Jennifer 8. Lee: Who was General Tso? and other mysteries of

翻译人员: Amy Zerotus 校对人员: Zachary Lin Zhao

There are more Chinese restaurants in this country

在这个国家里的中国餐馆

than McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Wendy's, combined --

比麦当劳®，汉堡王®，肯德基®和温蒂快餐®加起来还要多。

40,000, actually.

事实上，有4万家。

Chinese restaurants have played an important role in American history,

中餐馆在美国历史上发挥了很重要的作用，

这也是事实。

as a matter of fact.

古巴导弹危机

The Cuban missile crisis was resolved in a Chinese restaurant

是在华盛顿一个名叫“燕京宫”的中餐馆里

解决掉的。

called Yenching Palace in Washington, DC,

可惜的是，它现在关闭了，

which unfortunately is closed now,

and about to be turned into Walgreen's.

而且要改建成沃尔格林连锁药店。

And the house where John Wilkes Booth

而约翰·威尔克斯·布斯

刺杀了林肯总统的那座房子，

planned the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

现在也变成了一家中餐馆，

is also now a Chinese restaurant called Wok and Roll,

就是位于华盛顿的“锅和卷”。

on H Street in Washington.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And it's not completely gratuitous,

这个餐馆名也不是完全没意义的，

because "wok" and "roll" -- Chinese food and Japanese foods,

因为锅和卷，

中国菜和日本菜，

so it kind of works out.

还是有点关系的。

And Americans love their Chinese food so much,

美国人如此的喜欢中国菜，

they've actually brought it into space.

他们甚至带上了太空。

NASA, for example, serves thermostabilized sweet-and-sour pork

比如说，美国宇航局就把恒温的糖醋猪肉

on its shuttle menu for its astronauts.

列入了给宇航员准备的航天菜单。

So, let me present the question to you:

那么，让我来问你们这样一个问题：

If our benchmark for Americanness is apple pie,

如果我们自身的美国象征是个苹果派，

you should ask yourself: how often do you eat apple pie,

你应该问你自己，

你多久吃一次苹果派？

还有多久吃一次中国菜？

versus how often do you eat Chinese food?

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And if you think about it,

如果你仔细想想，

你就会发现

a lot of the foods that we or Americans think of as Chinese food

有很多你们认为，我们认为或者美国人认为是中国菜的食物，

are barely recognizable to Chinese.

中国人并不认识。

For example: beef with broccoli, egg rolls, General Tso's Chicken,

比如说： 西兰花牛肉，蛋卷，左宗棠鸡，

fortune cookies, chop suey, the take-out boxes.

幸运饼干，炒杂烩，外卖盒子。

For example, I took a whole bunch of fortune cookies back to China,

例如，我拿了一大盒幸运饼干带回中国，

gave them to Chinese to see how they would react.

给中国人吃，来看看他们会有怎样的反应。

这是什么？

[What is this?]

[Should I try it?]

我可以尝尝吗？

[Try it!]

尝一尝。

[What is this called?]

这叫什么名字啊？

[Fortune cookie.]

幸运饼干。

(Laughter)

[There's a piece of paper inside!]

里面有张纸啊～

（笑声）

(Laughter)

[What is this?]

这是什么？

[You've won a prize!]

你中奖了！

[What is this?]

这是什么？

[It's a fortune!]

是一个幸运。

挺好吃的。

[Tasty!]

So where are they from?

那么，他们是从哪里来的？

The short answer is, actually, they're from Japan.

简单的说，他们是从日本来的。

在京都城外，

And in Kyoto, outside, there are still small family-run bakeries

现在还有些小型的家庭糕点坊

在制作幸运饼干。

that make fortune cookies, as they did over 100 years ago,

就像他们一百多年以前做的一样。

30 years before fortune cookies were introduced in the United States.

三十年后幸运饼干就传入了美国。

If you see them side by side,

如果你把他们摆在一起看，

there's yellow and brown.

你会发现一个是黄色，一个是棕色。

Theirs are actually flavored with miso and sesame paste,

日式的加入了豆面酱和芝麻酱，

so they're not as sweet as our version.

没有我们的甜。

So how did they get to the US?

