled away from Sønderborg with a belly full of cake.

带着撑饱了糕点的肚子,骑着自行车离开桑纳堡时,我完全同意格尔达·布玛之说。

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