神马文学网苏州菜式微了
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苏州菜式微了The delicate flavours of Suzhou cuisine
The Chinese city of Suzhou, about 60 miles from Shanghai, is known best for its gardens and for the network of canals that once earned it the nickname, alongside numerous other Asian cities, of “the Venice of the east”. Though much of the old city has been erased by overzealous development, the gardens are still enchanting, with their rockeries, pools and pavilions. The canalside street of Pingjiang Lu has a sleepy, old-world charm. However, I am here mainly to investigate the food, for Suzhou has its own culinary style, su bang cai, or Suzhou cuisine.
中国苏州市(Suzhou)距上海约60英里，以园林和水网密布名闻中外，它一度赢得了“东方威尼斯”(the Venice of the east)的美誉，许多亚洲城市都有着不同寻常的别名。虽然老城区的大部已在大跃进式的改造开发中被夷为平地，但苏州园林凭借假山、池水和亭子至今仍然光彩夺目。临近古运河的平江路(Pingjiang Lu)静谧而古朴，魅力不凡。然而，我此次到苏州来主要是寻访它的餐饮，因为苏州本地有自己的特色烹饪——苏帮菜(su bang cai)。
A certain obsession with food is perceptible just by strolling along Guanqian Street, the main shopping street in the city centre. Here, engraved plaques outside famous old cake shops explain their pedigrees, and shoppers queue for seasonal delicacies such as red-sauced pork or glutinous rice balls stained by fresh wheatgrass. On another street running south, the old noodle shop Zhuhongxing dispenses soup noodles served with sticky-sweet eel and tender pork belly and other favourite local snacks. It all reminds me of the novella that gave me my own first sniff of Suzhou culinary culture, The Gourmet by local writer Lu Wenfu: a satirical tale of the relationship between a gluttonous landlord and a young communist with a priggish disdain for gastronomy. Hints of the devastating pleasures of Suzhou cuisine pepper every page.
踯躅于苏州市中心的主要商业街——观前街(Guanqian Street)上，当地人对美食的讲究和偏爱一目了然。在观前街上，有名的老式蛋糕房外墙的瓷片画诉说着它不俗的渊薮，顾客们排着长队争购时令佳肴——红烧肉(red-sauced pork)以及用新鲜芽草汁做的糯米团。在朝南去的另一条街上，老式面店朱鸿兴(Zhuhongxing)供应各式汤面，还配有粘甜鳝丝、脆爽肚丝以及其它一些醉人的特色小吃。我脑海里立刻浮现出苏州本地作家陆文夫(Lu Wenfu)的中篇小说《美食家》(The Gourmet)，它使我初次感悟苏州的餐饮文化：小说以略带讽刺的笔调，讲述了一位嗜吃如命的资本家与一位鄙视享乐的极其自负的年轻共产党员干部之间的纠葛往事，对苏州烹饪尽在不言中的痴恋贯穿全书始终。
Broadly speaking, Suzhou belongs to the great Huaiyang culinary region in the east, which is notable for its easy climate, plentiful produce and rich artistic and gastronomic culture. For centuries, this region was a magnet for the literati and many gentlemen of letters who lived or lingered here, such as the Song dynasty poets Su Dongpo and Lu You, and the Qing dynasty poet Yuan Mei, wrote about its food.
笼统地说，苏州分属中国东部的大淮扬菜系地区(Huaiyang culinary region)，这个地区以气候温和、特产丰饶、艺术与美食文化浓郁而著称于世。几个世纪来，它吸引了无数的文人墨客居住或驻足于此，包括宋代诗人苏东坡、陆游(Song dynasty poets Su Dongpo and Lu You)，以及清代诗人袁枚(Qing dynasty poet Yuan Mei)，他们在自己的诗作中对本地区的菜肴赞誉有加。
Suzhou itself, like other cities in the region, has its own famous dishes and gastronomic predilections, although many Chinese outsiders dismiss its style as cloyingly sweet. In the west, Suzhou cooking is largely unknown, although anyone eating Shanghainese cuisine will be unwittingly tasting the influence of Suzhou, and many people will have come across a few of its most celebrated dishes, such as “squirrel fish” (song shu gui yu) dressed in sweet-and-sour sauce.
