Why Caviar Is So Popular in Hong Kong?魚子醬為何風靡香港？

查梅因·莫　王冰/譯

A boom in the production of caviar over the past decade has seen its popularity skyrocket， making it now “more fashionable than elitist”. The pandemic caused a brief dip in sales of the luxury fish eggs， but now “black gold” is piled atop everything， and has found fame on social media. 過去10年間，產量的激增使魚子醬的受歡迎程度飆升，也讓其成為當今的“時尚”食材而非“精英”食材。雖然疫情曾導致奢侈魚子醬的銷量短暫下滑，但現在無論吃什么都要在上面加一坨“黑金”，它在社交媒體上也聲名鵲起。

We just cant seem to get away from caviar.

我們似乎離不開魚子醬。

It doesnt matter whether its being served with vintage Krug or piggybacking pricey tuna belly sushi， the unbridled abundance of “black gold” piled high represents a level of affluence that is still out of reach for the average diner.

無論是搭配優質的克魯格香檳，還是摞在昂貴的金槍魚腩壽司上，毫無節制地高高堆起的“黑金”代表著普通食客仍不可企及的奢華程度。

As much as food bloggers these days enjoy waxing lyrical1 about humble ingredients such as tofu， yams and rice， heaping spoonfuls of caviar on everything and anything still seems to be the last word in2 status symbols.

盡管現在很多美食博主都喜歡熱情談論諸如豆腐、山藥和大米等不起眼的食材，但在每種食物上一勺勺地澆上魚子醬似乎仍是最有力的身份象征。

Like taking a bottle of expensive Lafite wine to a traditional Hong Kong dai pai dong food stall， its all the rage3 on social media—and diners are lapping it up4.

就像帶一瓶昂貴的拉菲去傳統的香港大排檔攤位一樣，澆魚子醬的做法在社交媒體上風靡一時——而且食客們也都在大快朵頤。

Whereas once youd see ostentatious offerings such as a whole tart filled with sea urchin and a blanket of caviar， or mooncakes with the lotus seed paste replaced by dark roe， the ultim-ate culinary flex recently has been this “high-low” trend， contrasting “luxury” caviar with fast or ordinary food： think chicken nuggets， crisps， soft serve ice cream.

你可能曾經見過招搖的菜品，例如盛滿海膽再蓋上厚厚一層魚子醬的餡餅，或者用黑魚子代替蓮蓉作餡料的月餅，而最近烹飪領域的終極變化正是這種“高低對比”熱潮——將“奢華”的魚子醬與快餐或普通食物進行對比，例如雞塊、薯片、軟冰淇淋。

Ive seen it decorating slices of ruby red steak， topping tacos al pastor and， more recently， har gow shrimp dumplings.

我見過魚子醬裝飾著一片片鮮紅的牛排 ，澆在墨西哥烤豬肉玉米餅上，最近還見過用它來點綴蝦餃。

The last irks me the most， but then Im a har gow purist. As the ultimate expression of the subtle delicacy and difficulty of executing traditional Cantonese cuisine， the deceptively simple dumpling deserves respect—and caviar piled on top does not “elevate” an already superior creation （unless your har gow comes frozen and microwaved from the nearest 7-Eleven）.

最后一個最讓我惱火，畢竟我是一個蝦餃純粹主義者。作為傳統粵菜烹飪技藝精巧性以及難度的終極體現，看似簡單的餃子值得尊重——堆在蝦餃上的魚子醬并不能“提升”這道已經很高級的菜品（除非你的蝦餃是從最近的7-11便利店里買的速凍蝦餃，微波爐加熱后才可食用）。

Others have joked about caviar being “high-end MSG”， which is a more delightful way to reframe it. But were not seeing it being used sparingly.

