埃及的沙拉三明治是世界上最好吃的嗎?

Does Egypt have the best falafel in the world?
埃及的沙拉三明治是世界上最好吃的嗎？

It's Wednesday afternoon in downtown Cairo, and the usual smorgasbord of humanity is going about its daily business. From sharp-suited businesspeople single-mindedly weaving through the capital's notorious traffic to young men on bicycles perching wooden trays of fresh bread on their heads. Everyone, it seems, has somewhere to be.
週三下午，在開羅市中心，人們像往常一樣忙着自己的日常事務。西裝革履的商人目不旁視地穿梭於開羅喧譁吵鬧的交通人流中，騎自行車的年輕人把盛着新鮮麪包的木托盤頂在頭上。每個人都在各自忙碌着。

Down a small alleyway in the Abdeen neighbourhood, I marvel at the graceful, 19th- to 20th-Century Belle Epoque stylings of a faded apartment building, the intricate balconies and wooden shutters offering a glimpse of life in this teeming city many decades ago.
沿着阿布迪恩(Abdeen)街區的一條小巷子走下去，能看到一棟褪了色的公寓樓，整體風格十分優雅，是19世紀至20世紀“美好時代”(Belle Epoque)的那種風格，錯落有致的陽臺和木百葉窗讓我得以一瞥幾十年前這座熙熙攘攘的城市的生活。

Opposite sits a small, metal food cart. A counter runs around it, offering somewhere for patrons to hurriedly eat their meal, and tins of corned beef – used in sandwiches or mixed with eggs – are stacked with care and uniformity on the top shelf. Below are eggs, metal pots, bags of the nation's much-loved aish baladi (a type of whole-wheat flatbread) and a few plates containing taameya, Egypt's glorious, but underappreciated, version of falafel. Many food lovers rate it as the best falafel in the world.
公寓對面停着一輛小小的金屬餐車，周圍環繞着櫃檯，顧客能在這兒匆忙用餐。櫃檯最上面的架子上整齊堆放着罐頭醃牛肉（夾在三明治裏或和雞蛋一起吃），下面是雞蛋、金屬鍋和幾袋深受埃及人喜愛的全麥大餅，還有幾盤做好的沙拉三明治。這是埃及著名的沙拉三明治，但它的美味卻被低估了。許多美食愛好者認爲它是世界上最好吃的沙拉三明治。

The cart's owner, Amir, smiles beneath his greying moustache as he works. He removes taameya mix from a large metal bowl, forms it into small discs using his fingertips and drops them into boiling oil. His hands are almost a blur; each disc takes about a second to make.
餐車的主人阿米爾鬍子灰白，工作時面帶微笑。他從一個大的金屬碗裏取出沙拉三明治配料，用指尖搓成小圓球，然後放進滾燙的油鍋裏。他的手快得像翻飛中的影子，搓一個圓球大約只需要一秒鐘的時間。

A few minutes later I'm presented with the finished article: piping hot taameya served inside aish baladi with nothing more than tomatoes, lettuce and a drizzle of tahini. On the side sit crunchy pickled vegetables in a riot of colours – the highlight of which is whole green chillies caked in chilli powder, cumin and salt. The medium-hot chilli adds a welcome bite to proceedings, yet is offset by the bitter nuttiness of the attendant cumin.
幾分鐘後，我就看到了成品：全麥麪餅包着滾燙的沙拉三明治，裏面有西紅柿、生菜和少量的芝麻醬，旁邊放着各色的醃菜，脆脆的，最引人注目的是綠色的辣椒，上面撒着辣椒粉、孜然和鹽。適中的辣味讓口感更好，但隨之而來的孜然味又很好的中和了辣味。

The taameya sandwich is a lesson in perfect simplicity. Nearby countries such as Syria and Lebanon have a reputation for incorporating greater flair into their falafel sandwiches, experimenting with different fillings and sauces, such as coleslaw, tomato herb salad and pickled turnips. These no doubt have their place but, in my opinion, they'd be hard-pressed to beat the Egyptian version. In fact, falafel cooked by Egyptian fast-casual chain Zooba won 'best falafel' at 2016's London Falafel Festival in Borough Market, beating Palestinian-Lebanese competitors and leading to more 'best in the world' talk.
沙拉三明治完美體現了簡約的風格。敘利亞和黎巴嫩等鄰近國家，將更多的風味融入沙拉三明治並因此而聞名，他們嘗試了不同的餡料和醬料，比如涼拌捲心菜、番茄香草沙拉和醃蘿蔔。這些嘗試都有獨特的味道，但在我看來，它們很難與埃及版沙拉三明治相比。事實上，埃及快餐連鎖店Zooba烹製的沙拉三明治，在2016年倫敦博羅市場沙拉三明治節上，就擊敗了來自巴勒斯坦和黎巴嫩的競爭對手，贏得了"最佳沙拉三明治"的稱號，並引發了更多關於“世界最佳”的討論。