与该地区其它城市一样，苏州也有自己的名菜及美食偏好，虽然许多外地人对它过分偏重甜味嗤之以鼻。上海本帮菜(Shanghainese cuisine)的食客无意之中都吃过苏州风味特色的菜，许多食客偶尔也会吃到过几样苏州名菜，如糖醋汁烹制出的松鼠桂鱼(squirrel fish, song shu gui yu)，但是苏州菜在西方社会却几乎不为人所知。
On this, my first trip to Suzhou, by an amazing stroke of luck I find myself within 24 hours in a small kitchen with two retired master chefs preparing a private banquet for a table of local officials. I watch as they whip up, in barely more than an hour, a feast of eight or nine dishes, including a fabulous soup of turtle, pork, ham, chicken and bamboo shoots (not to mention the nine cold dishes they had made in advance). With every dish, they throw a little extra into the wok, so that I can have a taste, and when they have finished we join the rest of the staff for supper. For me, it is a delightful introduction to Suzhou culinary culture.
这是本人第一次光临苏州，真是三生有幸，到苏州还不到24小时，我就在一家小型厨房内观看两位退休的特级厨师为当地官员准备一桌私宴的全过程。两位师傅在不到1个小时的时间内就做出了一桌8、9个菜的盛宴，还外加一个由龟、火腿、鸡肉和竹笋做的鲜汤（还不提那9个预先已经准备好的凉菜）。做每道菜时，他们就往炒锅里多放一点，以便我能遍尝，待他们炒菜完毕，我们就和其它员工一起吃了晚饭。对我来说，这是体验苏州餐饮文化愉快之旅的开始。
It isn’t the only serendipitous encounter of the trip. Later, I stumble upon Wumen Renjia, a restaurant devoted to traditional Suzhou cuisine. It occupies a rambling old courtyard house and is part of the Suzhou Folk Museum. Founded in 1986, it is now run by Sha Peizhi, a devoted advocate of Suzhou’s culinary culture. “Suzhou is an extraordinary place with a remarkable heritage,” she tells me. “Its gardens are already on the Unesco World Heritage List, and its opera is recognised as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage – so why not its food?”
这还不是我这次旅程唯一的“艳遇”。其后，我又不经意地光顾了“吴门人家” (Wumen Renjia)，这是一家专做苏州传统菜肴的餐馆。它是一座闲趣幽雅的老式庭院，还是苏州民俗博物馆(the Suzhou Folk Museum)的一部分。“吴门人家”开业于1986年，现由沙佩智(Sha Peizhi)经营，她是苏州餐饮文化的铁杆拥趸。“苏州人杰地灵，遗存丰富，”她告诉我。“苏州园林已上了联合国教科文组织的遗产名录(Unesco World Heritage List)，昆曲也已是非物质文化遗产(intangible cultural heritage)，那么有什么理由不能让苏州的餐饮红遍大江南北呢？”
Since Sha took over Wumen Renjia in 2003, she has conducted her own research into the history of Suzhou cuisine, visiting the imperial archives in Beijing to find out what the Qianlong emperor ate during his visit here in 1751, and writing introductions to local culinary culture that are displayed on the walls of the restaurant. “Originally there were around 300 gardens in Suzhou [only a few dozen remain], as well nearly 50 official residences, and each of these households would have had teams of private chefs, so you can imagine the standard of the food. Suzhou has a well-established gourmet culture.”