還有人曾調侃魚子醬是“高級味精”，這是一種更令人愉悅的表達方式，但我們并沒有看到人們像使用味精一樣節省地使用魚子醬。

Caviar is ubiquitous. It has seen something of a boom over the past dec-ade， with production growing in leaps and bounds5. For one， most caviar is now farmed and eggs are extracted from female sturgeon using more humane “milking” methods， rather than pillaging the poor fish for their briny bounty and discarding them.

魚子醬無處不在。過去10年間，魚子醬經歷了某種程度的興盛，產量增長突飛猛進。舉例來說，現在大部分魚子醬都來自養殖漁業，而且魚子經由更人道的“擠奶式”方法從雌性鱘魚體內取出，而不是掠奪完咸味寶藏，就把可憐的魚拋棄。

China， not Russia， now leads the way in caviar， according to a 2021 study by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products， accounting for up to 84 per cent of global sturgeon production.

歐洲漁業和水產養殖產品市場觀察機構2021年的一項研究顯示，現在魚子醬產業處于領先地位的是中國，而非俄羅斯。中國的鱘魚產量占全球總產量的84%。

After a brief dip during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic， when high-end restaurants， hotels and cruise lines suspended operations， creating a domino effect in the demand for caviar， its back on the rise.

新冠疫情初期，高端餐廳、酒店和游輪暫停運營，對魚子醬需求產生了多米諾骨牌效應。經歷短暫下滑后，魚子醬需求又開始回升。

This has led to notable trends.

由此掀起一系列熱潮。

According to a bemused editorial in The New York Times in June 2022， caviar “bumps”—a hedonistic way of indulging in mounds of caviar off the back of your hand—are all the rage among millennial diners. It is post-Prohibition6-style revenge dining at its finest.

根據《紐約時報》2022年6月一篇語氣困惑的社論，魚子醬“隆塊”——一種沉迷于從手背上舔食大量魚子醬的享樂主義做法，正在千禧一代食客中風靡。這是后禁酒時代式報復性飲食行為的絕妙體現。

Brands such as Nomad Caviar， founded in 2020—at the beginning of the pandemic—by hospitality veteran Jason Cohen， have been trying to change the perception of the fish eggs from an occasional luxury to an everyday indulgence.

很多魚子醬品牌，如酒店及泛服務業資深人士賈森·科恩于2020年疫情初期在香港創立的“游牧人”，一直在努力改變人們對魚子醬的看法——從偶爾的奢侈轉變為日常的享受。

He points out that the economics of caviar have changed drastically in the past decade， with the price point coming down significantly， allowing him to bring caviar to the masses.

科恩指出，魚子醬經濟在過去10年間發生了巨大變化，魚子醬的價格大幅下降，這使他能夠將魚子醬帶給大眾。

For a time in 2020， as diners shifted from dining out to entertaining in， Cohens relatively affordable supersized tins of caviar became the hottest table topper among Hong Kong gourmands. A whopping 85 per cent of Cohens business is direct to consumers.

2020年的一段時間里，隨著食客從外出就餐轉為在家享受美食，科恩公司相對實惠的超大裝魚子醬罐頭成為香港美食家餐桌上最熱門的佐餐品。科恩公司高達85%的業務直接面向消費者。

“Caviar is still a status symbol， but in a different way，” he says. “I had it the other day with crumpets and butter， which is one of my favourite ways of eating caviar.”

“魚子醬仍然是一種身份的象征，但是象征的方式不同以往。”科恩說，“前幾天我吃了魚子醬配烤面餅和黃油，這是我最喜歡的魚子醬食用方式之一?！?/p>

Its a far cry from7 when he was growing up， when a tiny helping8 of “about 10 eggs” given to him on a blini by his mother was the most extravagant thing he had as a child.

這與他小時候的情況大相徑庭。那時候，母親給他加在薄餅上的一小份“大約10顆魚子”是他這個小孩子能擁有的最奢侈的東西。

“It was like an elitist thing. You had to make US$1 million a year—you had to have a Rolls-Royce， you had to have a boat—to eat caviar，” he says. He likens the trend for caviar to the way even major fashion houses are morphing into something more edgy.