那么，他们是怎样传入美国的呢？

Well, the short answer is, the Japanese immigrants came over,

简单说来，日本移民来到了美国，

and a bunch of the bakers introduced them --

一群面包师就引进了他们。

including at least one in Los Angeles,

洛杉矶至少有一家，

and one here in San Francisco, called Benkyodo,

在旧金山这里有一家。

名字叫做学习堂。

which is on the corner of Sutter and Buchanan.

在那时，

Back then, they made fortune cookies using very much the similar kind of irons

他们制作幸运饼干用的模具

that we saw back in Kyoto.

和我们在京都看见的非常相似。

The interesting question is:

有意思的是，

How do you go from fortune cookies being something that is Japanese

幸运饼干是怎么从日本的东西

to being something that is Chinese?

变成中国的东西了的呢？

Well, we locked up all the Japanese during World War II,

简单的说，

二战时，我们收押了所有的日本人，

including those that made fortune cookies.

包括了那些做幸运饼干的人。

So that's when the Chinese moved in,

就在这时候，中国人来了，

发现了一个市场机遇，就据为己有了。

saw a market opportunity and took over.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So, fortune cookies: invented by the Japanese,

因此，幸运饼干，

由日本人发明，

popularized by the Chinese,

由中国人推广，

but ultimately consumed by Americans.

而最终给美国人消费。

They're more American than anything else.

他们比任何东西都要具有美国特色。

Another of my favorite dishes:

接下来是我最喜欢的菜肴之一，

General Tso's Chicken -- which, by the way, in the US Naval Academy

左宗棠鸡。

顺便提一下，在美国海军军官学校，

它被叫做左司令鸡。

is called Admiral Tso's Chicken.

(Laughter)

I love this dish.

我喜欢这道菜。

The original name of my book was "The Long March of General Tso."

在我的书中，它原本被叫做

左宗棠将军的长征。

And he has marched very far indeed,

他确实是前进了非常远，

because he is sweet, he is fried, and he is chicken --

因为他是甜的，是油炸的，是鸡肉做的——

这三样都是美国人最喜欢的。

all things that Americans love.

(Laughter)

（笑声）

He has marched so far, actually,

他前进了如此之远，

连发明了这道菜的厨师都认不出来了。

that the chef who originally invented the dish

doesn't recognize it; he's kind of horrified.

他有点被吓到了。

Video: (In Chinese)

Audience: (Laughter)

He's in Taiwan right now.

他现在在台湾，

He's retired, deaf and plays a lot of mah–jongg.

退休了，耳聋了，打很多麻将。

After I showed him this, he got up,

在我把图片给他看后，

他站起来，

and says, "mòmíngqímiào," which means, "This is all nonsense,"

说着“莫名其妙”

意思是“我完全不明白”

and goes back to play his mah-jongg game during the afternoon.

然后回去继续打了一下午的麻将。

另外一道我喜欢的菜，西兰花牛肉。

Another dish, one of my favorites: beef with broccoli.

Broccoli is not a Chinese vegetable;

西兰花不是中国的蔬菜，

in fact, it is originally an Italian vegetable.

事实上，它是意大利的蔬菜。

It was introduced into the United States in the 1800s,

19世纪初时，引进了美国，

but became popularized in the 1920s and the 1930s.

在20世纪20到30年代开始受到欢迎。

The Chinese have their own version of broccoli, called Chinese broccoli,

中国人也有自己的西兰花，

就是油菜。

但是现在，中国人发现了美国的西兰花，

but they've now discovered American broccoli,

and are importing it as a sort of exotic delicacy.

便开始把它当作外国食物来进口。

I guarantee you, General Tso never saw a stalk of broccoli in his life.

我可以向你保证，左宗棠将军一辈子都没有见过一株西兰花。

That was a picture of General Tso.

这是一种左宗棠将军的图像。

I went to his home town.

我去了他的家乡。

This is a billboard that says:

这个宣传栏上写着：

"Welcome to the birthplace of General Tso."

“欢迎来到左宗棠的故里。”

And I went looking for chicken.

我去寻找小鸡，

最后找到一头母牛～

Finally found a cow --

还是找到了一些鸡，

and did find chicken.

信不信由你，

Believe it or not, these guys were actually crossing the road.

这些家伙还真在过马路。

还有～

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And I found a whole bunch of General Tso's relatives

我发现了一群左宗棠将军的亲戚，

who are still in the town.

他们仍然在这个小镇上生活。

This guy is now five generations removed from the General;

这个人是左宗棠将军的第五代后代，

这个人差不多是第七代。

this guy is about seven.