自从沙佩智于2003年接掌“吴门人家”之后，她自己深入研究了苏州的餐饮历史，专门去北京查阅了以前的皇家档案，弄清楚了乾隆皇帝(Qianlong emperor) 1751年下江南到苏州时所用的御膳，并把介绍苏州餐饮文化的相关资料悬挂于餐馆墙上。“苏州园林最初大约有300座（只有几十座留存至今），还有近50座官邸，每座官邸都雇了一大帮私人厨师，所以你可以想象菜肴的质量有多高。苏州具有悠久的美食文化传统。”
Sha dismisses the accusation of sweetness as a misunderstanding by outsiders. “Most Suzhou dishes are very subtle, with flavours that are light and gentle. They are understated rather than fancy, like our gardens, with their naturalistic elegance. Of course, this means that Suzhou cooking is hard to do well because it relies on the finest, freshest ingredients; and some of our cooking techniques are rather troublesome. But ours is a very balanced style of cooking.”
对于外界指责苏州菜过甜，沙佩智认为是外地人误解所致。“多数苏州菜精细独到，味道清淡柔和。它们与我们的园林一样低调而不张扬，有种浑然天成的雅致。当然，这也意味着苏州菜不容易做好，因为它有赖于最好、最新鲜的配料菜；况且有些烹饪方法相当繁琐。但是我们的烹制十分注重均衡。”
Over dinner at Wumen Renjia, some Chinese friends and I enjoy a feast of Suzhou specialities, many made with unusual local ingredients. There are spiced peanuts and bean curd, a delicious, crunchy relish of roasted pine kernels with Jinhua ham and white sugar, sliced cold duck in a rich, ruddy sauce, and xian cai, preserved mustard greens.
在“吴门人家”时，我和一些中国朋友享用了一顿苏州特色的晚宴，许多菜肴都是用当地的特别菜料做的：五香花生香干(spiced peanuts and bean curd)、松仁火腿（relish of roasted pine kernels with Jinhua ham and white sugar，炒热的松子拌上金华火腿和白沙糖，香脆可口）、一份红卤鸭(sliced cold duck in a rich, ruddy sauce)、以及罐头装的绿苋菜(xian cai, or preserved mustard greens)。
Our main courses include “cherry pork” that has been slow-cooked for seven or eight hours, seasonal broad beans stir-fried with spring onions, and mushrooms with shepherd’s purse greens. For our soup, we have a broth of tender silver fish with water shield (chun cai), a slippery water vegetable. As Sha had promised, the sweet tastes are balanced by the understated flavours of fresh ingredients, simply but beautifully cooked. I was satisfied that this was a meal that would have pleased Lu Wenfu’s gluttonous gourmet and outraged his starchy communist.
我们的主菜有：用慢火炖7至8个小时的樱桃肉(cherry pork)，时令菜小葱爆炒蚕豆(broad beans stir-fried with spring onions)以及新鲜荠菜炒蘑菇(mushrooms with shepherd’s purse greens)。我们还点了鲜嫩银鱼莼菜汤(broth of tender silver fish with water shield)，莼菜(chun cai)是一种爽滑的水生植物。正如沙佩智所说的那样，新鲜蔬菜做法简单，火候又恰到好处，它的清淡味恰巧“中和”了甜味。能吃到这顿让陆文夫笔下那位嗜吃如命的“美食家”所爱，又让笔下那位死板的党干部所恨的盛宴，我真是三生有幸。
By all accounts there is a small and dwindling number of Suzhou restaurants that specialise in the local cuisine. Two famous old names in the city centre, the Deyue Lou and the Songhe Lou, offer classic Suzhou dishes (squirrel fish is a speciality of the Songhe Lou), but they are outnumbered by western fast food outlets and by restaurants specialising in other cuisines, such as Indian and Sichuanese.
据说，专做苏州本地特色菜的饭馆数目不多，且数量已渐趋减少。市中心的两家著名的老字号——得月楼(Deyue Lou)和松鹤楼(Songhe Lou)专做苏州传统名菜（松鼠桂鱼是松鹤楼的特色菜），但是，相比满大街的西式快餐馆以及经营其它地方特色菜系的餐馆（如印度菜和川菜），它们显得形单影只。
“Chinese people are blindly following the west in the clothes they wear, the homes they live in, and the food they eat,” says Sha. “Cultured Suzhou people know it’s not a good idea to eat spicy food in this climate because it creates internal heat. But young people’s tastes are changing. They are seduced by advertisements and they are also after stimulation in their food, which is why Sichuanese places are so popular. They see the kind of food we serve as old-fashioned.”