Much of that is thanks to a certain idiosyncrasy in the way Egyptians make their falafel. Gone are the chickpeas so ubiquitous in most other countries; here, the main ingredient is broad beans, which fry better and result in a lighter, fluffier take on the popular snack. Along with garlic, onion and coriander seeds, the Egyptian mix also incorporates a greater number of fresh herbs and vegetables – such as parsley, coriander and leeks – than its neighbours', producing a pale green interior and greater depth of flavour.
這種成功要歸於埃及人制作沙拉三明治的特殊方式。鷹嘴豆在大多數國家已經消失得無影無蹤。在埃及，沙拉三明治的主要成分是蠶豆，而且炸得更好、更蓬鬆，是當地流行的小吃。除了洋蔥、大蒜和香菜籽，相比起鄰國，埃及的沙拉三明治加入了更多新鮮蔬菜和草本植物，比如：歐芹、香菜和韭菜，使得三明治看起來更翠綠，味道也更濃郁。

"I totally agree that the best falafel in the world comes from Egypt, and I've certainly told people who went to Egypt that," said Claudia Roden, the famed culinary anthropologist and serial Middle Eastern cookbook author. "It's all down to the taste and texture. I think broad beans… have a better texture than chickpeas, because they're softer and creamier, plus the Egyptian version has more herbs, which makes it greener. I think the overall flavouring is much better."
著名的烹飪學家、中東烹飪書籍系列作家羅登(Claudia Roden)說：“我完全同意，世界最好的沙拉三明治來自埃及，我肯定也告訴過去過埃及的人。這完全取決於口味和質地。我覺得蠶豆比鷹嘴豆的口感更好，因爲它們更柔軟綿滑，而且埃及的沙拉三明治裏的蔬菜更多，看起來更翠綠。整體口味要好得多。”

The Egyptian love affair with broad beans – also known as fava beans – runs deep. Along with taameya and bread, the country's other staple dish is ful medames, in which broad beans are stewed for more than 12 hours and mixed with garlic, olive oil, cumin and lemon juice. Taameya and ful medames are primarily breakfast dishes, though their unswerving popularity means they are often consumed at any time of day.
埃及人對蠶豆的喜愛由來已久。除了沙拉三明治和麪包，埃及的另一道主食是富爾-梅達梅斯(ful medames)。這道菜要把蠶豆燉足12個小時，並與大蒜、橄欖油、孜然和檸檬汁混合。埃及人主要是早餐吃沙拉三明治和富爾-梅達梅斯，但當地人實在是太喜歡吃這兩種東西了，即使不是早餐也會吃。

In his book, Beans: A History, food historian Ken Albala writes that eating broad beans in Egypt "seems to be a conscious act of nationalism. Ful medames is an expression of identity for modern Egyptians who choose to resist the onslaught of contemporary breakfast foods; it is a way to remember who they are."
食品歷史學家阿爾巴拉(Ken Albala)在他的著作《豆子的歷史》(Beans: A History)中寫道，在埃及吃蠶豆“似乎是一種有意識的民族主義行爲”。吃富爾梅達梅斯是現代埃及人表達身份的一種方式，以抵制現代早餐帶來的衝擊。也是一種記住他們是誰的方式。"

Exactly when and why the broad bean took hold in Egypt, while most of its neighbours became enamoured with the chickpea, remains something of a mystery.
蠶豆究竟是何時以及爲何在埃及生根發芽的至今仍是一個謎，埃及周邊的鄰國卻對鷹嘴豆情有獨鍾。

Both ingredients feature in a medieval Egyptian cookbook titled Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table: A Fourteenth-Century Egyptian Cookbook, though the chickpea surprisingly features in more recipes.
這兩種食材都出現在一本中世紀埃及烹飪書中，書名爲《餐桌上的寶藏：一本四世紀的埃及食譜》(Treasure trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table: a four - century Egyptian cookbook)，但出人意料的是鷹嘴豆的出現頻率更高。