I showed them the pictures of General Tso Chicken,

给他们看了我给你们看的这些左宗棠鸡的图片，

and they were like,

他们都说，我们不知道这道菜。

"We don't know this dish. Is this Chinese food?"

他们还问，这是中国菜吗？

Because it doesn't look like Chinese food to them.

因为对他们来说，这看上去不像中国菜。

But they weren't surprised I traveled around the world to visit them,

但是他们并没有对

我大老远跑来拜访他们

而感到惊讶，

because in their eyes he is, after all,

因为在他们看来，左宗棠将军

a famous Qing dynasty military hero.

到底是位著名的清朝名将。

He played an important role in the Taiping Rebellion,

他在镇压太平天国运动中发挥了重要的作用。

太平天国运动的发起者，

a war started by a guy who thought he was the son of God

自称是上帝的儿子，

and baby brother of Jesus Christ.

耶稣的亲弟弟。

这场战争中，有2千万人丧生，

He caused a war that killed 20 million people --

still the deadliest civil war in the world to this day.

至今仍是世界上伤亡最惨重的战争。

So, you know, I realized when I was there,

你知道吗，我那时就意识到了，

General Tso is kind of a lot like Colonel Sanders in America,

左宗棠将军有点像美国的桑德斯上校，

in that he's known for chicken and not war.

因为他是因为鸡肉而不是战争而闻名。

But in China, this guy's actually known for war and not chicken.

但在中国，他确实是因为战争而不是鸡肉

而闻名。

But the granddaddy of all the Chinese American dishes

但我们可能要谈到的

所有美式中国菜

we probably ought to talk about is chop suey,

的祖师爷

是炒杂烩。

which was introduced around the turn of the 20th century.

它是在20世纪初的时候

传入美国的。

据《纽约时报》指出，

According to the New York Times in 1904,

在1904年，整个市镇上下，突然出现了很多中餐馆，

there was an outbreak of Chinese restaurants all over town,

and "... the city has gone 'chop suey' mad."

“整个城市为了炒杂烩而疯狂。”

So it took about 30 years before the Americans realized

过了30多年，

美国人才意识到，

that chop suey is actually not known in China,

原来在中国，没有人知道炒杂烩。

and as this article points out,

就如同这篇文章所指出的一样，

“中国任何一个城市里的普通老百姓，

"The average native of any city in China knows nothing of chop suey."

完全不知道炒杂烩。”

Back then it was a way to show you were sophisticated and cosmopolitan;

在那时，有一种办法来显示

你很老于世故有世界意识。

如果你是个男人，你想要给一个女孩留下深刻印象，

a guy who wanted to impress a girl could take her on a chop suey date.

那么你可以带她出去吃炒杂烩。

I like to say chop suey is the biggest culinary joke

我想说，

炒杂烩是一个文化给另外一个文化

one culture ever played on another,

开的最大的一个烹饪玩笑。

because "chop suey," translated into Chinese,

因为炒杂烩，

如果你翻译成中文，

means "jaahp-seui," which, translated back, means "odds and ends."

意思是“杂碎”，在翻译过来，

就是“零碎的东西”。

因此，很多人去中国要吃炒杂烩，

So, these people are going around China asking for chop suey,

which is sort of like a Japanese guy coming here and saying,

这就有点像有个日本人

来到美国说，

"I understand you have a very popular dish in your country

你知道你们国家有一道非常有名的菜，

叫做“剩菜”

called 'leftovers.'"

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Right?

—— 对吧？

(Laughter)

还不仅仅是这，

And not only that:

"This dish is particularly popular

这道菜尤其著名，

after that holiday you call 'Thanksgiving.'"

是在你们称之为“感恩节”的节日后。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So, why and where did chop suey come from?

那么，炒杂烩

为什么，从哪里来呢？

Let's go back to the mid-1800s,

让我们回到19世纪中页，

when the Chinese first came to America.

第一批中国移民来到美国的时候。

Back then, Americans were not clamoring to eat Chinese food.

那时，美国人

并不喜欢吃中国菜。

In fact, they saw these people who landed at their shores as alien.

事实上，他们把这些移民当做外星人。

These people weren't eating dogs, they were eating cats.

这些人没有吃狗肉，

就在吃猫肉，

If they weren't eating cats, they were eating rats.