“中国人盲目跟风西方的服饰，居所及饮食，”沙佩智说。“有文化的苏州人知道本地的气候条件不适合吃麻辣味的菜，因为这会造成身体内热。但年轻人的口味在不断变化。他们受广告诱惑，饮食也寻求刺激，这就是为何川菜馆(Sichuanese places)如此受欢迎的原因。他们把我们餐馆的菜肴视为老派。”
Wumen Renjia is not a smart or fashionable restaurant – aside from one vast and magnificent private room, the main dining spaces have a scruffy, lived-in air – but it’s a favourite among the older generation of locals, and with tourists who come here for a real taste of Suzhou. In the kitchens, one chef, in his seventies, is schooling younger members of staff in the arts of Suzhou cookery. “I want visitors to understand something of our way of life,” says Sha. “I want to make sure that our culinary traditions are handed down to the next generation.”
“吴门人家”不是标新立异的时尚类餐馆——除了宽敞和富丽的包间外，大堂的就餐区域给人的感觉有点破旧和邋遢——但是对于老一辈的苏州本地人以及来此品尝正宗苏州风味菜的游客来说，它却是个最佳之地。在它的厨房，一位70多岁的老厨师正在手把手地教年轻徒弟苏州烹饪的精髓。“我想让游客理解我们生活方式的点点滴滴，”沙佩智说。“我想方设法要让我们的烹饪传统一代代得以传承下去。”
Fuchsia Dunlop is the author of ‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China’ (Ebury Press), winner of the Jane Grigson Award in the US and the UK’s Kate Whiteman Award
扶霞•邓洛普是《鱼翅与花椒：吃在中国的酸甜回忆录》(‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China’)的作者，该书由伊布里出版社(Ebury Press)出版，她还是美国简•格里森奖(Jane Grigson Award)与英国凯特•怀特曼奖(Kate Whiteman Award)的获得者。
The Chinese city of Suzhou, about 60 miles from Shanghai, is known best for its gardens and for the network of canals that once earned it the nickname, alongside numerous other Asian cities, of “the Venice of the east”. Though much of the old city has been erased by overzealous development, the gardens are still enchanting, with their rockeries, pools and pavilions. The canalside street of Pingjiang Lu has a sleepy, old-world charm. However, I am here mainly to investigate the food, for Suzhou has its own culinary style, su bang cai, or Suzhou cuisine.
中国苏州市(Suzhou)距上海约60英里，以园林和水网密布名闻中外，它一度赢得了“东方威尼斯”(the Venice of the east)的美誉，许多亚洲城市都有着不同寻常的别名。虽然老城区的大部已在大跃进式的改造开发中被夷为平地，但苏州园林凭借假山、池水和亭子至今仍然光彩夺目。临近古运河的平江路(Pingjiang Lu)静谧而古朴，魅力不凡。然而，我此次到苏州来主要是寻访它的餐饮，因为苏州本地有自己的特色烹饪——苏帮菜(su bang cai)。
A certain obsession with food is perceptible just by strolling along Guanqian Street, the main shopping street in the city centre. Here, engraved plaques outside famous old cake shops explain their pedigrees, and shoppers queue for seasonal delicacies such as red-sauced pork or glutinous rice balls stained by fresh wheatgrass. On another street running south, the old noodle shop Zhuhongxing dispenses soup noodles served with sticky-sweet eel and tender pork belly and other favourite local snacks. It all reminds me of the novella that gave me my own first sniff of Suzhou culinary culture, The Gourmet by local writer Lu Wenfu: a satirical tale of the relationship between a gluttonous landlord and a young communist with a priggish disdain for gastronomy. Hints of the devastating pleasures of Suzhou cuisine pepper every page.
