Belgium
Seeks to Have Fries Declared Cultural Heritage
VOA News
Last updated on: January 02, 2015 5:05 PM (source)
January 02, 2015 5:05 PM
BRUSSELS—
There
are few things people agree on in linguistically-divided Belgium, but
an effort to get Belgian potato fries recognized as global cultural
heritage and put it on a par with
Peking opera and the Argentinian tango may get unequivocal support.
Belgian fries are traditionally sold, in a paper cone, in a "fritkot",
generally a shack or trailer.
There are some 5,000 of these in Belgium, making them 10 times more
common, per capita, than
McDonald's restaurants in the United States.
在語言分歧的比利時,很多大小事情都難有共同的看法,但對於
將比利時的炸薯條得到全球認可為文化遺產的努力卻得到一致支持(unequivocal
support),將炸薯條與中國京劇(Peking opera)、
阿根廷探戈(tango)同樣
(on a par with. . .)列為文化遺產。
傳統的比利時炸薯條是在”frikot”這類簡陋的小舖(shack)或是
餐車,裝在紙捲成的紙筒中販售。
在比利時大約有五千個這樣的小舖,以每
人平均來看(per capita),其普遍程度比美國的麥當勞餐廳還高出十倍。
To
become recognized by the United Nations' cultural arm UNESCO, they need
to be endorsed by a minister
of culture, and Belgium has three of them.
The government of the Dutch speaking region of Flanders recognized
Belgian fries as an integral
part of national culture this year, and the French- and German-speaking
communities are expected to debate the issue next year.
要得聯合國的文化部聯合國教科文組織認定為文化遺產須要先有
文化部長背書(endorse),
而比利時有三位文化部長。
比利時的法蘭德斯(Flanders)荷語區已於今年(編按:此新聞報導中的「今年」為2014年)通過將比利時薯條認可為國家文化不可切割的(integral)一
部分,而法語、德語兩區也預計將於明年(2015)進行討論。
UNAFRI,
the national association of fritkot owners, which started the drive,
says the unpolished establishments are uniquely Belgian, combining the
country's embrace of chaos with a dislike of corporate uniformity.
"A cone of potato chips is Belgium in miniature.
What's astounding is that this way of thinking is the same, notwithstanding the different
communities and regions," said spokesman Bernard Lefevre.
Many tourists join the locals in the long queues at popular Brussels fritkots
such as Frit Flagey and Maison Antoine.
比利時的國家炸薯攤協會是背後的推手,該協會認為,這種不假裝飾、樸實的(unpolished)炸
薯攤具有比利時的特色風格,結合了比利時對於混沌(chaos)的耐受度及
對團體一致性的反感。
協會發言人表示,「紙捲筒炸薯是比利時的縮影(in miniature)。但不管(notwithstanding)族
群、區域差異都能一致認同炸薯能代表比利時,這有點令人吃驚(astounding)。」
在布魯塞爾(Brussels)知名的炸薯攤位前有長長的隊伍,許多遊客會加入當地人(local)的行列跟
著排隊(queue)。
"Before I came here, one of the only things I knew about Belgium was
that they liked their fries, so I think they are pretty much there
already," said Rachael Webb, a visitor from Ottawa, Canada, holding a
cone of fries.
UNESCO
has a list of 314 items of intangible
cultural heritage worthy of preservation,
ranging from Turkish coffee to the polyphonic singing of the Aka
pygmies of the Central African Republic.
Potatoes reached Belgium in the 16th century, but it was not until the
19th century that they were widely sold chipped and fried as a meal in
themselves. UNAFRI says 95 percent of Belgians visit a fritkot at least
once a year.
聯合國教科文組織已列有314項值得保存,非物質、無形的(intangible)文
化遺產,從土耳其咖啡到中非共和國阿卡族矮人(pygmy)的複音(polyphonic)歌
唱都在範圍中。
馬鈴薯於16世紀時已傳入比利時,但直到19世紀才廣泛的以切片與油炸方式來做為餐點販售。協會表示,95%的比利時人至少一年會光顧一次炸薯攤。
Language Notes
on a par with (phr) 與. . .同等的
unequivocal (a) 明確的;不含混的
per capita (phr) 以每人計算
endorse (v) 贊同;認可
integral (a) 構成整體所必需的,不可缺的
miniature (n) 縮樣;縮圖
notwithstanding (prep) 儘管,雖然
queue (n) 行列;隊伍
intangible (a) 觸摸不到的;無形的
preservation (n) 保護;維護
Check your vocabulary!
Fill
in the blanks with a word or phrase from the list above. Make necessary
changes. After you finish, select the text above to reveal the hidden
answers.
1. The arms and legs are integral
parts of a human body.
2. Per capita income rose by 1.2%
last year.
3. Notwithstanding differences,
there are clear similarities in all of the world's religions.
4. His answer was an unequivocal
'No.'
5. She's her mother in miniature.
編譯:簡嘉呈
|