谷歌食堂吃貨天堂 好的創意吃出來！

By now, the American search giant's cafeteria has achieved a fame to match the firm itself. In keeping with the corporate "Innovate or Die" motto, Google's chefs come up with new ideas every day.
要說谷歌食堂的名氣，絲毫不亞於這間互聯網公司本身。先不管吃鮑魚龍蝦和烤鴨的傳聞是否爲真，谷歌中國公司的食堂百分之百地延續了“不創新會死”的工程師文化，甚至連大師傅都是半個“極客”——賣點十足。

At 11:30 each morning, as the sun streams in through the bay window of Google's canteen, an aroma begins to fill the room. It's time for those hoodie-and-jeans sporting IT workers to march in with identity cards hanging round their necks – ready for a good meal. They are calm and in a good mood: they know what awaits them. Those of us who don't get to enjoy this every day can't but help feel a little envious.
每到中午十一點三十，陽光剛好打在一層餐廳的大玻璃窗上，廚師依次將菜盤擺上廚架，餐碟、碗筷準備到位，掀去保鮮膜，香氣隨着熱氣飄出來，穿着帽衫仔褲或是格襯衣毛坎肩、脖子上掛着工牌的IT達人們，插着褲子口袋淡定入場。

You are wrong if you think these workers are taking a break -- they have simply embarked upon a fresh project. Their first mission is to choose between Chinese or Western food. Then comes the multi-choice exam of selecting what you'd like from the buffet, the salad bar or perhaps ordering something to be g the dozen Chinese dishes on offer, we have braised duck wings, fried kidneys with squid, lamb chops and Mandarin fish - all steaming hot and ready to go. If that doesn't get your digestive juices flowing, consider what is available from the West: slow-stewed shoulder of beef with mango salsa, grape-braised clams and homemade r you've managed to choose a main course, six highly original desserts are lying in wait. Everything is free and you can eat as much as you want. At this point, if you work somewhere else, try not to think about your own office cafeteria.
每天的菜單都貼在食堂門口，裏邊則分爲中餐區、西餐區、沙拉區和 現做區。舉個例子，某天的中餐涼菜是滷鴨翅和酸辣蕨根粉，熱菜則有韭黃炒杏鮑菇、溫熗雙花、鹽水鱖魚、風味羊排等等不下十種，西餐主打的則是“12小時焗 牛肩峯配芒果薩薩汁”以及白葡萄汁燴蛤蜊，另配當家比薩，還有六道西式甜品。形式是自助餐，不用刷卡不用付費，吃多少悉聽君便。

Xue Rongsheng (薛榮升), Google China's head chef, with nearly 20 years of experience in five-star hotels, told the EO that the chefs use the world's best equipment in the kitchen. When the canteen was opened in 2007, in all of Beijing you could only find two of the ovens that they use. In addition, he is told not to worry about the purchasing budget for his ingredients.
這家公司的企業文化決定了其對於員工飲食的投入是不遺餘力的。廚師長薛榮升說，他們的設備都是世界上最頂級的，2007年穀歌食堂剛開業時使用的烤箱，全北京只有兩臺。而每年公司給出的餐飲預算，基本上不會讓廚師團隊面臨成本上的壓力。

The only mission for Xue and his assistants is: "to submerge ourselves in the ocean of cuisine." They are a team of two-dozen people. There are more than 500 in-house diners daily, but they provide enough quantity for up to 800, because the staff loves bringing in their friends and family for the occasional meal - and they often pick up take-away when they plan to work late into the night.
這種環境讓廚師們“完全沉浸在了技藝的海洋”。目前谷 歌擁有20多名員工的餐廳團隊服務對象是公司超過500名員工，而每日提供的則是七八百人的菜量，因爲經常有員工會帶家人和朋友過來吃飯，偶爾還要打包留 給晚上加班。廚師長薛榮升有近二十年的五星級酒店從業經驗，五年前經數輪PK成爲谷歌食堂的當家掌勺人。Innovation
創意

So how passionate are Google's chefs about their work? One answer is that between 2007 and 2010, the team created more than 3,000 different kinds of dessert. As for the main courses, they gave up counting. One can't help thinking that there are some people who would pay to work at Google.
谷歌廚師的創新熱情有多高？據不完全統計，他們從2007年到2010年，就開發了超過3000種甜品，而菜品的數目則多到無法計算。

Once a week, there's a Research-and-Development menu. Every chef has to come up with a new invention on this day. After trying it out, some of the new dishes are offered in the following week's menu. Google's workers know that they will see at least one or two new dishes each day. Workers say they don't expect any repetition on the menu for at least 20 days, but Xue raised his eyebrows.
每週都有固定的一天是“菜品研發日”。廚師們上班顛勺，下班還得做功課，到了研發日這天，幾位師傅湊在一起，每人做一道新菜，大夥品嚐、點評，選出好的就放在下週的菜單之中。這樣，每天員工的餐桌上至少都能有一兩道新菜。

