第2334期:What was on the menu 4,000 years ago in Mesopotamia?

Imagine sitting down for dinner in ancient Babylon. What would be on the menu? Thanks to clay tablets discovered over a century ago, we're starting to find out. These tablets, written around 4,000 years ago, were originally thought to be about medicine. But in the 1980s, scholars realised that these texts were actually recipes. "Out of hundreds of thousands of cuneiform documents, they are the only food recipes that exist" says Agnete Lassen, associate curator of the Yale Babylonian collection. This means they offer a rare glimpse into the culinary world of this ancient region of Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq.

想象一下在古巴比伦坐下来吃晚饭。 菜单上会有什么？ 多亏了一个多世纪前发现的粘土片，我们才开始找到答案。 这些泥板写于大约 4,000 年前，最初被认为是关于医学的。 但到了 20 世纪 80 年代，学者们意识到这些文本实际上是食谱。 耶鲁大学巴比伦馆藏副馆长阿格尼特·拉森 (Agnete Lassen) 表示：“在数十万份楔形文字文献中，它们是唯一现存的食物食谱。” 这意味着它们为人们提供了难得一睹这个古老的美索不达米亚地区（现在的伊拉克）的烹饪世界的机会。

It seems the cooks of that time were expected to know what they were doing – the instructions are straight to the point, and the amounts of the ingredients are not specified. Despite this, modern researchers have been recreating and taste-testing the ancient dishes. One recipe that has been successfully recreated is a stew called 'tuh'u'. The dish starts with water and seared lamb. Then, in go salt, beer, some vegetables, and for a fiery taste, garlic and coriander. It's a favourite among researchers: "It's pungent and it's very nicely spiced" says Agnete Lassen, "It has good flavours." Another dish turned out so unbearably bitter that none of the other seasonings could be detected, so either the translation was incorrect, or people's tastes were very different back then.

看起来当时的厨师应该知道自己在做什么——说明是开门见山的，并且没有具体说明配料的数量。 尽管如此，现代研究人员一直在重新创造和测试这些古老的菜肴。 一种已成功重现的食谱是一种名为“tuh'u”的炖菜。 这道菜以水和烤羊肉开始。 然后加入盐、啤酒、一些蔬菜，为了获得火辣的味道，可以加入大蒜和香菜。 它是研究人员的最爱：“它很辛辣，而且味道很好”，阿格尼特·拉森 (Agnete Lassen) 说，“味道很好。” 还有一道菜，苦得难以忍受，其他的调味料都检测不到，所以要么是翻译错误，要么是当时人们的口味不同。

Interestingly, all the recipes discovered are for making stews and broths, observes Iraqi food historian, Nawal Nasrallah. Stew remained a tradition in medieval Iraq and continues to be a staple of modern Iraqi food. On the other hand, other ancient flavours have disappeared. For example, a Roman fish sauce called 'garam' was a potent, fermented sauce with an umami flavour. It was once popular but is now not a common feature of modern Italian cuisine.

有趣的是，伊拉克食品历史学家纳瓦尔·纳斯拉拉 (Nawal Nasrallah) 观察到，所有发现的食谱都是用来制作炖菜和肉汤的。 炖菜仍然是中世纪伊拉克的传统，并且仍然是现代伊拉克食物的主食。 另一方面，其他古老的风味已经消失。 例如，一种名为“garam”的罗马鱼露是一种具有鲜味的强效发酵酱汁。 它曾经很流行，但现在已不再是现代意大利美食的常见特征。

How many of our own culinary traditions will survive years from now? Will future generations taste what we taste today, or will our favourite dishes become forgotten?

我们自己的烹饪传统有多少能够在多年后幸存下来？ 子孙后代会尝到我们今天尝到的味道，还是我们最喜欢的菜肴会被遗忘？

词汇表

recipe 食谱
cuneiform 楔形文字的
culinary 烹饪的
straight to the point 直截了当的
ingredient 材料，食材
taste-test 试吃，尝试…的味道
stew 炖菜
seared 高温速煎的
fiery （食物味道）辣的
coriander 芫荽，香菜
pungent （味道）浓郁的，强烈的
spiced 经过调味的
flavour 口味，味道
bitter 苦的
seasoning 调味料
broth 肉汤
staple 主食
potent （味道）强烈的
fermented 发酵的
umami 鲜味
cuisine 菜肴