雅思阅读：钢琴巨星郎朗的饮食经
发布：环球雅思 点击数： 发布时间：2013-10-23 14:08:29
摘要: 雅思阅读雅思阅读：钢琴巨星郎朗的饮食经北京环球雅思|环球雅思|雅思阅读：钢琴巨星郎朗的饮食经
it’s the same as when you play a recital,” the superstar pianist lang lang is telling me as he explains his approach to ordering dinner. “you have a few incredible composers and you put them together and it’s like a menu. you have bach and ravel, beethoven and prokofiev, and it’s like you are serving a four-course or five-course dinner.”
few pianists are more passionate about the four-or-five-course dinner than the musical phenomenon who was born in 1982 in shenyang, the largest city in northeastern china. lang lang admits that often the first thing he does upon arriving somewhere new is seek recommendations for the finest chinese restaurant. “good food always inspires me,” he says. “i think certain tastes actually make you play piano better, make it more enjoyable.”
his attitude to eating well seems to follow the principle of yin and yang, the confucian philosophy at the heart of chinese culture that, when applied to food, aims for balance in colours, tastes and textures. “like in music, it’s very important to have a balanced style when you eat,” he suggests. “meat makes people more aggressive; vegetables make you more relaxed. so variety is ideal. when i eat, i like to have a lot of different combinations, a taste of everything. it’s the same as when i play.”
he certainly seems to have digested this philosophy in his music-making. one of the most successful classical artists in history ╟ and one of the world economic forum’s 250 young global leaders ╟ lang lang is as likely to be found performing with dubstep dancer marquese “nonstop” scott or jazz titan herbie hancock as he is with the likes of sir simon rattle and the berlin philharmonic. watched by billions at the opening ceremony of the 2008 beijing olympic games, he brought prokofiev’s seventh symphony to millions more via the soundtrack of the video game gran turismo 5. and, with hundreds of international engagements a year, he is constantly touching down in new places to sample the local attempts at chinese food.
except that talking to lang lang about generic “chinese food” is likely to get you ejected from his table. china has many great culinary traditions, including cantonese, hunanese and szechuanese, and they are as varied as schnitzel and empanadas, fish-and-chips and jalfrezi. “sometimes you go to a ‘chinese restaurant’ and everything is served in the same sauce,” he laments. “coming from the north, i prefer food from that region, but southern food is also good. i like everything from cantonese dim sum to spicy szechuan, but everything needs to have its typical flavour, like a really marinated beef or a steamed meat-and-seafood dumpling.”
the life of the international concert pianist is famously nomadic, even isolated, and i wonder if lang lang’s instinct to gather people around a table loaded with plates redolent of home is a way of rooting himself? “growing up, it was a ritual to have a big family dinner every night, and i try to recreate that on tour,” he says. “all my teams, we always eat together after a performance, my record company, my management, my foundation, my friends. with chinese food, you must. it’s a gathering, you know, you must have a group to celebrate. this is very important when you’re having a good meal: you must have your right person to be with. if the food is really great but the people next to you, you don’t know them, it would be really difficult to eat that food. and you can’t eat a chinese meal on your own; it would be so boring.”
it is not surprising, then, to discover that he never journeys alone. “it would be horrible!” he exclaims. “i wouldn’t like to travel by myself ╟ it would be so lonely. i always have a group of at least two or three really good friends there. and my mum comes with me all the time.”
his mother, he tells me, is a “really good cook”, and from the sound of it there may be a few top chinese chefs around the globe who have found themselves sharing their wok with zhou xiulan when the lang lang post-concert entourage descends. “we have certain restaurants we go to that are like really good friends, and my mum will know the chef,” he says. “so she will go and talk to him in the kitchen, maybe make a suggestion about what we want to have.”
the exchange seems to work harmoniously: while there are no doubt plenty of culinary abominations masquerading as chinese cuisine, lang lang speaks enthusiastically about some of the eateries he has discovered. “london has many very beautiful chinese restaurants. also in berlin, paris, vienna, new york, la, san francisco i have found really excellent chinese food.” he tells me the best chinese meal he has ever eaten abroad is at china tang, sir david tang’s outpost at the dorchester hotel. in berlin he likes peking ente; in new york, tang pavilion; and in vienna, sternzeichen.