“魚子醬曾經像一種精英食品。你必須年入百萬美元，你必須有一輛勞斯萊斯，你必須有一艘船，才吃得起魚子醬?！笨贫髡f。即使是大型高級時裝店也在向更前衛的風格轉變，科恩將魚子醬的發展趨勢與此類比。

“Caviar now is becoming more fashionable than elitist. Its becoming a bit more street.”

“魚子醬現在變得更時尚了，不再顯得那么精英主義。它在街頭越來越常見?！?/p>

At Argo bar in the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong， beverage manager Lorenzo Antinori—known for such irreverent touches as putting gummy bears in champagne—is busy scheming up “fun serves” of caviar.

香港四季酒店的阿爾戈酒吧里，酒水經理洛倫佐·安蒂諾里正忙著策劃魚子醬“有趣的供應方式”——他以在香檳中加入小熊軟糖等不恭敬的做法而聞名。

Fried chicken and caviar will not be one of them， but dont be surprised to see it piled on smiley face potatoes or boiled eggs infused with whisky or vodka.

魚子醬配炸雞不會是安蒂諾里的創意，但如果看到魚子醬堆在笑臉薯餅或者用威士忌或伏特加浸泡的煮雞蛋上，不要感到驚訝。

He has previously experimented with distilling caviar into vodka， or using it in the process of fat washing spirits—flavouring spirits with a liquid fat like butter or bacon oil.

安蒂諾里之前曾試驗過將魚子醬的精華融入伏特加，還試驗過將其用于烈酒的油脂浸洗過程——油脂浸洗指用黃油或培根油等液態脂肪給烈酒調味。

“When I tried caviar for the first time， what actually interested me the most was not really the flavour， but the texture，” he says. “When it comes to drinks， its about the whole experience—its about the scent as well as the mouthfeel.”

“初次品嘗魚子醬時，最讓我感興趣的其實不是它的味道，而是它的口感?！彼f，“就飲品而言，品的就是整個體驗——關乎香味，同樣也關乎口感?！?/p>

“When we serve cocktails， we want to be creative and push the boundaries as well. But at the same time， its important to us to not alienate anybody，” he says. “I like to do things that are weird， but also they need to be accessible.”

“調制雞尾酒時，我們希望發揮創意，也希望突破邊界。但同時，不疏遠任何人對我們來說非常重要。”他說，“我喜歡做一些不同尋常的事情，但這些事情也得是能做到的?！?/p>

He points out how the perception of caviar as an everyday item may come full circle from the pre-revolutionary days of the Russian tsars， who would serve it to their children for breakfast alongside mashed bananas.

安蒂諾里指出，從俄國革命前的沙皇時代到今天，將魚子醬視為日常食材的觀念兜了一圈又回到原點——沙皇會用魚子醬配香蕉泥給孩子們作早餐。

“Caviar just didnt have value at that time，” he says. “But reading that made me think of maybe creating a banana daiquiri with a side of caviar.”

“魚子醬在當時并沒有價值?！彼f，“但讀到這個故事讓我想到也許可以把魚子醬用作香蕉代基里酒的配菜?！?/p>

While I remain unconvinced， theres plenty of caviar to go around： one high-end hotel has announced a caviar summer staycation9 package and another has rebranded its Italian restaurant as a champagne and caviar bar.

盡管我仍然對此持懷疑態度，但現在有大量的魚子醬能滿足人們的需求——一家高端酒店宣布推出一份以魚子醬為主題的夏日居家度假套餐，還有一家已將其意大利餐廳改造為香檳和魚子醬酒吧。

Perhaps somewhere in the multiverse is another me that is delighted by this news， fist bumping everyone and devouring mountains of caviar with reckless abandon.

也許在多元宇宙里的某個地方，有另一個我會為這個消息感到高興，會和每一個人擊拳慶祝，還會不計后果地放縱自己吞噬堆積成山的魚子醬。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）