中國餐桌新寵 吃橡果的豬和伊比利亞火腿

JABUGO, Spain — On a vast farm dotted with oak and cork trees, about 350 pigs are enjoying the final weeks of a short but blissful life. They roam freely, sleep outdoors or shelter in spacious pigsties. Above all, autumn is when they get to feast all day on acorns recently fallen from the trees.

西班牙哈武戈——在一座散佈着橡樹與栓皮櫟的廣袤農場上，有大約350只豬正享受着它們短暫卻幸福的生命的最後幾周。它們自由地漫步，在野外或寬敞豬舍的庇廕下安睡。最重要的是，秋季是它們終日飽食新近離枝的橡果的日子。

“Pigs are known for eating everything, but when it comes to their favorite acorns, they are real connoisseurs and very selective — and the sweeter the acorn, the better,” said Juan Carlos Domínguez Lorenzo, 49, who was born on the farm and has been looking after its pigs since he was a teenager.

“大家都知道豬不挑嘴，不過要說到它們最愛的橡果，這些豬可是十足的行家，非常挑剔——橡果是越甜越好，”胡安·卡洛斯·多明尼奎茲·洛倫佐(Juan Carlos Dominiguez Lorenzo)說。他今年49歲，在這座農場出生，從年少的時候就開始照養這裏的豬隻。

The way these pigs of Spain’s Ibérico breed are fed and raised here is a far cry from how most meats are produced almost anywhere, making the cured ham a delicacy prized for its unique texture and taste, which is enhanced by the sweet and nutty flavor of the acorns the pigs eat.

此處餵養這些西班牙伊比利亞豬的方式，和世界各地大部分肉類產品的生產過程有着天壤之別。這使得這種豬肉醃成的火腿以其獨特的口感與味道而異常鮮美，又因爲這些豬食用的橡果的那股甜美的堅果風味而更上一層樓。

So when the World Health Organization, in a recent report, linked processed meats to colorectal cancer, the news came as an affront to many Spaniards, who have been eating cured hams produced this way for generations.

世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)近來一份報告指出加工肉品與腸癌有關。消息一出，冒犯了不少西班牙人。世世代代，他們都吃着以這種方式醃製出來的火腿。

Today, Spain’s Ibérico hams are increasingly sought after worldwide, particularly among Chinese consumers concerned about the safety of their own homegrown food.

世人對西班牙伊比利亞火腿的追求在今日益發熱烈，特別是那些對自家出產的食物有安全顧慮的中國顧客。

“Spanish ham is a very unique product, but it’s also seen as healthy, which is a real asset when you’re selling to the Chinese,” said Oliver Win of Olivier Pacific Limited, a fine foods distribution company based in Hong Kong that imports the Cinco Jotas brand of Spanish ham.

“西班牙火腿是非常特別的產品，人們也認爲它有益健康，而和中國人作買賣的時候這是很有利的籌碼，”永興太平洋貿易公司的奧立弗·榮(Oliver Win)表示。這是一家位於香港的高級食材分銷商，進口5J牌(Cinco Jotas)的西班牙火腿。

Spain’s producers, in fact, took no small measure of umbrage at the World Health Organization’s attempt to lump their luxury ham together with cheaper products like processed sausages and hamburger meat.

事實上，對於世界衛生組織竟然將他們的極品火腿與加工香腸、漢堡肉這類廉價商品混爲一談，西班牙火腿生產商的火氣可不小。

A single leg of the finest ham from Cinco Jotas — weighing almost 18 pounds — costs about $670 in Spain. (In the United States, the price is about double.) Even the way the ham is sliced is considered something of an art form.

單單一條5J牌最高檔的醃火腿——重達18磅（約合8千克)——在西班牙的售價大約爲670美元（約合4300元人民幣)。（這個價格在美國還要翻上一番）。就連該怎麼給這種火腿切片都被認爲是一門藝術。

“This ham is as natural as food can get — no added heavy metals, preservatives or colorings — and it comes from an animal that has built up muscle by eating the best food and exercising a lot in beautiful surroundings,” said José Gómez, the owner of Joselito, another top brand of ham. “There are thousands of products that present a higher cancer risk.”

