因爲太愛吃太能吃,中國人又被西班牙人討厭了
Having discovered the joys of French wine, caviar and truffles, China’s new rich are turning to a new gourmet delicacy to satisfy their demand for luxury goods from the west: Spain’s jamón ibérico, or Iberian ham. But demand is now threatening to outstrip supply, leaving Spaniards facing steep price rises in their most prized Christmas delicacy.
繼法國葡萄酒、魚子醬和松露之後，熱愛西方奢侈品的中國新富們又愛上了一種新美味——西班牙的伊比利亞火腿。但是，由於需求過旺導致供不應求，現在西班牙人不得不眼睜睜地看着他們最重要的聖誕美食價格飛漲。The recent lifting of import restrictions has allowed top-of-the-range ham to find its “rightful place in the market, alongside caviar and truffles”, René Lemée, the head of exports for the famous Cinco Jotas brand, told El País newspaper.
著名的伊比利亞火腿品牌Cinco Jotas的出口部負責人勒內?雷米告訴《國家報》說，前不久中國取消了伊比利亞火腿的進口限制，讓這一頂級火腿找到了自己“在市場上和魚子醬、松露比肩的合理位置”。The Chinese, pork lovers par excellence, have now been seduced by jamón ibérico. The problem is that the best ham takes years to produce and, as demand outstrips supply, it is pushing up the price by as much as 10%. A 7.5kg leg sells at between 150 and 600.
超愛吃豬肉的中國人如今被伊比利亞火腿給俘獲了。問題在於，最好的火腿需要數年的生產時間，因爲供不應求的原因，價格已經上漲了10%。現在一條7.5公斤的火腿售價在150歐元到600歐元之間（合人民幣1180元到4721元之間）。
Not only are there relatively small areas of dehesa – mostly in north-west and western Spain – but each pig needs about two hectares to fulfil its needs. Once slaughtered, the animals’ legs are plunged into vats of salt and hung and dry-cured over a range of temperatures for a minimum of 36 months, with the best hams cured for about 48 months.
且不說橡樹牧場的面積有限（主要分佈在西班牙西北部和西部），每頭豬至少需要兩公頃地的產出才能吃飽。一旦被宰殺，豬腿將插入鹽缸裏，然後掛起來幹醃，在不同溫度下經過至少36個月才能製成，最優質的火腿要醃製48個月。
“It’s inevitable that the price in Spain is going to rise,” said Roberto Batres, the director of Shanghai de Delaiberia Gold, which exports ham, wine and olive oil to China. “The companies licenced to trade in China don’t have enough jamón de bellota to meet Chinese demand.”
“西班牙火腿價格上漲是不可避免的。”向中國出口火腿、葡萄酒和橄欖油的享餚商貿（上海）有限公司的總監羅伯託?巴特雷斯說，“在中國有經銷權的公司沒有足夠的伊比利亞火腿來滿足中國人的需求。”In an effort to meet demand the Chinese have started importing raw frozen pork from Iberian pigs and curing the meat themselves, although Batres says the product is excessively salty.
爲了滿足國人吃伊比利亞火腿的需求，中國人開始進口冷凍伊比利亞生豬肉來自己醃製火腿，不過巴特雷斯說，中國人醃製的這種火腿產品特別鹹。
