金华大厨援非收徒弟
2019-05-16郎擎宇
郎擎宇
在金华,80后的楼师傅——楼洪亮小有名气。他是金华广播电视大学烹饪专业的老师,是国家级烹饪名师,也是婺式点心非物质文化遗产传承人。去年11月底,他随金华职业技术学院(以下简称金职院)教师团队来到位于卢旺达北方省的穆桑泽职业技术学校,在那度过了一段难忘的援非时光。
黄豆变身 学员看傻眼
经过14个小时的飞行,楼洪亮与朱墨池、王新洁等两位老师抵达了有着“千丘之国”之称的东非国家卢旺达。虽然中国在当地援建了穆桑泽职业技术学校,但由于师资缺乏,学校的专业设置并不能满足当地的发展需求。“授人以鱼,不如授人以渔”,2017年7月,金职院同穆桑泽职业技术学校合作成立了穆桑泽国际学院。根据卢方提出的要求,金职院派出了通信与网络技术、绿色食品生产与检验、烹饪等三个专业的首批援非教师。他们需要为包括穆桑泽职业技术学校在内的8所卢旺达职业技术学校进行师资培训以及相关专业建设。
虽然生活并不富裕,还面临着疟疾等传染病的威胁,但当地人对教育十分重视,大大小小的学校都有当地最好的建筑,这给楼洪亮留下了深刻的印象。楼洪亮回忆,李小龙、成龙等武打明星以及中国美食是许多卢旺达人对中国的最深印象。中餐和中餐馆在当地属于高端的菜系和餐饮场所,受到当地人的广泛欢迎。
在学校里,楼洪亮负责教授3个班100多名学员。“课余时间,卢旺达师生们也在刻苦练习,经常到了夜晚还有学员来请教问题。他们的学习热情感染了我。”楼洪亮说。
每周一、三、五授课,二、四助学走访,周末下企业指导,紧张的节奏成为楼洪亮援非生活的常态。每次授课都会由一节理论课和三节操作课组成。实际操作对于楼洪亮来说驾轻就熟,但如何“中为洋用”,让许多第一次接触中式烹饪的学员认识和掌握中餐特有的食材和烹饪技巧,成为他最头疼的问题。
“备课占据了我绝大部分精力,一天的课程通常需要花两天时间准备。”楼洪亮使出浑身解数,找到中英、中法翻译,为数十种原料配上图片,为了表达准确,有时他还要借助化学名。除了制作教案,课前楼洪亮还要提前制作一遍菜品,请同事用照片和视频记录下制作过程,以便卢旺达师生能反复观看学习。
在卢旺达三个月的时间,楼洪亮主要教当地烹饪教师开展中餐家常菜肴和点心的制作。在所有中国菜里,豆腐制作最让非洲学员感到惊讶。“黄豆为什么可以变成多种多样的豆制品,为什么一会可以变成豆腐皮,一会又可以变成豆浆、豆腐脑、嫩豆腐、老豆腐、豆腐干?”学员们在学习过程中一直感叹中国菜的变化太多,几颗黄豆就有如此多的变化。因此,不时传出的惊呼声常常成为课堂上有趣的插曲。
当地烹饪专业老师亨利对这位来自中国的大厨赞誉有加:“跟着中国老师学习很有收获。我希望能把中国老师传授的技艺教给学生,他们学成后在当地开个点心铺,生意一定会很火爆。未来,来到卢旺达的中国朋友也能品尝到卢旺达人做的中国美食。”
在他们回国后,卢旺达的学员们对于中餐文化和烹饪技法依旧是如饥似渴。楼洪亮常常通过网络与他们保持着交流,将一些视频教材分享给学员们。
“感谢中国老师把知识送到我们家门口。”穆桑泽职业技术学校校长、穆桑泽市议会主席埃米尔·阿巴伊森加表示,卢旺达技术人员短缺,学校开设的烹饪等专业正是卢旺达经济发展需要的专业。“‘一带一路建设为卢旺达带来越来越多的项目,学员们将获得更多实践岗位和就业机会,未来的发展空间会更广阔。”
希望当地中餐馆迈向“标准化”
除了教授烹饪,楼洪亮对于如何通过产业援非有着深层次的思考。早在赴非前他便表示,自己更希望能够在充分了解当地市场需求的基础上,为当地餐饮行业的菜品研发、商业模式创新、专业人才培养等领域作出探索。
到达当地后,楼洪亮立即利用半个月的时间,考察了当地餐饮市场和行业结构。与世界上许多国家类似,中餐在卢旺达有着广泛的接受度,但楼洪亮也发现,由于从业人员技能高低不一,同时受食材限制,卢旺达当地的中餐馆存在着菜品质量下降、与本土饮食同质化的问题。
为此,“我做的第一件事就是为当地中餐从业者开展一场培训。”楼洪亮告诉记者,这场培训后,许多餐馆开始找上门,几乎每个周末自己都是在下餐馆、企业指导中度过。在楼洪亮的牵头下,当地成立了卢旺达中餐行业交流会,每月协会都会定期交流新式菜品和行业信息,极大地提升了卢旺达中餐行业的创新合作氛围。
楼洪亮表示,在卢旺达,中餐同样面临着西式餐饮的竞争,因此中餐菜品实现标准化制作,由经验时代迈向标准化时代显得尤为紧迫。为此,他从最常规的点心入手,为当地的10余家中餐馆建立了基本菜肴的制作标准和流程,同时对后厨管理、原材料采购等环节作出了规范。
回国后,楼洪亮依旧与当地中餐馆业主保持着联系,他撰写了一份题为《产业联动,教学结合,产业援非》的调研报告,以期给当地餐饮行业带去一些新的商业模式和发展理念。“只有形成产业链,当地的餐饮行业才能有生命力,当地人的生活水平才會有所提升。”楼洪亮说,如果有机会再去卢旺达,他会把更多的精力放在餐饮行业的打造上。
热心做公益深切感受中非友谊
如果说传道授业是楼洪亮在卢旺达的主要任务,那么在当地的一段公益经历,则让他更深地体会到中非人民间的深厚友谊。
“卢旺达的大街小巷里,经常能看到小孩踢球。他们可以把报纸、塑料袋、香蕉叶等东西扎成足球,但我从没有看到过一个真正的皮球。”回忆起最初的发现,楼洪亮仍旧很感慨。
几位中方老师商量后,决定为穆桑泽地区的12所中小学捐赠一批足球。大家专门开车三个多小时前往首都基加利,将商场里的两百多个足球全部买下。让楼洪亮感动的是,当他将卢旺达孩子的“微心愿”在朋友圈发布后,陆续收到了国内近万元的善款。
带着足球、乒乓球、跳绳等体育器材,楼洪亮与同事们选择来到穆桑泽最偏远的小学。身上背着足球,身后跟着上百号村民,“一到村口,当地人便热情地给我们带路,因为他们知道我们是来做公益的。”楼洪亮说,这一场景,让自己瞬间感到自己和同事所做一切的意义。
A Chinese Culinary Master in Rwanda
By Lang Qingyu
Lou Hongliang is a teacher at the Jinhua Radio and TV University in Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province. He is also a state-certified culinary master and inheritor of the Jinhua-style culinary tradition. In 2018, Lou Hongliang, together with a group of colleagues from the Jinhua Polytechnic, spent three months teaching Chinese cooking in the Republic of Rwanda. Their adventure in one of the smallest countries on the African mainland turned out to be a beautiful, unforgettable experience.
Lou Hongliang, Zhu Mochi and Wang Xinjie arrived in Rwanda, nicknamed "area occupied by a swarm", on November 25, 2018, after 14 hours on the plane. Their mission was to fulfill teaching duties at the Musanze Polytechnic, built with the aid funds from the Chinese government. The International School of the polytechnic was launched in July 2017. The teaching and teacher-training routines of the first group of teachers sent by the Jinhua-based university also cover seven other vocational schools in Rwanda.