踯躅于苏州市中心的主要商业街——观前街(Guanqian Street)上，当地人对美食的讲究和偏爱一目了然。在观前街上，有名的老式蛋糕房外墙的瓷片画诉说着它不俗的渊薮，顾客们排着长队争购时令佳肴——红烧肉(red-sauced pork)以及用新鲜芽草汁做的糯米团。在朝南去的另一条街上，老式面店朱鸿兴(Zhuhongxing)供应各式汤面，还配有粘甜鳝丝、脆爽肚丝以及其它一些醉人的特色小吃。我脑海里立刻浮现出苏州本地作家陆文夫(Lu Wenfu)的中篇小说《美食家》(The Gourmet)，它使我初次感悟苏州的餐饮文化：小说以略带讽刺的笔调，讲述了一位嗜吃如命的资本家与一位鄙视享乐的极其自负的年轻共产党员干部之间的纠葛往事，对苏州烹饪尽在不言中的痴恋贯穿全书始终。
Broadly speaking, Suzhou belongs to the great Huaiyang culinary region in the east, which is notable for its easy climate, plentiful produce and rich artistic and gastronomic culture. For centuries, this region was a magnet for the literati and many gentlemen of letters who lived or lingered here, such as the Song dynasty poets Su Dongpo and Lu You, and the Qing dynasty poet Yuan Mei, wrote about its food.
笼统地说，苏州分属中国东部的大淮扬菜系地区(Huaiyang culinary region)，这个地区以气候温和、特产丰饶、艺术与美食文化浓郁而著称于世。几个世纪来，它吸引了无数的文人墨客居住或驻足于此，包括宋代诗人苏东坡、陆游(Song dynasty poets Su Dongpo and Lu You)，以及清代诗人袁枚(Qing dynasty poet Yuan Mei)，他们在自己的诗作中对本地区的菜肴赞誉有加。
Suzhou itself, like other cities in the region, has its own famous dishes and gastronomic predilections, although many Chinese outsiders dismiss its style as cloyingly sweet. In the west, Suzhou cooking is largely unknown, although anyone eating Shanghainese cuisine will be unwittingly tasting the influence of Suzhou, and many people will have come across a few of its most celebrated dishes, such as “squirrel fish” (song shu gui yu) dressed in sweet-and-sour sauce.
与该地区其它城市一样，苏州也有自己的名菜及美食偏好，虽然许多外地人对它过分偏重甜味嗤之以鼻。上海本帮菜(Shanghainese cuisine)的食客无意之中都吃过苏州风味特色的菜，许多食客偶尔也会吃到过几样苏州名菜，如糖醋汁烹制出的松鼠桂鱼(squirrel fish, song shu gui yu)，但是苏州菜在西方社会却几乎不为人所知。
On this, my first trip to Suzhou, by an amazing stroke of luck I find myself within 24 hours in a small kitchen with two retired master chefs preparing a private banquet for a table of local officials. I watch as they whip up, in barely more than an hour, a feast of eight or nine dishes, including a fabulous soup of turtle, pork, ham, chicken and bamboo shoots (not to mention the nine cold dishes they had made in advance). With every dish, they throw a little extra into the wok, so that I can have a taste, and when they have finished we join the rest of the staff for supper. For me, it is a delightful introduction to Suzhou culinary culture.
这是本人第一次光临苏州，真是三生有幸，到苏州还不到24小时，我就在一家小型厨房内观看两位退休的特级厨师为当地官员准备一桌私宴的全过程。两位师傅在不到1个小时的时间内就做出了一桌8、9个菜的盛宴，还外加一个由龟、火腿、鸡肉和竹笋做的鲜汤（还不提那9个预先已经准备好的凉菜）。做每道菜时，他们就往炒锅里多放一点，以便我能遍尝，待他们炒菜完毕，我们就和其它员工一起吃了晚饭。对我来说，这是体验苏州餐饮文化愉快之旅的开始。
It isn’t the only serendipitous encounter of the trip. Later, I stumble upon Wumen Renjia, a restaurant devoted to traditional Suzhou cuisine. It occupies a rambling old courtyard house and is part of the Suzhou Folk Museum. Founded in 1986, it is now run by Sha Peizhi, a devoted advocate of Suzhou’s culinary culture. “Suzhou is an extraordinary place with a remarkable heritage,” she tells me. “Its gardens are already on the Unesco World Heritage List, and its opera is recognised as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage – so why not its food?”
