每到中秋節(jié),，月餅就成了主角,。

不光包裝，還有各種造型和口味,，年年都有創(chuàng)新,。

本期《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》culture板塊的世界美食，介紹的就是中國(guó)的月餅,。

Promising the moon

送給月亮的承諾

Like other holiday foods, the mooncake is both constant and endlessly variable

和其他節(jié)日食物一樣,，月餅?zāi)昴暧?，但年年不一?/span>

1. At the southern end of Manhattan the grid system comes undone, and the streets converge like electric cables at the bottom of a junk drawer. Chinese immigrants have flocked to the neighbourhood for well over a century. Trend-obsessed eaters shun this Chinatown for the one in Flushing, or glitzier spots in the East Village. But nowhere in New York offers such a wealth of old-school Cantonese delicacies: crackling roast pork, carefully seasoned seafood and, at this time of year, soft, golden mooncakes.

曼哈頓南端，電網(wǎng)還沒安裝完成,，一條條街道像電線一樣匯聚在雜物箱的底部,。早在100多年前，中國(guó)移民蜂擁而至此地,。緊跟潮流的食客故意避開這個(gè)中國(guó)城的美食點(diǎn),。

但是在紐約，正宗廣東美食應(yīng)有盡有：焦香酥脆的烤豬肉,，精心調(diào)味的海鮮還有每年這個(gè)時(shí)節(jié)柔軟金黃的月餅,。

2. Mooncakes are a stuffed pastry eaten for the Mid-Autumn Festival, a harvest holiday celebrated in much of East Asia, second in importance only to the Lunar New Year. This year it fell on September 10th. Gary Chan, a Chinese-American baker who owns Bibble and Sip in midtown Manhattan, compares it to Thanksgiving: a family reunion with food as its anchor.

月餅是中秋節(jié)日里的一種塞滿餡料的面皮點(diǎn)心。中秋節(jié),，作為一種慶祝收獲的節(jié)日,，主要在東亞地區(qū)慶祝，是僅次于春節(jié)的第二大節(jié)日,。

今年的中秋節(jié)正好是9月10日,。Gary Chan是曼哈頓中心一家叫做Bibble and Sip面包店的糕點(diǎn)師，他將中秋節(jié)比作感恩節(jié)：家人團(tuán)聚在一起,，共享美食,。

3. As with the cakes and pies that conclude a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, mooncakes are celebratory. And rich: they have lard-enriched wheaten crusts and fillings traditionally made from bean paste, mixed nuts, lotus seeds, fatty pork and other unusual sweet foods. Miranda Brown of the University of Michigan notes that in the past they would have been a particular treat in rice-centric southern China. Before baking they are pressed into a mould to imprint designs and characters, further distinguishing them from ordinary fare. When most families did not have ovens, they would have had to buy them from a specialist—another splurge.

就像感恩節(jié)或圣誕節(jié)大餐少不了蛋糕和各種派一樣，月餅是一種慶祝美食,，而且是一種內(nèi)容豐富的美食,。

它們外皮是油光發(fā)亮的小麥面粉皮，里面則是豆沙,，各種堅(jiān)果，蓮子,，肥豬肉以及其他特別甜的食物混合的傳統(tǒng)餡料,。

密歇根大學(xué)的Miranda Brown說(shuō)，過(guò)去,，月餅是中國(guó)南方一種以米為主料的特殊美味,。在烘烤之前，要將其放進(jìn)一個(gè)模具中,，壓出各種造型和文字,，來(lái)區(qū)別于普通的食物。

當(dāng)時(shí)大部分家庭沒有烤箱,，所以,，他們就得從一個(gè)專門賣月餅的人手里買，這又成了另一種炫耀的方式,。

4. They are still mostly bought rather than made. These days cooking them at home is easier, but it is still an undertaking. A recipe from Andrea Nguyen, a Vietnamese American cook, is four pages long, takes 22 steps, requires a special mould to shape the cakes, and includes salted egg yolks, sausage, fruit-cake mix, sorghum and rose-petal liquor, and canned chicken. Mooncakes have a fudge-like density and lightness and, as in many East Asian desserts, the fillings tend to be delightfully subtle rather than sickly sweet.

如今,，大部分人還是買月餅而不是自己做。自己制作月餅現(xiàn)如今變得很方便，但仍然要很多功夫,。

一位越南裔美國(guó)廚師的月餅制作食譜有4頁(yè)長(zhǎng),，需要22個(gè)步驟，而且需要一個(gè)特殊的模具來(lái)給月餅定型,，還需要咸蛋黃,、香腸、水果蛋糕混合物,、高粱,、玫瑰花瓣酒和雞肉罐頭。

月餅有著乳糖的濃稠和輕盈,，就和很多東亞國(guó)家的甜點(diǎn)一樣,，月餅的餡料只是為了點(diǎn)綴而非甜的不可開交。

5. Or, they do now. The tradition of eating mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival dates back to the Tang dynasty, well over 1,000 years ago; but the cakes themselves have varied in form and filling. When many ethnic Chinese left Vietnam, Ms Brown explains, they brought their style of mooncakes with them. These “snow-skin” cakes are served cold, with a soft crust made from steamed rice flour, and have grown popular around the world.

或者,，現(xiàn)在的月餅有點(diǎn)甜的過(guò)分,。中秋佳節(jié)吃月餅的傳統(tǒng)可追溯到1000多年前的唐朝時(shí)期，但是月餅的形狀和餡料卻一直在變,。

當(dāng)很多華裔離開越南回到國(guó)內(nèi),，他們也帶回了當(dāng)?shù)仫L(fēng)格的月餅。這些裹著“雪衣”,，外皮上撒了白米飯制成的米皮,，無(wú)需加熱就能吃的糕點(diǎn)已經(jīng)在全世界流行了。

6. Mr Chan makes highly Instagrammable mooncakes with a mochi and organic sweet-potato filling and inventive moulds (this month’s include lions, persimmons, peanuts and lucky cats). He feels pressure each year to do something novel and delicious; that, combined with the manpower involved, leaves him a little frazzled by early September. The upshot will be familiar to anyone who has cooked a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. “Every year,” he says, “we go, 'We’re not doing this again.’ And then every year we come right back to it.” 

Chan先生做的月餅在Ins上流傳很廣,。他用糯米團(tuán)和有機(jī)紅薯當(dāng)餡料,，使用獨(dú)具個(gè)性的模具（這個(gè)月用的是獅子、柿子,、花生和幸運(yùn)貓）做月餅,。

每年他都要制作一些新穎好吃的月餅，所以壓力很大,。由于今年人手不夠,，他9月初非常忙碌。每年的結(jié)局總是一樣,，就像那些制作圣誕大餐的人一樣,，嘴上說(shuō)著“每年我們都說(shuō)不會(huì)再做了，結(jié)果每年都在做,?！?/span>