没有吃猫肉，就在吃老鼠肉。

事实上，我尊敬的雇主《纽约时报》

In fact, The New York Times, my esteemed employer,

在1883年发表了一篇文章说，

in 1883 ran an article that asked,

“中国人吃老鼠肉吗？”

"Do Chinese eat rats?"

现在看来，这并不是个政治正确的问题，

Not the most PC question to be asked today,

but if you look at the popular imagery of the time,

但是如果你稍微考虑一下当时的普遍情况，

not so outlandish.

这个问题并没有特别怪异。

This is actually a real advertisement for rat poison

这是19世纪末期的一个真正的

老鼠药广告。

from the late 1800s.

And if you see under the word "Clears" -- very small --

你看，在“清除”这个字下面，非常小的字，

it says, "They must go," which refers not only to the rats,

写着，“一定要赶走他们。”

这里的“他们”不仅仅是指老鼠，

还指生活在他们当中的中国人。

but to the Chinese in their midst,

因为当时人们对于食物的理解方式是，

because the way that the food was perceived

和我们吃不一样的食物的人，

was that these people who ate foods different from us

must be different from us.

一定和我们不一样。

Another way that you saw this antipathy towards the Chinese

你可以看到，对中国人的厌恶情绪

在另外一种方式

表现为这样的文件。

is through documents like this.

这份文件现存于美国国会图书馆；

This is in the Library of Congress.

是由美国劳工运动的英雄，

It's a pamphlet published by Samuel Gompers,

塞缪尔·龚帕斯发表的。

hero of our American labor movement.

It's called, "Some Reason for Chinese Exclusion:

它叫做“排除华人的一些理由：

Meat versus Rice: American Manhood against Asiatic Coolieism:

肉食对大米：美国男人对亚洲苦力

Which shall survive?"

孰胜孰负？

And it basically made the argument

这份文件基本上提出了一个论点，

that Chinese men who ate rice

吃大米的中国人

would necessarily bring down the standard of living

必然会降低吃肉食的美国人的

for American men who ate meat.

生活标准。

And as a matter of fact, then,

事实上，

this is one of the reasons we must exclude them from this country.

这就是为什么我们一定要把他们排斥在我们国家之外

的原因之一。

So, with sentiments like these,

因此，有了像这样的观点，

the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed between 1882 and 1902,

《排华法案》在1882年到1902年之间通过了。

the only time in American history

那是美国历史上唯一一段时期，

when a group was specifically excluded

一个群体会因为自己的民族特性

for its national origin or ethnicity.

而被特别的排斥。

So in a way, because the Chinese were attacked,

在某种程度上说，因为中国人被攻击了，

chop suey was created as a defense mechanism.

他们就发明了炒杂烩做为一种防卫机制。

Who came up with the idea of chop suey?

那么，是谁想出来做炒杂烩的呢？

There's a lot of different mysteries and legends,

这里有很多不同的传说

but of the ones I've found,

但在我发现的一些故事中我认为最有趣的

the most interesting is this article from 1904.

是1904年的一篇文章。

A Chinese guy named Lem Sen

一个叫做林森的中国人

shows up in Chinatown, New York City, and says,

出现在了纽约的唐人街，说道，

"I want you all to stop making chop suey,

我要你们所有人都停止做炒杂烩，

because I am the original creator and sole proprietor of chop suey.

因为我是炒杂烩菜的原始的发明者，

也是唯一的所有者。

And the way he tells it,

据他所说，

there was a famous Chinese diplomat that showed up,

有个人，

有个很著名的中国外交官来了，

and he was told to make a dish that looked very popular

别人叫他做一道菜，要看起来很流行，

可以当作中国菜。

and could, quote, "pass" as Chinese.

And as he said -- we would never print this today --

他还说，

我们今天也许都不会说出来，

but basically, the American man has become very rich.

但是美国人都变的很有钱了。

Lem Sen: "I would've made this money, too, but I spent all this time

林森说：

我本可以也赚这么多钱，

但我吧所以时间都花在了寻找那个

looking for the American man who stole my recipe.

偷了我的食谱的美国人。

Now I've found him and I want my recipe back,

现在我来到了这里找到了他，

我想把我的食谱要回来，

and I want everyone to stop making chop suey,

我想要每个人都停止制造炒杂烩菜，

or pay me for the right to do the same.

要不就付版权费给我。

这么看来，这是一次知识产权的

So it was an early exercise of intellectual property rights.