it seems unlikely that the boy with the quicksilver fingers ever suffers from nerves, but i wonder whether there’s a particular comfort food he seeks out when ╟ if ╟ he ever gets anxious? “noodle soups,” he answers, without missing a beat. “that gives me comfort.” he laughs. “and chocolate gives me energy and happiness. ice cream gives me the satisfaction.”
so it’s not always chinese food on the menu? “i can’t go without chinese food for more than two or three days,” he concedes, “but in between i can eat french, italian, japanese, middle eastern food … i was in venezuela recently and we had the most incredible south american barbecue.”
but his gastronomic heart lies in his homeland, and in particular in the steamed meat dumplings with a sauce of suan cai, a salted, cold-fermented green cabbage, similar to sauerkraut, that his mother makes. forget the fancy international restaurants in mayfair or midtown, then: his last supper would indubitably be his mum’s pickled cabbage dumplings.
“it’s always about home food,” he says. “like from my mum, my uncle, my auntie, when they make food with very close friends during the chinese new year, that meal is the best. for me, even a great meal in a restaurant can’t ever compete with being at home with all your friends, your family. you eat, you talk your heart out with the most delicious home cooked food possible, and you just think: wow. you are the most happy person in the world, at that moment.”
‘prokofiev 3 bartok 2’ by lang lang, sir simon rattle and the berlin philharmonic is released by sony classical on october 7
“这与举办独奏音乐会一样啊，”钢琴巨星郎朗(lang lang)向我解释如何点餐时这么比方。“把几位超级作曲大师搁放于一起，这类似于菜单制作。把巴赫(bach)、拉威尔(ravel)、贝多芬 (beethoven)、普罗科菲耶夫(prokofiev)揉合在一起，就恰似奉上由四道或五道主菜组成的一顿大餐。”
在钢琴演奏家中，对由四五道主菜构成大餐的痴迷程度，无出郎朗这位音乐巨星其右。郎朗于1982年出生在中国东北城市沈阳。他坦承自己每抵达一座陌生城市，首当其冲地就是打探高档餐馆的行踪。“美食总能激发我的演奏灵感，”他说。“我觉得有些风味的菜真能提升演奏水准，让演奏出的音乐更为赏心悦目。”
他喜欢美味佳肴，似乎遵循着儒家思想(confucian philosophy)中的阴阳原则，这是中国文化的精髓，适用到饮食领域时，追求色香味以及菜品造型的和谐统一。“与音乐一样，饮食的关键是讲究各种风味均衡，”他暗示道。“肉食者显得咄咄逼人，而素食者则显得更为闲适。因此荤素多样化搭配最为理想。我喜欢各种不同菜品的搭配，啥都想品尝一下，这与演奏如出一辙。”