In Rwanda, where the population is predominantly rural and the economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture, the importance of education is a consensus reached by the public and government. In the eye of local people, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Chinese cuisine are the synonyms of China, and eating out in a Chinese restaurant is considered a luxury.
“The students worked very hard, making the best of classroom teaching and not afraid to ask questions after class, which really impressed me,” Lou shares.
Every week was a tight schedule, but Lou handled the undertaking with ease, although preparation work for a whole days classes turned out to be a tough task that normally took two days. Language barrier added to the difficulty level of classroom teaching, in which Lou had to rack his brains to find ways to introduce the names of Chinese ingredients and cooking techniques to the students. To make it easier for the students to understand, he went out of his way to translate everything into English and French and search the web for as many corresponding pictures as possible.
“For them, the colorful Chinese culinary culture is unbelievable; and the dazzling variety of cooking methods is beyond eye-opening,” Lou recalls.
“One of the most frequently asked questions from the students is: Why so many things can be made by a Chinese cook from soybean? What is cliché for the Chinese people is purely magic for the Rwanda students.”
Lou Hongliang also tried incorporating restaurant operation ideas into his classroom teaching, sharing his views on dish innovation and marketing with the students. “I learned a lot from Lou and other Chinese teachers; and my goal is to run a Chinese dim sum restaurant someday,” one of Lous students declared.
“I have been communicating with my students in Rwanda by sharing video materials with them online after I came back in Jinhua. They just cannot get enough of the multifaceted charm of the Chinese food culture,” Lou shares.
“The culinary courses brought by Chinese teachers from Jinhua mean a lot to our students in the sense of employment opportunities and exploring future career pathways,” said Amir, President of the Musanze vocational school.
Lou Hongliang spent half of his first month in Rwanda doing market research about the local catering industry. Noticing that the cuisine at most of the Chinese restaurants there is far from being authentic, he volunteered to provide training services for the local restaurateurs, spending most of his weekend time giving classes in restaurants. His efforts led to the launch of a Chinese restaurateurs association that provides a platform for information sharing and menu innovation.
Lous African adventure also includes a very special chapter that always reminds him of the power of sharing and how the seeds of love can be sown. Beyond fulfilling his teaching responsibilities, Lou Hongliang and several other Chinese teachers donated more than 200 footballs for 12 schools in the Musanze region, where children are seen almost everywhere making do with footballs made of newspaper, plastic bags, and banana leaves. After spreading the information on WeChat, the culinary teachers in Africa also received “love money” from their friends back in China who were eager to chip in to carry on the love relay.
“We arrived at a remote village on the Chinese New Years Eve. I will never forget the exciting faces of the villagers walking us into the village like we were home-coming heroes,” Lou recalls.