臺灣女大廚陳嵐舒談旅行中的美食

For the Taiwanese chef Lanshu Chen, cooking is only part of the job. The chef, who worked at high-profile restaurants like the French Laundry in Napa VAlley, owns Le Moût Restaurant in Taichung City, Taiwan, a member of the Relais & Châteaux group. In early March, Ms. Chen, 34, was in Carmel-by-the Sea, Calif., for Relais & Châteaux’s GourmetFest, featuring more than 20 well-known chefs.

對臺灣大廚陳嵐舒來說，烹飪只是工作的一部分。她曾在納帕谷的French Laundry等著名餐館工作，如今她在臺灣臺中市擁有自己的餐廳——Le Moût，它是羅蘭夏朵酒店集團(Relais & Châteaux)的成員。3月初，34歲的陳嵐淑來到加利福尼亞州卡梅爾，參加羅蘭夏朵美食節(Relais & Châteaux’s GourmetFest)，有20多位知名大廚參與這次盛會。

Following are edited excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Chen.

下面的對話經過編輯和濃縮。

Q. How much are you on the road for work?

問：你經常出差嗎？

A. I take a dozen or so trips a year, but they’re usually short — between two and three days — because I’m always in a rush to get back to cooking at Le Moût.

答：我一年旅行十幾次，不過通常都很短，大概兩三天，因爲我總是急忙趕回Le Moût烹飪。

GourmetFest is one of many annual global food festivals. What do you think these festivals mean for both the participating chefs and attendees?

問：羅蘭夏朵美食節是很多年度全球美食節之一。你覺得這些美食節對大廚和觀衆們來說有什麼意義？

As a chef, it is truly enjoyable and inspiring to have a chance to exchange ideas and to celebrate with other chefs. And for the people who come to the festivals, you’re not limited to trying one style of cooking, and you get a sense of different chefs’ perceptions of foods and their personal cultures.

答：作爲大廚，有機會和其他大廚交流、歡聚，真的讓人感到愉快和振奮。參加美食節的觀衆不是隻限於體驗某種風格的食物，還可以感受到不同大廚對美食的理解和個體文化。

While female chefs like yourself have certainly become more visible in the food world in recent years, they still seem to lag behind their male counterparts. Why do you think that is?

問：近些年，像你這樣的女大廚無疑在美食界變得越來越出名，不過，出名的女大廚似乎還是沒有男大廚多。你覺得原因是什麼？

I think it is simply because there haven’t been enough female chefs, which dates back to old societal norms of what roles are acceptable for women. But I do think that is slowly changing, and there are more of us committing ourselves professionally to this field.

答：我覺得這只是因爲女大廚還不夠多，這要追溯到社會對女性角色的傳統規範。但我的確認爲，情況在慢慢變化，越來越多的女人專心投身到這個職業領域。

You have international training, but you chose to go home to open your own restaurant in 2008. Why?

問：你接受過國際培訓，但2008年你選擇回故鄉開設自己的餐館。這是爲什麼？

I had been thinking about having my own place for a while and thought that Taiwan is where it should be because the concept of what I wanted to do — a fine-dining contemporary French spot with subtle Taiwanese influences — didn’t really exist in the country.

答：開餐館之前，我有這個想法已經一段時間了。我覺得應該回臺灣開餐館，因爲當時臺灣沒有我想開設的這種概念的餐館——一個略受臺灣影響的高檔當代法式餐館。

Is that how you would describe the food at Le Moût?

問：這是你對Le Moût餐館的食物的概括嗎？

Yes. It’s a balance of my roots and my training abroad, and I use a lot of local fruits and vegetables that are harder to find elsewhere. One example is turnips. I use preserved turnips, which are very salty, to add in a touch of saltiness into sauces, or I’ll make turnip carpaccio and serve it with an egg yolk.

答：是的。它是我的根源和我在國外接受的訓練的結合。我選用很多本地果蔬，這些東西在別的地方比較難找。比如蘿蔔。我使用醃製蕪菁，它非常鹹，可以用來給醬增加一點點鹹味，或者用它來做蘿蔔牛肉片，和蛋黃一起上桌。

When you travel, what kinds of culinary experiences do you look for, and what advice do you have for travelers who want to stay away from generic and touristy places on the road?

問：你旅行時想獲得什麼樣的美食體驗？對那些想遠離擁擠的普通景點的遊客，你有什麼建議？

I like a mix of food experiences and encourage the same for anyone else. Visiting a new place is not just about dining at the big-name restaurants. I do that, of course, but I like to let the chefs of these fancier places show me their favorites in town. And I’m a fan of street food, especially in Asia where there is such a strong tradition of it, so I definitely get a taste of this side of a city as well.

答：我喜歡豐富多樣的美食體驗，也鼓勵其他人這樣做。到一個新地方，不只是要去著名餐館用餐。我去著名餐館用餐時，喜歡讓那裏的大廚們告訴我，他們最喜歡城裏的哪些餐館。我也很喜歡路邊攤，特別是在亞洲，那裏的路邊攤傳統悠久深厚，所以我肯定也會品嚐一下城市的這一面。

What has been your most memorable meal so far?

問：到目前爲止，你印象最深刻的大餐是什麼？

The four-hour dinner I had three years ago at Ultraviolet in Shanghai, which is run by the French chef Paul Pairet. The restaurant hosts only 10 diners a night, and the meal engages all the senses. When I was served a dish with mushrooms and truffles, it came covered in a black lid and was emanating smoke, and the air smelled of soil and fog. Also, there are projectors which display images on the wall to correspond with the dishes you’re eating, and this one was of the forest. You literally felt like you were in the forest.

答：三年前在上海Ultraviolet餐館的四小時長晚餐。那家餐廳是法國大廚保羅·派雷特(Paul Pairet)經營的，每晚只服務十位客人，那裏的食物能刺激你的所有感官。有一道菜是蘑菇與松露，蓋着黑色蓋子，冒着煙，有點泥土和煙霧的味道。牆上有投影儀，展示的圖片與你正在食用的食物相配。這道菜上來時，展示的圖片是森林。你真的感覺瞬間置身森林。

As a chef, eating well must be a priority for you. Is there any food from home you make sure to take with you when you’re on the road?

問：作爲大廚，對你來說，吃得好肯定是最重要的。有沒有什麼家鄉食物是你出門在外一定要帶的？

Tea is very important to me because it brings me calm and relaxation, so I always travel with loose black and oolong tea and enjoy it in my hotel room. If I have space, I even bring a teapot and cups.

答：茶對我來說非常重要，因爲它能讓我平靜、放鬆，所以旅行時我總是帶着散裝紅茶和烏龍茶，在酒店房間裏享用。如果旅行箱裏有地方，我甚至會帶上茶壺和茶杯。