The Invention of Cake

文/丹尼·海特曼 译/修文乔

German chocolate cake has nothing to do with Germany; it’s named after a British chocolatier. 德国巧克力蛋糕与德国毫无关系，它以一名英国巧克力师的名字命名。

Early Christians focused on birth as the arrival of yet another soul tainted by original sin—hardly a cakeworthy event. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the birthday cake tradition matured through the German kinderfest1kinderfest〈德语〉儿童节。, with candles thrown in to ward off evil spirits. With increased availability of ingredients in the 18th century, birthday cakes really caught on. This is some of what readers learn in “Cake: A Slice of History,” Alysa Levene’s survey of what could be the most popular dessert on Earth.

[2] Ms. Levene notes, cake slowly evolved as a fancier form of bread, and the dividing line between the two could get murky. It is clear that while their base ingredients are the same, cake was soon differentiated2differentiate产生差别；分别。into something

在早期基督教徒看来，出生意味着另一个受到原罪玷污的灵魂到来，这件事根本不值得用蛋糕庆祝。直到中世纪人们借鉴德国儿童节的做法，把蜡烛扔进蛋糕以辟邪，生日蛋糕的传统才逐渐成熟起来。由于18世纪更容易获得蛋糕原料，生日蛋糕逐渐流行。这些就是读者从《蛋糕简史》一书中了解到的部分知识，该书作者阿丽莎·莱文在书中对这个地球上最受欢迎的甜点进行了研究。

[2]莱文女士写道，后来蛋糕逐渐演变为一种特别的面包，而两者的分界线也变得模糊。可以明确的是，二者的基本原料虽然相同，但蛋糕很快变成more luxurious, and something which denoted3denote意味着。specific occasions—generally ones which involved ritual, feasting and communal44 communal（尤指居住在一起的人）共享的。ties, she writes. The lsraelites, for example, used cakes to consecrate5consecrate （用宗教仪式）授予……以某种职位newly ordained66 ordain任命（牧师、圣职）。priests. For Ms. Levene, a social historian at England’s Oxford Brookes University, the meaning of cake rests not only in how it’s made, but how it’s shared. Although bread is also broken among friends and family, “cake is a treat in some way, not often part of a meal, but central to the ties that bind...,” Ms. Levene observes.“It signals hospitality and welcome;not offering cake to a guest is a way of keeping a visit short.”

[3] Pound cake, Ms. Levene explains,got its name because early recipes called for a pound each of butter, fl our,sugar and eggs. German chocolate cake has nothing to do with Germany and is really named after a British chocolatier,Sam German. The Chinese serve cakes when an infant is a month old, the treat shaped like a tortoise shell to express hopes for a long life. The Spartans of antiquity7antiquity古代（尤指古希腊和古罗马时期）。made cakes in the shape of women’s breasts, perhaps an early recognition of cake as a sensual experience.

[4] Despite Ms. Levene’s academic更奢侈的食品，而且代表了特殊的时刻，通常用于举办仪式、宴请亲朋，同时也是连接群体的纽带。比如，以色列人用蛋糕庆祝新任命的牧师就职。莱文女士是英国牛津布鲁克斯大学的社会历史学家，对她而言，蛋糕的意义不仅在于它的制作过程，更在于它的分享方式。虽然朋友和家庭成员之间也会共同分享面包，但“在某种程度上，蛋糕意味着款待，它不仅是餐食的一部分，更是一种关系的纽带，”莱文女士如此评价。“它代表热情好客、诚挚欢迎。不给客人上蛋糕是缩短客人拜访时间的一种方法。”

[3]莱文女士解释道，磅饼之所以得名，是因为早期的食谱需要黄油、面粉、白糖和鸡蛋各一磅。德国巧克力蛋糕与德国毫无关系，它其实是因英国巧克力师萨姆·杰曼而得名。中国人在婴儿满月宴上用蛋糕招待客人，这款甜点外形像乌龟壳，表达了人们希望孩子长寿的心愿。古代斯巴达人把蛋糕做成女人乳房的形状，或许他们很早就意识到，品尝蛋糕会带来愉悦的感官体验。

[4]尽管莱文女士具有学background, “Cake” is, for the most part, about cake, not paradigms8paradigm范式；范例。, social constructs9social construct社会建构，由一个社会或社会群体发展出来并维持着的对事物的共同认识或概念。or dialectics100 dialectics辩证法。. Still, she can’t avoid some of the pitfalls1111 pitfall易犯的错误；隐患。of pedagogical122 pedagogical〈教〉教学的。prose, like using “we” as a chummy13chummy非常友好的；亲切的。collective of lecturer and students. This can make “Cake” feel less like a book than a fi eld trip, but perhaps there are worse fates than a class tour of such wonders as madeleines, Ho Hos,Ding Dongs and singing hinnies—a specialty of Northumberland so named because its fat content makes it “sing”on the griddle.