早期运用。

The thing is, this idea of Chinese-American food

问题是，

这种美式中国菜

doesn't exist only in America.

并不仅仅存在于美国。

In fact, Chinese food is the most pervasive food on the planet,

只有你想想就会发现，

中国菜是地球上最无处不在的食物，

served on all seven continents, even Antarctica,

在七大洲上都有，甚至是南极洲。

because Monday night is Chinese food night at McMurdo Station,

因为在南极洲最大的考察站麦克默多站

which is the main scientific station in Antarctica.

星期一晚上是中国菜之夜。

You see different varieties of Chinese food.

有许许多多不同种类的中国菜。

For example, there is French Chinese food,

例如，有法式中国菜，

where they serve salt and pepper frog legs.

他们提供椒盐蛙腿。

There is Italian Chinese food, where they don't have fortune cookies,

有意式中国菜，

他们没有幸运饼干，

so they serve fried gelato.

但他们有油炸意式冰淇淋。

My neighbor, Alessandra, was shocked when I told her,

我的楼下邻居亚历山大

在我告诉她

"Dude, fried gelato is not Chinese."

“伙计，油炸意式冰淇淋不是中国的。”之后无比震惊。

She's like, "It's not? But they serve it in all the Chinese restaurants in Italy."

她说，“不是的？

但在意大利的每一家中餐馆都有的吃。”

（笑声）

(Laughter)

Even the Brits have their own version.

英国人也有有自己特色的中国菜。

This is a dish called "crispy shredded beef,"

这道菜叫做酥碎牛肉丝，

which has a lot of crisp, a lot of shred, and not a lot of beef.

有很多酥皮，很多碎屑，没有很多牛肉。

There is West Indian Chinese food, there's Jamaican Chinese food,

还有西印度中国菜，

Middle Eastern Chinese food, Mauritian Chinese food.

牙买加式中国菜，

中东中国菜，

毛里求斯中国菜。

This is a dish called "Magic Bowl," that I discovered.

我发现了一道叫做魔术之碗

的菜。

There's Indian Chinese food, Korean Chinese food,

还有印度中国菜，

韩式中国菜，

Japanese Chinese food,

日式中国菜，

where they take the bao, the little buns, and make them into pizza versions.

日本人把小包子

做成了比萨。

他们还

(Laughter)

And they totally randomly take Chinese noodle dishes,

很随意的，

他们把中式的面条，

and just ramenize them.

也做出了日式拉面。

This is something that, in the Chinese version, has no soup.

像这个，

在中国的版本中就没有汤的。

So, there's Peruvian Chinese food,

还有秘鲁中国菜，

which should not be mixed with Mexican Chinese food,

不要和墨西哥中国菜混淆了，

where they basically take things and make it look like fajitas.

因为后者基本上只是

把所有的菜都做得像墨西哥法士达铁板烧。

(Laughter)

还有一个，

And they have things like risotto chop suey.

他们还有炒杂烩意式调味饭。

我在整个世界里

见到的所以餐馆中我最喜欢的一个

My personal favorite of all the restaurants

I've encountered around the world

was this one in Brazil, called "Kung Food."

是在巴西的这个，叫做“功夫菜”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So, let's take a step back and understand

让我们退回来一步，

来想想，

what is to be appreciated in America.

在美国有什么值得注意的。

McDonald's has garnered a lot of attention, a lot of respect,

麦当劳®

获得了很多的关注与尊重，

for basically standardizing the menu, decor and dining experience

因为其在二战后的美国

在菜单，装潢和就餐体验方面

in post-World War II America.

树立了一个基本的标准。

But you know what?

但是你知道吗？

他们实际上

They did so through a centralized headquarters out of Illinois.

是通过伊利诺斯州的总部

来做的这些的，是吧？

我可以说，

Chinese restaurants have done largely the same thing, I would argue,

中餐馆也做了大致一样的事情，

with the menu and the decor, even the restaurant name,

规范菜单，装潢

甚至是餐馆名称，

but without a centralized headquarters.

但他们没有一个中心总部。

于是，在2005年3月30日的超级球抽奖活动中，

So, this actually became very clear to me

我明白了。

with the March 30, 2005 Powerball drawing,

where they expected, based on the number of ticket sales they had,

那一次抽奖，

他们根据售出的彩票数目

to have three or four second-place winners,

估计会有三四个二等奖获得者，

people who match five or six Powerball numbers.

