舌尖上的美食 第30期:瑪咖 Maca

Maca

瑪咖

In the Genesis of Dongba scripture, human beings are said to be punished by Nature with deluge swallowing almost everything on earth. Only one man, for the mercy of god, is survived. Being forlorn, he enquires the god of Dongba what should he do to reproduce and is indicated to marry the goddess. Before descending to earth, the couple ties the knot in front of the god and is endowed scores of corps as wedding gift. There are, however, two things that are disallowed to carry with, one of which is “Root of Heaven” and in Naxi Dialect named “Maca”, a kind of plant intended for god. Although aware of the warning given by god, the goddess steals the plant and brings it to earth for it has an anti-aging effect. When the god of Dongba discovers it several years later, he is black as thunder. To penalize her misconduct, he casts a spell on the plant, which translates it into turnip, a common plant stripped of the magical effect.

東巴經裏“創世紀”一篇中就提到，人類被自然懲罰，洪水滔天，人類的一個祖先存活下來。他出來後問東巴神“我要繁衍人類，該怎麼辦？”東巴神指示他去娶天女。兩人準備下凡，天神賞賜給了夫妻兩人許多農作物，但是有兩種東西沒有給他們。其中一個叫“天根”，在納西話裏叫“瑪咖”，這是天神吃的東西。之後天女把它的種子釆下帶到了凡間種植。若干年後天神知道了大爲震怒，便施了一個法術，把“天根”變成了如今農家種的“蔓菁”。