Nawal Nasrallah, the researcher and food writer who translated the book into English, speculates that this is due to chickpeas being considered a higher-class ingredient at that time. Broad beans were seen as a poor man's food, and, in medieval times as today, cookbook authors would have wanted to show off their most elegant dishes.
納斯魯拉(Nawal Nasrallah)是把這本書翻譯成英文的研究人員和美食作家。他推測，這是因爲鷹嘴豆在當時被認爲是一種高級食材，蠶豆則被視爲窮人的食物。不管是在中世紀還是今天，烹飪書的作者都想炫耀他們優雅的菜餚。

Although both ingredients do feature in most regional cuisines, she said that Egypt's subsequent embrace of broad beans over chickpeas could simply be down to availability.
雖然這兩種食材在多數地方菜系中都出現過，但她說，埃及後來之所以更喜歡蠶豆而不是鷹嘴豆，可能只是因爲蠶豆更易獲得。

"I think it depends on what you have and what grows abundantly… I think chickpeas are more abundant in the Levant, which why they use them. Whereas from ancient times, broad beans were used more in northern Africa… It's all about economics. It's cheap, it's available. In fact, they say that broad beans are 'the kebab of the poor'."
“我認爲這取決於擁有的資源，以及哪些食材長得更茂盛，鷹嘴豆在黎凡特地區更充足，這就是爲什麼他們要用鷹嘴豆。然而從古代開始，北非地區更多使用蠶豆，這一切都與經濟有關。蠶豆很便宜且更容易買到。生活中人們常說蠶豆是窮人的烤肉串。”

This link to ancient Egypt is regularly cited as key to the broad bean's enduring popularity in the country. Everyday Egyptians will trumpet ful medames and taameya as 'the food of the pharaohs' – there are widely cited records of broad bean traces being found in ancient tombs and claims that paintings from ancient Egyptian times show people cooking taameya.
與古埃及的聯繫，被認爲是蠶豆在埃及經久不衰的關鍵。埃及人每天都會把豐盛的富爾梅達梅斯和沙拉三明治作爲“法老的食物”來大肆宣揚。人們在古墓中發現的蠶豆痕跡被廣泛引用，並聲稱古埃及時代流傳下來的繪畫顯示人們那時就會做沙拉三明治了。

However, Mennat-Allah El Dorry, an Egyptologist and archaeobotanist at the University of Warsaw in Poland, has serious doubts about these assertions. She believes the broad beans found at ancient Egyptian sites were most likely modern contaminations; that the workmen on site at the excavations, some of which took place 100 years ago when methodologies were less stringent, could well have been eating ful medames and the beans found their way into the archaeological sites.
然而，波蘭華沙大學的埃及古物學家和考古學家埃爾多裏（Mennat-Allah El Dorry）對這些說法表示懷疑。她認爲：在古埃及遺址發現的蠶豆可能是由於現代的污染，挖掘現場的工人很可能吃了大量的富爾梅達梅斯，而這些豆子也進入了考古遺址。其中一些挖掘工作發生在100年前，當時的考古方法還沒那麼嚴謹。

"Then, later, they come find it again and think: 'Oh, good, we have ancient Egyptian ful'," she said. "I think it wasn't until Roman times that it started becoming more common… By the Roman times you start to get broad beans much more commonly on archaeological sites and, as time goes by, by medieval Egypt, you have broad beans appearing archaeobotanically much more often."
她說：“後來，他們在古墓中發現了這些食物，然後想：'哦，太好了，我們在古埃及時代就有富爾梅達梅斯了。'我認爲，直到羅馬時代，蠶豆纔開始變得普遍，在羅馬時代，蠶豆在考古遺址上出現的頻率要高得多。隨着時間的推移，到了中世紀的埃及，蠶豆在考古植物學上出現的頻率也很高。”

The beans have also been found in places that don't make sense, such as a fifth-dynasty (2465-2325 BCE) royal funerary setting in Abu Sir on the outskirts of Cairo. "There is absolutely no reason for broad beans to be there – it's not a settlement context and it's not a funerary food offering, so I'm very doubtful of the finds of broad beans in ancient Egypt," El Dorry said.
人們還在一些不該出現的地方發現了這些豆子，比如第五王朝(公元前2465年至2325年)在開羅郊區阿布爵士舉行的皇家葬禮上。埃爾多裏說：“蠶豆絕對沒有理由出現在那裏，因爲那裏不是一個種植點，也不是葬禮上的食物，所以我對在古埃及發現的蠶豆非常懷疑。”