[5] “Cake” tries to cater to audiences on both sides of the Atlantic; there is,for example, an extensive treatment of American Southern delights like the Lane cake, a whiskey-spiked sponge dessert, the Robert E. Lee cake, fl avored with orange and lemon, and the hummingbird cake, fi lled with bananas and pineapples. But Ms. Levene’s narraive is, perhaps inevitably, an Anglocentric affair.

[6] On the first page, she introduces cake as an “established teatime treat,”and at one point mentions, for example,“the iconic Victoria sandwich cake,”which is no doubt iconic to her, but术背景，但《蛋糕简史》大部分内容还是与蛋糕相关，而不是阐释研究范式、社会建构或辩证法。即便如此，她还是避免不了运用教学散文体的某些套路，比如使用“我们”作为对老师和学生的集体友好称呼。这令《蛋糕简史》更像是一场实地考察，但这样的班级旅行不容错过，能欣赏到以下几种美妙绝伦的蛋糕：玛德琳蛋糕、吼吼蛋糕、叮咚蛋糕和歌唱骡子蛋糕——一种源自英国诺森伯兰郡的特色蛋糕，之所以如此命名，是因为它的脂肪含量让它在烤架上“唱歌”。

[5]《蛋糕简史》试图满足大西洋两岸读者的需求，比如，该书进一步谈及美国南部的糕点，如夹心白蛋糕，一种掺了威士忌的海绵甜点，用橘子和柠檬调味的罗伯特·E.李蛋糕，还有夹了香蕉和菠萝的蜂鸟蛋糕。但是不可避免地，莱文女士的叙述以英格兰为中心。

[6]她在该书第一页将蛋糕介绍为“有口皆碑的下午茶款待品”，又在另一处提到“代表性的维多利亚三明治蛋糕”，这种蛋糕在她看来无疑具有标likely won’t ring a bell among many sweet tooths in the U.S. The same goes for casual references to other English confections14confection糖果蜜饯（或点心）。, such as the lardy cake,named after its prominent ingredient.And in an earnestly appreciative chapter on fruitcake15fruitcake水果蛋糕，美国圣诞节时特色食品，用很多坚果和果脯制作而成。, she makes passing mention of an old Johnny Carson quip about the yuletide16yuletide圣诞节期间。staple—that there is really just one fruitcake, sent around like a chain letter17chain letter连锁信（收信人复印多份寄出）。—but she doesn’t appear to grasp the true depth of derision188 derision揶揄；奚落。visited19visit施加。on fruitcake during the U.S.holiday season.

[7] If Ms. levene is sometimes challenged in understanding the intricacies20intricacy错综复杂的事物。of global cake culture, it’s perhaps because her topic is so vast. Cake, after all, has an abiding211 abiding 持久的；永久的。presence around the world—and, as she hints, maybe even beyond this earthly veil. Ms. Levene notes that ancient Egyptians sometimes made cakes sweetened with honey or dried fruits for the departed22departed去世者；亡故者。to bring into the afterlife. Cake for eternity,as her chronicle23chronicle记录。of this culinary indulgence244 indulgence享受。demonstrates, will surely strike255 strike 给（某人以……）印象；让（某人）觉得。many as the perfect de fi nition of heaven. ■志意义，但对于大爱甜食的美国人来说似乎并不熟悉。随便谈及其他英国甜点也大致如此，比如猪油蛋糕以其著名的原料而得名。她在其中一章对水果蛋糕表达了由衷的欣赏之情，同时顺便提到美国著名节目主持人约翰尼·卡森关于圣诞主食的昔日妙语：实际上只有一种水果蛋糕，其余都像是它发出的连锁信。但她似乎没有体会到美国圣诞节期间品尝水果蛋糕时这一笑柄的深意。

[7]如果说莱文女士无法做到彻底了解全球蛋糕文化，那或许是因为她的话题过于宽泛，毕竟蛋糕长久存在于世界各地。而且，正如她所提示的那样，揭开其世俗的面纱，蛋糕可能还有更深的含义。莱文女士写道，古埃及人有时用蜂蜜或果脯增加蛋糕的甜味，用于祭祀逝者，让他们把蛋糕带到来世。正如她在这本美食记录中所示，肯定会有许多人觉得寓意永恒的蛋糕完美地诠释了天堂的概念。 □