经济学人:街头小食 体面户外餐饮的兴起

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　　街头小食

　　Sandwich spread

　　三明治酱

　　The rise of decent outdoor dining

　　体面户外餐饮的兴起

　　ON A cold, blustery morning at Canary Wharf¹, London's second financial district, eating outside does not seem appealing. Yet on a solitary² concrete quay³, suited workers huddle⁴ around picnic benches. Half a dozen food stalls line the water's edge. One sells Thai food out of a rickshaw, another salted pork buns from a converted horse box. Everything on offer is about6 (10). Such is the latest in Britain's culinary evolution.

　　寒风凛冽的早晨，在伦敦第二大金融区—金丝雀码头来份户外早餐看起来可一点都不吸引人。然而在一个偏僻的水泥码头上，穿着工作服的职员们却围在了野餐长凳边。沿着水岸有半打的小吃摊。其中一个小贩在小车里售卖着泰式料理，另一个在改装的火车厢里往鲜肉包上撒着盐。这些售卖的食物价格大约都在6英镑（10美元）左右。这就是英国餐饮的新兴潮流。

　　街头小食.jpg

　　Street dining is hardly new. Kebab vans in university towns serve oily gunk to sozzled students; on weekends in London, grizzled men hawk⁵ frankfurters outside Tube stations. But until recently smarter nosh was mostly available only in restaurants. Now most big cities have at least one regular street food event, as a London fashion has spread out.

　　街头餐饮并不是新鲜事物。大学城里的小吃摊向闲逛的学生们兜售油炸小食。周末的伦敦，头发花白的男人在地铁站外叫卖法兰克福香肠。但直到最近，精致的小点心大多都只在餐厅供应。随着伦敦潮流的扩散，现在大多数大城市都至少有一次定期的小吃美食节。

　　Britain's faltering⁶ economy is part of the explanation. “In a recession, people go into food businesses”, says Mark Laurie of NCASS, a trade association for caterers. Setting up a street food stall takes little capital or specialist knowledge. At Canary Wharf, the traders include a former architect and a bank worker, as well as restaurateurs. Demand is increasing, too, as pinched customers trade down from restaurants.

　　英国摇摇欲坠的经济是促成这一现象的部分原因。“在经济衰退期，人们会转向餐饮行业。”来自NCASS(Nationwide Caterers Association，国际餐饮联盟)的马克·劳里说。一个街头小吃摊只需少量资金和专业知识。在金丝雀码头，小商贩不仅包括餐馆老板，还包括一名前建筑师以及一名前银行职员。囊中羞涩的消费者们将消费由餐厅转向街头美食，需求也在扩大。

　　Yet the biggest driver of outdoor eating is officialdom. Local authorities and commercial property developers see street stalls as a means of quickly gingering up struggling high streets and sterile⁷ plazas⁸. The Canary Wharf Group does not charge for the use of its land by the cluster of street vendors⁹ (the market is organised by Kerb, a profit-making firm). Alistair Turnham, who runs Stock Mkt, a similar outfit¹⁰, says some councils will even pay his firm to run events. Street food vendors thus avoid paying hefty rents or business rates—which helps them to undercut restaurants.

　　然而推动户外餐饮发展的最大动力来自官方。地方机构和商业地产开发商们将街头小吃摊看做迅速为不景气的商业街和冷清的广场带来人气的方法。金丝雀码头集团并不向街头小贩们收取摊位使用费（这一市场由一家盈利公司Kerb组织）。运营着一家类似机构Stock Mkt的阿里斯泰尔·特南说一些地方委员会甚至会雇佣他的公司来运营类似的活动。路边的小吃摊因此也避免了缴纳高昂的租金和营业税，这使得他们能以低于餐厅的价格出售食品。

　　Still, the distinction between indoor and outdoor food is blurring¹¹. The Marriot, an upmarket hotel in Mayfair, recently put on a street food-inspired menu. Trinity Leeds, a new shopping centre in Yorkshire, hosts rolling street food traders as part of its food hall. Some successful street food vendors are setting up restaurants—few want to work out of vans forever. Others are moving into catering¹² for private events. The market economy is triumphing.

　　室内餐饮和户外餐饮的区别还不是很明显。万豪酒店，一家位于梅费尔(伦敦西区高级住宅区)的高级酒店，最近推出了以街头小吃为灵感的新菜单。位于约克郡一个新购物中心—三一·利兹，将流动街头小吃引进了食品大厅。一些成功的街头小吃摊主正在筹备开餐厅—没有多少人想一辈子都在小摊里工作。另一些人正转向为私人宴会提供餐饮。市场经济大获全胜。

　　1.spread out 分散

　　例句:Spread out below was a great crowd.

　　下面是摩肩接踵的人群。

　　2.set up 建立;准备

　　例句:The city police set up roadblocks to check passing vehicles.

　　该市警察设置了路障以检查过往车辆。

　　3.as well as 也，又

　　例句:Ethiopia'sart springs from her early Christian¹³ as well as her Muslim heritage.

　　埃塞俄比亚的艺术起源于其早期的基督教和伊斯兰教文化遗产。

　　4.move into 搬进… 移入…

　　例句:As we move into broadband, a wide range of e-commerce services will become available.

　　我们转入宽频传输领域后，将会提供多种电子商务服务。

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