VOA标准英语2011--Melting Pot Cooks Up New American Cuisin

Melting Pot Cooks Up New American Cuisine¹

In most major American cities, You can find food carts, where vendors² sell meals from mobile trucks.
Many people end up cooking the foods of their childhood - whether it's new immigrants selling their native cuisine or entrepreneurs dipping back into grandmother's recipes.
But throughout the United States, a new breed of food cart is emerging. These mobile restaurants sell fusion³ food, bringing together several different ethnic⁴ dishes and ingredients to create a new American cuisine - like a Korean taco.
"It's wrapped in a corn tortilla, Mexican. We have a spicy⁵ pork, which is very Korean," says Kamala Saxton, who owns Marination Mobile, a food truck in Seattle, Washington. "We have put our own homemade pickled jalapenos, which is Korean or Hawaiian. And so there are a number of different ethnicities in one serving of the spicy pork taco."
The Korean taco might be a new taste for a lot of diners. But Saxton feels like it's a natural combination, especially given where she comes from.
VOA - D. Prichep
Korean tofu taco
"I'm Korean, Hawaiian, Filipino and Spanish," she says. "And given that, you have someone in your family that knows how to cook one of those ethnic dishes."
But fusion doesn't just happen for vendors with Saxton's diverse culinary background. Historian Jane Ziegelman, who writes about New York street food, says that even in places which don't have multi-ethnic families, street carts have always been a place where people come together and find out what their neighbors eat.
"You had Irish kids eating Jewish pickles⁶. You had Italian immigrants eating Jewish potato pancakes," says Ziegelman. "You had all kinds of people drinking seltzer, which was, in fact a street food. So people were eating each others' food all the time."
This exchange fueled the evolution of the street food itself. According to Ziegelman, knishes, egg rolls and hot dogs all underwent the same American transformation⁷.
VOA - D. Prichep
Street food menu featuring Japanese hotdogs
"Foods brought over by immigrants grew in size," she says. "This is like something that happens to a lot of foods once they come to the United States. They get bigger and they get blander⁸."
They also get portable. Ziegelman notes that the hot dog moved from a plate to a bun and the bagel became a vehicle for an on-the-go meal of smoked salmon⁹ and cream cheese.
In Portland, Oregon, Megan Walhood fuses this American grab-and-go attitude with the food of her European family. She and her fiancée Jeremy Daniels own a truck called Viking Soul Food.
"The sort of foundation product we serve is lefse, this Norwegian potato flatbread, and I grew up eating that every year at Christmastime," says Walhood. "And then it was Jeremy who kind of had the idea to start using it like a tortilla or a crepe, and just stuffing it with all manner of different things."
Viking Soul Food's most popular lefse is the meatball wrap, a recipe which comes from Walhood's grandmother. It's topped with pickled cabbage and a sauce of melted Scandinavian cheese. This wrap variety would never be seen in Norway, but Daniels and Walhood believe it appeals to the tastes of people of all backgrounds.
VOA - D. Prichep
Viking Soul Food's lefse wraps, made with Norwegian potato flatbread
"People see pork and beef meatballs," says Daniels, "and then they see cheese sauce, and they don't look anything further."
Others agree that fusing the familiar with the exotic helps people approach cart food.
"There's something very familiar to eating a taco," says Kamala Saxton of Marination Mobile. "If you've never had Korean food, or if you've never had Hawaiian food, fair bet that you have had a taco."
As a historian, Ziegelman appreciates how food cart fusion has evolved. But for customers, it's how the food tastes that keeps them coming back for more.
"I have had a Korean taco. It's really, really good," says Ziegelman. "It's really interesting the way these foods, which never grew up together and have no particular reason to harmonize, harmonize in this really gorgeous way."
And if you don't fancy Korean tacos, you might want to give Marination Mobile's kimchi quesadilla a try.

1 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

2 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 fusion   

n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc. 黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• This alloy is formed by the fusion of two types of metal.这种合金是用两种金属熔合而成的。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 spicy   

adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的

参考例句：

• The soup tasted mildly spicy.汤尝起来略有点辣。
• Very spicy food doesn't suit her stomach.太辣的东西她吃了胃不舒服。

6 pickles   

n.腌菜( pickle的名词复数 )；处于困境；遇到麻烦；菜酱

参考例句：

• Most people eat pickles at breakfast. 大多数人早餐吃腌菜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I want their pickles and wines, and that.' 我要他们的泡菜、美酒和所有其他东西。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛

7 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

8 blander   

adj.（食物）淡而无味的( bland的比较级 )；平和的；温和的；无动于衷的

参考例句：

• Generally speaking, I prefer Blander food. 一般说来，我更喜欢吃清淡的食物。 来自互联网
• First turn on the blander, and then pour 2 teaspoons of yogurt into the blander. 首先把搅拌器打开，然后把两勺酸奶倒进搅拌器。 来自互联网

9 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？