就是那些猜中了五六个号码的人。

Instead, they had 110, and they were completely shocked.

但他们有110个，

他们完全惊呆了。

They looked all across the country and discovered it couldn't be fraud,

他们在全国上下调查，

发现不太可能是个骗局，

since it happened in different states, across different computer systems.

因为这些彩票

是在不同的州，不同的电脑系统。

不管是什么，

Whatever it was, it caused people to behave in a mass-synchronized way.

有种东西，让人们有了

群体同步行为。

So, OK, maybe it had to do with the patterns on the pieces of paper,

好吧，也可能是那一小张彩票

上面的某种图案。

like it was a diamond, or diagonal.

就像也许是菱形，

或者是对角线。

但不是这样的。

It wasn't that, so they're like, OK, let's look at television.

不是这样的，他们就说，

让我们从电视节目上找找吧。

So they looked at an episode of "Lost."

因此，他们看了一集《迷失》

我没有电视机，

Now, I don't have a TV,

别人觉得我很古怪，但这使得我工作富有成效～

which makes me a freak, but very productive --

（笑声）

(Laughter)

And there's an episode of "Lost" where one guy has a lucky number,

我知道，这一集《迷失》

讲的是一个白人的幸运号码，

but it's not a lucky number, it's why he's on the island,

事实上却不是幸运号码，

讲的是他们在岛上呆了多长时间，

他们对照了，

but they looked and the numbers did not match.

号码不相符。

他们还看了《不安分的青春》，

They looked at "The Young and The Restless." It wasn't that, either.

号码也不对。

直到第二天第一个获奖者出现

It wasn't until the first guy shows up the next day and they ask him,

他们问他，

"Where did you get your number?"

“你的号码从哪里来的？”

He said, "I got it from a fortune cookie."

他说，“哦，我从一个幸运饼干中得到的。”

这就是其中一个获奖者的幸运签，

This is a slip one of the winners had,

因为田纳西州彩票安全局

because the Tennessee lottery security officials

觉得这不可能是真的，

were like, "Oh, no, this can't be true."

但这是真的。

But it was true.

Basically, of those 110 people,

这110个人中，基本上有

104 of them or so had gotten their number from a fortune cookie.

104个人

的号码是从幸运饼干中得到的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Yeah. So I went and started looking.

是的，因此，我开始调查。

I went across the country, looking for these restaurants

我跑遍了全国，

来寻找那些

where these people had gotten their fortune cookies from.

获奖者吃到幸运饼干的餐馆。

有很多家，

There are a bunch of them, including Lee's China in Omaha --

包括在奥马哈市的李氏中餐厅，

which is actually run by Koreans, but that's another point,

事实上那是由韩国人开的，但这不是重点。

还有很多家叫做自助中餐。

and a bunch of them named "China Buffet."

What's interesting is that their stories were similar, but different.

有意思的是，他们的故事都相似，

但却有所不同。

It was lunch, it was take-out, it was sit-down, it was buffet,

有的是午餐，有的是外卖，

有的是坐下来吃，有的是自助餐，

it was three weeks ago, it was three months ago.

有的是三星期前，有的是三个月前。

But at some point, all these people had a very similar experience

但在某种程度上，

所以这些人都有一个非常相似的经历，

that converged at a fortune cookie and a Chinese restaurant.

在一个中餐馆，吃了一个幸运饼干。

And all these restaurants were serving fortune cookies,

所有这些中餐馆

都有幸运饼干。

which, of course, aren't even Chinese to begin with.

而我们已经知道，

这些饼干一开始就不是中国的。

It's part of the phenomenon I called "spontaneous self-organization,"

这就有点像我所说的

自发组织现象。

where, like in ant colonies, little decisions made on the micro level

就像在蚂蚁群中，

在微观层面上做出的小小的决定，

actually have a big impact on the macro level.

会在宏观层面上产生巨大的影响。

A good contrast is Chicken McNuggets.

一个很好的对比是，

麦当劳®的麦乐鸡块。

McDonald's actually spent 10 years coming out with a chicken-like product.

麦当劳®花了十年

才推出了鸡肉之类的产品。

They did chicken pot pie, fried chicken, and finally introduced Chicken McNuggets.

他们做了鸡肉馅饼，

炸鸡，

他们最后推出了麦乐鸡块。

And the great innovation of Chicken McNuggets was not nuggifying them,

麦乐鸡块的新发明，

并没有给他们带来金块，

that's kind of an easy concept.