“這種火腿是再天然不過的食物了——沒有添加重金屬、防腐劑或染色劑——而且它來自一種攝取頂級養分、在優美的環境中大量運動而鍛煉出肌肉的動物，”另一個高級火腿品牌小何塞(Joselito)的老闆何塞·戈麥斯(José Gómez)說。“還有數不清的食品的致癌風險更高呢。”

With a passion for pork products, and rising incomes, the Chinese have entered the market for Ibérico hams with gusto, even while paying slightly more for Spanish ham than prices set for the American market. The next step, according to Spanish producers, is to get China to lift a cumbersome restriction that forces them to remove the bone from the leg.

因着對豬肉類產品的熱愛與收入的增加，中國人津津有味地進入了伊比利亞火腿的市場，即使他們得爲了這些西班牙火腿付出比美國市場還要再稍高的價錢。根據西班牙生產商所言，他們的下一步是讓中國取消強制他們給火腿剔除骨頭的麻煩規定。

In fact, the Chinese appetite for Spanish pork stretches all the way down its production chain, including innards that Spanish companies struggle to export to many Western countries.

事實上，中國人對西班牙豬肉的胃口一路擴大到了生產鏈的所有環節，包括西班牙公司難以推銷給衆多西方國家的內臟類產品。

Fresh pork exports to China from Spain — including heads, ears and other parts — rose 35 percent last year, making it the second-largest market in volume after neighboring France, according to figures from the Spanish Meat Export Office.

西班牙肉類出口辦公室(Spanish Meat Export Office)的數據顯示，去年西班牙向中國出口的新鮮豬肉產品——包括豬頭、豬耳朵和豬的其他部位——增長了35%，就出口量而言，中國已成爲西班牙豬肉產品的第二大市場，僅次於臨近的法國。

Last year, Fosun, one of China’s largest financial and industrial conglomerates, bought a stake in the parent company of Cinco Jotas, one of Spain’s top brands of Ibérico ham, which is based in Jabugo.

去年，中國最大的金融和工業集團公司之一復興國際入股了5J的母公司，5J是西班牙頂級伊比利亞火腿品牌之一，其總部位於哈武戈。

“We generally think that our culture is closer to that of America, but when it comes to ham, Chinese gastronomy is really in tune with ours,” Bernardino Rodríguez, the general director of Cinco Jotas, said during a tour of cellars where legs of ham are hooked from the ceiling and left to age.

“我們通常認爲，自己的文化和美國更接近，但說到火腿，中國美食文化的確和我們的更一致。”5J總裁貝爾納迪諾·羅德里格斯(Bernardino Rodríguez)一邊帶領大家參觀火腿儲藏窖一邊說，火腿被掛在地窖頂部，一直醃製到足夠的年份。

“I can’t think of anybody more capable of distinguishing between different qualities of ham than the Chinese,” he said.

“我覺得，在分辨不同品質的火腿的差別方面，誰也比不過中國人，”他說。

But the health and quality of the animals have also become a big driver of Chinese demand. Early this year, the Chinese police arrested more than 110 people who were accused of trafficking pork from diseased pigs.

但動物的健康和品質問題也是促使中國人需求增加的一個重要因素。今年早些時候，中國警方還以走私病豬肉的罪名逮捕了110多人。

“Many Chinese come and buy food in Hong Kong and have turned it into a parallel import market largely because of their safety worries about food in China,” Mr. Win, the importer, said.

“很多中國人來香港買食物，將這裏變成一個平行進口市場，這在很大程度上是因爲他們對內地的食品安全存在擔憂，”香港進口商奧立弗·榮說。

Paradoxically, however, the same things that have lured the Chinese about the natural way the pigs here are raised, slaughtered and cured are some of the chief sources of tension between Spain’s producers and the United States.

然而，有些矛盾的是，這些火腿吸引中國人的地方，即這些豬在西班牙當地被飼養、屠宰然後進行醃製的方式，恰恰是西班牙火腿製造商和美國之間關係緊張的主要原因。

Ibérico ham was banned in the United States until about a decade ago over concerns about swine fever and traditional curing methods, and even today just a handful of Spanish slaughterhouses have been authorized to export to the United States.

直到大約十年前，伊比利亞火腿在美國還一直被禁，因爲他們擔心存在豬瘟隱患，也對那種傳統醃製方法存有疑慮。而且即使到今天，也只有爲數不多的西班牙屠宰場被允許向美國出口豬肉產品。