"It's more than that," he boasts. "Sometimes you have to wait three to five months before you see the same dish again. We exhaust all our energy in researching new dishes."
外界有傳聞說谷歌菜單二十天不重樣，廚師長薛榮升表示“遠遠不止”，有時“同一道菜，要隔三五個月才能再次出現”。“我們幾乎把所有的精力都放在菜品研發之上。”薛師傅補充道。

Xue uses a weekly videoconference to report on his work to Google's US headquarters, as well as the firm's Asia-Pacific chief executive y day the secretary to the team of chefs uploads the menu in advance on "Foodback," an internal company website that lets staff members at Google log on to Google+ social network to comment on each dish.
薛榮升每週要通過視頻會議的形式，與美國總部和亞太地區的主管溝通食堂的近況，廚師團隊的祕書則會每日將菜單提前上傳至員工 內部網站Foodback（飲食反饋）上，與全球的谷歌廚師分享。他們甚至會應用谷歌的社交網站Google+，設立羣組，在線討論菜單的制定、開發和創 新，當然，任何一位谷歌員工都可以在上面發表對每一道菜品的評價和感受。當然，每年薛榮升還要飛去谷歌的北美總部，參加一年一度的谷歌廚師“大會師”。

"Traditional style restaurants are slow in responding to clients' reactions to their food, unless the diners demonstrate a strong demand," Xue said. But as an Internet giant, Google relies on technology to respond to the needs of diners in a timely more than that, "We use our imagination to develop the Google staff palate," he explains. "For instance, we have Western and Chinese bakers working together to invent new desserts, combining Beijing's traditional bean cake with tiramisu filling, or our snail roll using millet flour pancakes from Shandong, and our steamed Cantonese pork roll matched with Japanese tempura. They are all very popular with the workers."
這種在互聯網輔助下的電子化有效溝通，充分地展現了谷歌作爲一家互聯網企業的個性十足。“傳統餐館對於客人的反應是滯後的，往往只有客人有了強烈的要求， 纔會反饋到廚房裏，”薛師傅說，而谷歌的廚師則喜歡用想象力決定員工的味覺，“中點師傅和西點師傅一起工作，發明出提拉米蘇驢打滾，顛覆了中式驢打滾硬硬 的紅豆餡料。我們的蝸牛卷用的是山東臨沂的小米麪煎餅，廣東的腸粉搭配日式天婦羅，這些菜都受到了員工的歡迎。”Science
科學

So with all this top-end (gratis) gastronomy, are Google's staff stuffing themselves too much?Not necessarily. The menus are carefully designed to meet the requirements of a balanced diet. Most cooking methods involve stewing and boiling, with much less frying than one might find in other Beijing restaurants.
其實非要說谷歌的工程師天天吃大餐，倒也並不客觀。因爲他們的菜譜是經過嚴格的營養學搭配，以燉、煮爲主，極少見煎、炸。

There's a chart called "The pyramid of health" stuck at the most obvious place in the canteen. It's a diagram, developed by Google and Harvard University, where foods are divided into three color-coded groups: Green means "Eat as much as you fancy," yellow means "in moderation," and red means "just occasionally."
谷歌與哈佛大學共同研發了飲食結構的“健康金字塔”，是獨家的營養祕籍，講解圖張貼在食堂最顯眼的位置。金字塔從尖到底分爲紅、黃、綠三個層次，綠色代表“可以隨便吃”，黃色則是“不要吃太多”，而紅色告訴員工這些食物“偶爾可以嘗一嘗”。

There are only two universal rules for Google's canteens throughout the world. One is no MSG. The other is to limit the use of oil."The amount of oil used in a normal restaurant would be enough for us to fry 30 dishes," Xue says."Besides, we encourage the staff to eat whole rice. We let the rice soak 20 for hours first. The amino acid content is thus multiplied, guaranteeing both the taste and the healthiness."
谷歌 廚房的全球統一標準是不放味精，並且嚴格控制炒菜的用油量，“在外面炒一盤菜的油，谷歌用來炒30盤菜，”薛師傅說，“我們主張員工吃糙米飯，提前用水把 糙米泡上20個小時，等待其出現了發芽的物理反應再上鍋蒸，氨基酸的含量呈幾何倍數增加，並同時保證了口感與健康。”

One of the characteristics of an engineer is their attachment to using data to analyze an issue. Even such a concern as the proper amount of salt added to a dish can be collected through Internet feedback.
除此以外，每一盤菜都有自己的標籤。“畫一顆星的是烹飪溫 度低於48度，兩顆星則是高於這個溫度；有豬肉的菜，我們會畫一隻小豬，提示穆斯林員工；菜里加了酒，我們會加‘酒杯’的標誌；加了奶，就有‘奶瓶’的標 識；如果有蠔油或者蛤蜊、蝦等，我們會畫一個小螃蟹，對貝殼類過敏的員工就會了解。”薛師傅解釋。

"Don't ever imagine that engineers are somehow a shy bunch," says Xue. "Their willingness to express what they want would surprise you."
工程師文化便是以數字說明問題，谷歌會科學地收集大家的反饋，哪怕一道菜是鹹是淡，都可以通過員工的網絡投票比率來分析， “不要以爲工程師是羞澀的羣體，他們的表達欲會出乎你的意料。”薛榮升說。