As for the ancient paintings, scholars have since questioned the original publication and say the 'broad beans' depicted were more likely to have been tiger nuts, also known as chufa, a tuber that is believed to have been a staple in ancient Egypt.
至於那些古畫，學者們對原始版本提出了質疑，稱這些"蠶豆"更有可能是虎堅果，也被稱爲“chufa”，被認爲是古埃及主食的塊莖。

What is in less doubt is the ferocity of the debate over the origins – and mastery – of falafel. Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Egypt have all claimed to be its rightful 'home', while Israel has labelled it a national dish and firmly bound it to the country's national identity.
但不容置疑的是，各國對於沙拉三明治所有權的爭奪十分激烈。黎巴嫩、巴勒斯坦、敘利亞和埃及都聲稱是其合法的"家園"，而以色列則將其列爲一道國菜，並將其與該國的民族身份緊密聯繫在一起。

In her book, Falafel Nation: Cuisine and the Making of National Identity in Israel, Yael Raviv writes that "Food is constantly implicated in economic and political processes, as well as in social and historical processes… Because of the recent events in the Middle East, even something as innocent looking as a ground chickpea ball can be used as a weapon of sorts."
雷維夫（Yael Raviv）在她的書中《沙拉三明治的國家：以色列美食以及國家認同》寫道：“食品不斷滲透進經濟和政治領域，以及社會和歷史的進程中，因爲最近在中東發生的事件，連無辜的鷹嘴豆球都可以被用作武器。”

Standing at his food cart in a green football shirt under a blue Nike jacket, Amir gesticulates enthusiastically when discussing his country's take on falafel. He's been serving it the Egyptian way for 48 years, he said.
身穿綠色足球衫、藍色耐克夾克的阿米爾站在他的餐車旁，興致勃勃地比劃着手勢，談論他的國家對沙拉三明治的看法。他說，他已經賣了48年埃及版本的沙拉三明治了。

"People who try the Egyptian style made with [broad] beans always like the taste, but those who eat it with hommos [chickpeas] just have to get used to it. Since the pharaonic times, we have been planting [broad] beans, not hommos," he said, once again espousing the possibly misguided belief that broad beans have been eaten here since ancient Egyptian times.
“嘗試用蠶豆做埃及菜的人喜歡這種口味，但喜歡鷹嘴豆的人必須習慣這種味道。自法老時代以來，我們就一直在種植(蠶豆)，而不是鷹嘴豆。”他再次對這種可能被誤導的觀點表示支持，即人們從古埃及時代起就開始吃蠶豆了。

While there's debate as to the origins of broad beans, most modern historians tend to agree that falafel was indeed likely born in Egypt. It has been traced to the country's Coptic Christians, who used it to replace meat during Lent. Such dishes were known as 'muzawwarat', which means 'counterfeit dishes', because they did not contain meat.
雖然對於蠶豆的起源存在爭議，但大多數現代歷史學家認爲，沙拉三明治很可能誕生於埃及。它可以追溯到這個國家的科普特基督徒，他們在四旬齋期間用它來代替肉。這些菜餚被稱爲“muzawwarat”，意思是“菜”，因爲它們不含肉。

While Nasrallah agrees falafel is likely to have originated in Egypt, she feels the whole discussion has become too politicised.
儘管納斯魯拉認爲沙拉三明治可能起源於埃及，但她覺得整個討論已經變得過於政治化了。

"I don't tend to think of food in this narrow, nationalistic way," she said. "Of course, the Israelis adopted it as one of the national dishes, but I don't think dishes can be owned… I think food belongs to a region."
她說：“我不傾向於用狹隘的、民族主義的方式來看待食物。雖然以色列人把它作爲國家菜餚之一，但我不認爲菜餚是可以擁有的，我認爲食物屬於一個地區。”

Most would agree that food is far too subjective for definitives like 'best in the world', but the brisk business being done by hundreds of taameya vendors all over Cairo testifies that Egyptians are in little doubt over the eminence of their broad bean-based formula. And as I bit through the doughy aish baladi bread to discover the toothsome crunch within, I found it hard to disagree.
大多數人會覺得用“世界上最好的”這樣的措辭來定義食物太主觀了，但開羅各地數百家沙拉三明治商鋪的蓬勃發展證明，埃及人毫不懷疑這種以豆子爲基礎配方的食物的卓越地位。當我咬着鬆軟的全麥麪包，聽着裏面嘎吱嘎吱的清脆聲音時，我發現確實對此很難表示異議。