美国国家公共电台 NPR Food Critic Now Halfway Through Taco-A-Day Quest. Will He Fold?

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

One taco is good, but Mike Sutter thinks a lot of tacos is even better, like a lot. He is the food critic for the San Antonio Express-News. And he is now almost halfway¹ through his quest to eat at least one taco a day all this year and write about it. I talked to him back in January at the beginning of this amazing endeavor. And we are going to check in with him again now. He's with us from member station KUT in Austin. Hey, there.

MIKE SUTTER: Hi. I'm glad we're following along with the important news of the day.

MCEVERS: Absolutely.

SUTTER: I'm about 173 places into it so far. And that's about 10 away from the halfway mark.

MCEVERS: How many tacos have you had so far this year?

SUTTER: Well, 173 times, at least, four - I mean, we're knocking on the door of 700 so far?

MCEVERS: Be honest, are you at all sick of tacos?

SUTTER: No, because you can put so many different things inside of a taco, the constant being the tortilla and even that - flower or corn. So you multiply your choices by two. And it becomes just this infinitely² rolling equation.

MCEVERS: But, you know, come on, there's got to be like a Tuesday night when you're just like, please, I can't eat another taco.

SUTTER: Well, I did hit that point a little bit yesterday because it was an 8-taqueria day yesterday. And I had to take a dinner break in between those to do the other part of my job.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) You had to take a dinner break?

SUTTER: Well, I did...

MCEVERS: I don't understand that.

SUTTER: ...Because I have to be a restaurant reviewer on top of just a taco guy. I feel - some days, I feel like I'm getting stuff like a foie gras goose.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) So you take the dinner break, and what happens?

SUTTER: After that, I had to go to the trailer outside the male strip club.

MCEVERS: So wait. Did you have a taco at that truck?

SUTTER: Well, I did. I ordered tacos out of pastor³, which I should have been a little bit wary⁴ of. As I looked into the trailer - and it just thrown up its flaps. And there was at least a foot-tall mound⁵ of raw meat sitting on top of the flat top grill⁶, trying really hard to get cooked, I guess, in time to be served. And maybe then I should have thought, this isn't the best possible idea. But I did have the tacos. And they were awful.

MCEVERS: What are some of the surprises since we talked to you in January? Like, what are some of the real, like, standouts for you?

SUTTER: I found some brains in my barbacoa. And I found a knuckle⁷ bone in my cabrito.

MCEVERS: You did not.

SUTTER: Yeah, I did. Well, it might not have been a knuckle bone. I don't know. It was certainly an animal bone of some kind - a mammal bone. But that's sort of an occupational hazard. I mean, any full animal roast is a contact sport. This is the NFL of tacos.

MCEVERS: So I live in L.A., which means I'm surrounded by some very good taco situations. But for those people who are listening who do not live in taco country, I guess I want to know, like, what have you learned that you can teach us as a nation?

SUTTER: Well, I think we have to respect the tortilla. The big difference in San Antonio is how many places make their own tortillas. And it makes a huge difference because it's a fresh bakery product. A bigger lesson that I think is, we have to be careful not to call everything that you put in a tortilla, taco, in the same way that you don't want to call every political scandal a gate because it starts to lose its meaning after a while.

MCEVERS: So enjoy them but be a little discerning.

SUTTER: Yes, let's do that.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) And don't try to eat 700 in half a year.

SUTTER: Well, no. I'm not going to advise against that because that would make me a hypocrite.

MCEVERS: (Laughter) Mike Sutter of the San Antonio Express-News who is eating tacos everyday this year.

SUTTER: And you can come with me on that journey at Express-News.com/tacos.

MCEVERS: Oh, I thought you were inviting⁸ me to actually come with you.

SUTTER: All right. But you have to agree to go to the one outside the strip club.

MCEVERS: Done. Yes.

SUTTER: (Laughter) OK.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE FUNK ARK SONG, "HORCHATA")

1 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

2 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

3 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

4 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

5 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

6 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

7 knuckle   

n.指节；vi.开始努力工作；屈服，认输

参考例句：

• They refused to knuckle under to any pressure.他们拒不屈从任何压力。
• You'll really have to knuckle down if you want to pass the examination.如果想通过考试，你确实应专心学习。

8 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。