10種擁有美妙歷史的現代食物(2):炸薯條

Top 10 Modern Foods With (Mostly) Delicious Histories

10種擁有美妙歷史的現代食物

9. French Fries

9.炸薯條

Of all the foods to have an origin story, this one seems to be the most clear cut as to where it came from. Unfortunately, there’s an ongoing dispute between France and Belgium as to who really made it.

在所有具有歷史起源的食物中，這一款食物的源起最清楚不過。不幸地是，法國與比利時一直在爭論到底是誰真正發明了這種食物。

The Belgian side of the story is that the 17th Century residents of the Meuse Valley in Belgium were not shy of frying things. They had a tendency to fry any fish that they caught, which made up the majority of what they ate. When winter came and the rivers froze over, the Belgians turned to the ever-reliable spud, preparing them in battered slices, the same way they prepared fish.

比利時的版本是：17世紀比利時默茲河流域的居民喜歡吃油炸食品。他們習慣把捕來的所有魚都進行油炸，這在他們的飲食中佔據了絕大部分。當冬天來臨，河流冰凍，比利時人就求助於他們一直以來所依賴的馬鈴薯，把它們切成薄片預備着，他們對魚也採取同樣的處理方式。

The French side states that, in the late 17th Century, potatoes were regarded unfit for human consumption, and only for pigs to eat. When a famine struck in 1785, this mind-set changed, and the French gave the potato another chance. It caught on so well, by 1795 they were grown everywhere, with even some royal gardens being converted to help grow the friendly spud. During this boom, someone had the smart idea of frying the slices and selling them as ‘frites’. Thus, the French fry was born.

法國的版本是：在17世紀後期，人們認爲土豆並不適合食用，只能用來餵豬。到1785年爆發了饑荒，這種想法才得以改變，法國人發現了土豆的另一個用途。它 變得相當流行，到1795年已經在各個地方都有種植，甚至一些皇家公園都被改造以有利於這些友好的馬鈴薯生長。在這個土豆繁榮的時期，有人想出一個聰明的 點子，將土豆切片並油炸，然後起名爲“炸薯條”進行售賣。薯條由此誕生。