他显然已把这种饮食哲学融入到了自己的音乐演奏中。他是有史以来最成功的古典音乐演奏家--是世界经济论坛(world economic forum)评选出的全球250位青年领袖(young global leaders)之一--郎朗既能与机械哥舞蹈师斯科特(marquese “nonstop” scott)、爵士巨人赫比·汉考克(herbie hancock)这类艺术家同台合作，也能与西蒙?拉特尔爵士(sir simon rattle)等顶级大师以及柏林爱乐乐团(berlin philharmonic)等一流乐团同台演出。2008年北京奥运会(beijing olympic games)开幕式上，享受几十亿观众众目睽睽之下演奏钢琴的殊荣，还通过gt5(gran turismo 5)电脑游戏音乐，让普罗科菲耶夫第七交响乐(prokofiev’s seventh symphony)传至千家万户。郎朗每年有几百场国际演奏合约，因此有机会莅临不同国家与地区，品尝当地的中式特色美食。
除此之外，与郎朗探讨寻常“中餐”很有可能极不入流。中国的饮食文化源远流长--粤菜、湘菜以及川菜(szechuanese)，争奇斗艳。它们与西方的炸肉排、肉馅卷饼、油煎鱼加炸土豆以及什锦一样种类繁多。“有时莅临中餐馆，看到啥菜都用千篇一律的调料，”他悲叹道。“我是北方人，当然更青睐北方菜，但南方菜同样好吃。从广东甜点到麻辣味的四川菜，我来者不拒，但每种菜(如卤水牛肉到大肉海鲜蒸饺)都应保持独特风味。”
作为国际性音乐会的常客，钢琴演奏家郎朗过着行踪不定、甚至与世隔绝的生活。我问他：天性喜欢高朋满座、桌上摆满家乡美味佳肴，是否想表明自己的文化渊薮?“从小到大，每天晚上都是一大家子聚在一起吃饭，我想方设法在巡回演出中重现这个场景而已，”他说。“每每演出结束后，包括唱片公司、经纪人、基金会以及亲友在内的所有团队成员都聚在一起吃饭。吃中餐，就得宾客满座。你知道，这是聚会，就得大伙在一块儿庆贺。享用美味佳肴时这显得很重要：必须与对路的人一起享用。若享用的真是美味佳肴，但身旁的陪客却是陌生人，就很难有大快朵颐的情致。中餐不能独吃，否则就太乏味透顶了。”
因而郎朗赴外演出从不独自一人也就不足为奇了。“那样太难受了!”他大声说道。“我不愿孤身一人出行--那样太孤寂了。赴外演出时，总会带上两三位挚友(至少)，妈妈更是始终相伴左右。”
郎朗对我说，妈妈是位“烹饪好手”，从他的口气可以感觉出：每当音乐会一结束，其随行人员下榻酒店后，全球几位顶尖中式大厨就得与郎朗妈妈周秀兰 (zhou xiulan)一起筹划吃喝事宜。“我们有几家定点中餐馆，这就好比老朋友，妈妈总会去接近大厨，”他说，“她会亲临厨房与大厨磋商，就我们的吃喝问题出谋划策一番。”
这种互动交流似乎进行得顺风顺水：毫无疑问，尽管差强人意的山寨版中餐随处可见，但郎朗说起自己探到的几家上等中餐馆时，显得眉飞色舞。“伦敦有几家装修精美的中餐馆，在柏林、巴黎、维也纳、纽约、洛杉矶以及旧金山，也有非常棒的中餐馆。”他对我说自己在国外吃过的最棒中餐莫过于邓永铿爵士(sir david tang)开在多切斯特酒店(dorchester hotel)内的唐人馆中菜馆(china tang)。在柏林，他喜欢光顾北京烤鸭店(peking ente);在纽约，他喜欢光顾山王饭店(tang pavilion);在维也纳，他则喜欢光顾sternzeichen中菜馆。
这位生就一双灵巧双手的巨星似乎很难有啥精神烦恼，但我问他内心若感觉紧张时，是否有啥特别的慰藉食物?“面汤，”他毫不犹豫地回答道。“喝面汤能给我精神慰藉，”他笑着说。“巧克力能补充能量以及增加愉悦感，冰淇淋则赋予我满足感。”
若餐馆不尽是提供中餐该咋办?“我隔上二三天就必须得吃中餐，”他坦承道，“但这二三天里，我可能会尝试法式、意式、日式餐或是中东特色的餐饮……我前一阵子在委内瑞拉，品尝到了南美最美味的烧烤。”
但他魂牵梦萦的美食依然是家乡的中餐，尤其青睐酸菜大肉饺子。酸菜是妈妈用青菜发酵腌制而成，类似于德国泡菜。伦敦梅菲尔区(mayfair) 或是midtown的国际豪华餐馆都可抛至九宵云外，自己最喜欢的晚餐毫无疑问当属妈妈亲手包的酸菜饺子。
“家乡菜总是让我念念不忘，”他说，“过农历新年(chinese new year)时，我妈妈、姑姑以及舅舅与亲朋好友聚在一起烧出的菜最好吃。对我来说，在高档餐馆里享用一顿大餐，都无法与在家里与亲朋好友聚餐相媲美。享用美味可口的家常便饭时，自己可以畅所欲言，内心就觉得：哇噻，此时此刻，自己就是天底下最幸福的人。”
普罗科菲耶夫《第三钢琴协奏曲》与巴托克《第二钢琴协奏曲》(prokofiev 3 bartok 2)由郎朗与著名指挥西蒙?拉特爵士(sir simon rattle)以及柏林爱乐乐团合作奉献，该唱片由索尼古典(sony classical)于10月7日出版。
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