这还不是我这次旅程唯一的“艳遇”。其后，我又不经意地光顾了“吴门人家” (Wumen Renjia)，这是一家专做苏州传统菜肴的餐馆。它是一座闲趣幽雅的老式庭院，还是苏州民俗博物馆(the Suzhou Folk Museum)的一部分。“吴门人家”开业于1986年，现由沙佩智(Sha Peizhi)经营，她是苏州餐饮文化的铁杆拥趸。“苏州人杰地灵，遗存丰富，”她告诉我。“苏州园林已上了联合国教科文组织的遗产名录(Unesco World Heritage List)，昆曲也已是非物质文化遗产(intangible cultural heritage)，那么有什么理由不能让苏州的餐饮红遍大江南北呢？”
Since Sha took over Wumen Renjia in 2003, she has conducted her own research into the history of Suzhou cuisine, visiting the imperial archives in Beijing to find out what the Qianlong emperor ate during his visit here in 1751, and writing introductions to local culinary culture that are displayed on the walls of the restaurant. “Originally there were around 300 gardens in Suzhou [only a few dozen remain], as well nearly 50 official residences, and each of these households would have had teams of private chefs, so you can imagine the standard of the food. Suzhou has a well-established gourmet culture.”
自从沙佩智于2003年接掌“吴门人家”之后，她自己深入研究了苏州的餐饮历史，专门去北京查阅了以前的皇家档案，弄清楚了乾隆皇帝(Qianlong emperor) 1751年下江南到苏州时所用的御膳，并把介绍苏州餐饮文化的相关资料悬挂于餐馆墙上。“苏州园林最初大约有300座（只有几十座留存至今），还有近50座官邸，每座官邸都雇了一大帮私人厨师，所以你可以想象菜肴的质量有多高。苏州具有悠久的美食文化传统。”
Sha dismisses the accusation of sweetness as a misunderstanding by outsiders. “Most Suzhou dishes are very subtle, with flavours that are light and gentle. They are understated rather than fancy, like our gardens, with their naturalistic elegance. Of course, this means that Suzhou cooking is hard to do well because it relies on the finest, freshest ingredients; and some of our cooking techniques are rather troublesome. But ours is a very balanced style of cooking.”
对于外界指责苏州菜过甜，沙佩智认为是外地人误解所致。“多数苏州菜精细独到，味道清淡柔和。它们与我们的园林一样低调而不张扬，有种浑然天成的雅致。当然，这也意味着苏州菜不容易做好，因为它有赖于最好、最新鲜的配料菜；况且有些烹饪方法相当繁琐。但是我们的烹制十分注重均衡。”
Over dinner at Wumen Renjia, some Chinese friends and I enjoy a feast of Suzhou specialities, many made with unusual local ingredients. There are spiced peanuts and bean curd, a delicious, crunchy relish of roasted pine kernels with Jinhua ham and white sugar, sliced cold duck in a rich, ruddy sauce, and xian cai, preserved mustard greens.
在“吴门人家”时，我和一些中国朋友享用了一顿苏州特色的晚宴，许多菜肴都是用当地的特别菜料做的：五香花生香干(spiced peanuts and bean curd)、松仁火腿（relish of roasted pine kernels with Jinhua ham and white sugar，炒热的松子拌上金华火腿和白沙糖，香脆可口）、一份红卤鸭(sliced cold duck in a rich, ruddy sauce)、以及罐头装的绿苋菜(xian cai, or preserved mustard greens)。
Our main courses include “cherry pork” that has been slow-cooked for seven or eight hours, seasonal broad beans stir-fried with spring onions, and mushrooms with shepherd’s purse greens. For our soup, we have a broth of tender silver fish with water shield (chun cai), a slippery water vegetable. As Sha had promised, the sweet tastes are balanced by the understated flavours of fresh ingredients, simply but beautifully cooked. I was satisfied that this was a meal that would have pleased Lu Wenfu’s gluttonous gourmet and outraged his starchy communist.