因为这个想法很简单，

但麦乐鸡块背后的技巧是，

The trick was, they were able to remove the chicken from the bone

如何用一种划算的方式来

in a cost-efficient manner,

把鸡肉从骨头上剔出来。

这就是为什么过了这么久

which is why it took so long for people to copy them -- 10 years,

才有人模仿他们。

花了十年时间，

then within a couple months, it was such a hit,

然后在短短几个月之内，

他们就推出了麦乐鸡块，

they introduced it across the entire McDonald's system in the country.

并在全国麦当劳连锁的整个系统中都推广了，

可真是风行一时。

In contrast is General Tso's Chicken,

相反，

我们有左宗棠鸡，

which actually started in New York City in the early 1970s,

是在20世纪70年代在纽约城里兴起的，

as I was also started in this universe in New York City in the early 1970s.

20世纪70年代初期，我也正在纽约读大学～

(Laughter)

And this logo!

还有这个标志！

So me, General Tso's Chicken and this logo are all karmicly related.

于是，我，左宗棠鸡，还有这个标志

都在宇宙范围内有了联系。

但是这道菜也花了将近十年，

But that dish also took about 10 years to spread across America

才从纽约城里的某家餐馆

from a restaurant in New York City.

推广到全国的。

Someone's like, "It's sweet, it's fried, it's chicken --

有人想到，

噢，天哪～ 这道菜是甜的，是油炸的，是鸡肉做的：

Americans will love this."

美国人一定会喜欢。

So what I like to say, this being Bay Area, Silicon Valley,

我想说的是，如果这是海湾地区，硅谷

is that we think of McDonald's as sort of the Microsoft of dining experiences.

我们可以把麦当劳®看作

是餐饮业的微软。

We can think of Chinese restaurants perhaps as Linux,

我们可以把中餐馆看作Linux:

sort of an open-source thing, right?

一种开源系统，对吧？

(Laughter)

一个人的想法

Where ideas from one person can be copied and propagated

可以在这整个系统中被复制，被普及。

across the entire system,

that there can be specialized versions of Chinese food,

在不同的地区，就有特别版本的

depending on the region.

中国菜。

For example, in New Orleans we have Cajun Chinese food,

比如说，

在新奥尔良，我们有法人后裔风味的中国菜，

where they serve Sichuan alligator and sweet and sour crawfish.

你可以吃到四川短吻鳄和糖醋小龙虾。

And in Philadelphia, you have Philadelphia cheesesteak roll,

在费城，

你可以吃到费城奶酪牛排卷，

which is like an egg roll on the outside and cheesesteak on the inside.

它外面看上去像一个蛋卷，

但在里面有奶酪牛排。

我很惊讶的发现，

I was surprised to discover that not only in Philadelphia, but also in Atlanta.

不仅仅是在费城有，在亚特兰大也有。

What had happened was,

原因是，

a Chinese family had moved from Philadelphia to Atlanta,

一个中国家庭

从费城搬到了亚特兰大，

and brought that with them.

把奶酪牛排卷也带过去了。

So the thing is,

问题是，

our historical lore, because of the way we like narratives,

我们的历史知识中，

由于我们对于叙事故事的喜爱，

充斥了大量的人物。

is full of vast characters, such as Howard Schultz of Starbucks

比如说，星巴克®的霍尔德·舒尔茨

and Ray Kroc with McDonald's

麦当劳®的雷·克拉克

and Asa Candler with Coca-Cola.

还有可口可乐®的艾萨·凯德勒

But, you know, it's very easy to overlook the smaller characters.

但是，你知道，

我们非常容易忽视掉小人物。

For example, Lem Sen, who introduced chop suey,

比如说，发明了炒杂烩的

林森，

Chef Peng, who introduced General Tso's Chicken,

发明了左宗棠鸡的

彭厨师，

and all the Japanese bakers who introduced fortune cookies.

还有发明了幸运饼干的

所有日本面包师。

So, the point of my presentation is to make you think twice;

我这篇报告的目的是，

让你能够反复的思考，

that those whose names are forgotten in history

那一些名字被历史遗忘了的人，

can often have had as much, if not more,

对于我们现在吃的食物，

有着同样，也许更加重要的影响。

impact on what we eat today.

Thank you very much.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)