我们的主菜有：用慢火炖7至8个小时的樱桃肉(cherry pork)，时令菜小葱爆炒蚕豆(broad beans stir-fried with spring onions)以及新鲜荠菜炒蘑菇(mushrooms with shepherd’s purse greens)。我们还点了鲜嫩银鱼莼菜汤(broth of tender silver fish with water shield)，莼菜(chun cai)是一种爽滑的水生植物。正如沙佩智所说的那样，新鲜蔬菜做法简单，火候又恰到好处，它的清淡味恰巧“中和”了甜味。能吃到这顿让陆文夫笔下那位嗜吃如命的“美食家”所爱，又让笔下那位死板的党干部所恨的盛宴，我真是三生有幸。
By all accounts there is a small and dwindling number of Suzhou restaurants that specialise in the local cuisine. Two famous old names in the city centre, the Deyue Lou and the Songhe Lou, offer classic Suzhou dishes (squirrel fish is a speciality of the Songhe Lou), but they are outnumbered by western fast food outlets and by restaurants specialising in other cuisines, such as Indian and Sichuanese.
据说，专做苏州本地特色菜的饭馆数目不多，且数量已渐趋减少。市中心的两家著名的老字号——得月楼(Deyue Lou)和松鹤楼(Songhe Lou)专做苏州传统名菜（松鼠桂鱼是松鹤楼的特色菜），但是，相比满大街的西式快餐馆以及经营其它地方特色菜系的餐馆（如印度菜和川菜），它们显得形单影只。
“Chinese people are blindly following the west in the clothes they wear, the homes they live in, and the food they eat,” says Sha. “Cultured Suzhou people know it’s not a good idea to eat spicy food in this climate because it creates internal heat. But young people’s tastes are changing. They are seduced by advertisements and they are also after stimulation in their food, which is why Sichuanese places are so popular. They see the kind of food we serve as old-fashioned.”
“中国人盲目跟风西方的服饰，居所及饮食，”沙佩智说。“有文化的苏州人知道本地的气候条件不适合吃麻辣味的菜，因为这会造成身体内热。但年轻人的口味在不断变化。他们受广告诱惑，饮食也寻求刺激，这就是为何川菜馆(Sichuanese places)如此受欢迎的原因。他们把我们餐馆的菜肴视为老派。”
Wumen Renjia is not a smart or fashionable restaurant – aside from one vast and magnificent private room, the main dining spaces have a scruffy, lived-in air – but it’s a favourite among the older generation of locals, and with tourists who come here for a real taste of Suzhou. In the kitchens, one chef, in his seventies, is schooling younger members of staff in the arts of Suzhou cookery. “I want visitors to understand something of our way of life,” says Sha. “I want to make sure that our culinary traditions are handed down to the next generation.”
“吴门人家”不是标新立异的时尚类餐馆——除了宽敞和富丽的包间外，大堂的就餐区域给人的感觉有点破旧和邋遢——但是对于老一辈的苏州本地人以及来此品尝正宗苏州风味菜的游客来说，它却是个最佳之地。在它的厨房，一位70多岁的老厨师正在手把手地教年轻徒弟苏州烹饪的精髓。“我想让游客理解我们生活方式的点点滴滴，”沙佩智说。“我想方设法要让我们的烹饪传统一代代得以传承下去。”
Fuchsia Dunlop is the author of ‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China’ (Ebury Press), winner of the Jane Grigson Award in the US and the UK’s Kate Whiteman Award
扶霞•邓洛普是《鱼翅与花椒：吃在中国的酸甜回忆录》(‘Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China’)的作者，该书由伊布里出版社(Ebury Press)出版，她还是美国简•格里森奖(Jane Grigson Award)与英国凯特•怀特曼奖(Kate Whiteman Award)的获得者。