5 Things You Didn’t Know About Bacon 关于培根 你所不知道的五件事

by Kathryn Whitbourne 陈佳

编者注：

我们在餐桌上常会遇到一种名为“培根”食物，它究竟是什么呢？培根是由英语中的“Bacon”一词音译而来，是一种经过腌熏等工序加工出来的猪肉。下面我们一起来看看，关于培根，还有哪些事情是你不知道的吧！

1 Bacon enhances1 everything.

培根能增强食物的风味。

We know that bacon （or bacon flavoring） has been added to tons of products. But why？ Apart from simply being a newfound fad2， the truth is bacon is loaded3 with two ingredients4 that enhance the flavor of almost all foods： salt and fat. “Salt brings out flavor and fat carries flavor to our taste buds5，” Sara Perry wrote in her book Everything Tastes Better with Bacon. “But not only that—bacon has bite. Its chewy6 and crunchy7.” In other words， its hitting all our flavor receptors at once.

我們知道，很多产品添加了培根（或培根口味）。但为什么呢？事实上，培根除了是一种新的流行之外，还含有两种能增强几乎所有食物风味的成分：盐和脂肪。“盐能提味，而脂肪能将味道带给我们的味蕾。”萨拉·佩里在她的书《培根配啥都美味》中写道，“但不仅如此，培根还够味。它既有嚼劲而又脆。”换句话说，它同时影响了我们所有的味觉感受器。

2 Its more than 4，000 years old.

它有4000多年的历史了。

Bacon is basically cured8 pork， and in the days before refrigeration9， the only way to pre-serve10 meat was to cure it. The Chinese had techniques for curing pork 4，000 years ago and until the 16th century， all pork was referred to as “bacon”. However， “real” bacon comes from the side or belly of the pig. Canadian bacon is closer to ham and comes from the loin11 of the pig.

简单地说，培根是腌制过的猪肉，在能冷藏之前，保存肉类的唯一方法就是腌制。中国人在4000年前就有了腌制猪肉的技术，而直到16世纪，所有的猪肉都被称为“培根”。但是，“真正的”培根是由猪的肋条或猪腹部的肉制成的。加拿大培根更接近火腿，是用猪的背脊肉做的。

3 Its not so bad for you.

对你来说也不是那么糟糕。

Were not going to say bacon is a healthy choice， but its not the worst thing you can eat， either. Bacon is a processed meat， which means its been treated with nitrites12 for preservation13. Eating lots of processed meats has been linked to an increased risk of cancer， as well as heart failure and other diseases. However， two strips of bacon—along with a fried egg once a week is probably OK. Speaking of which...

我们不会说培根是健康的选择，但它也不是你能吃的最糟糕的东西。培根是一种加工处理过的肉，也就是说它是经过亚硝酸盐处理来保存的。大量食用加工处理过的肉类会增加患癌、心力衰竭和其他疾病的风险。不过，每周吃一次，两条培根再加上一个煎鸡蛋，是没关系的。说到这里……

4 Marrying bacon with eggs was a PR14 stunt15.

培根和鸡蛋的搭配是公关的把戏。

Edward Bernays was the person responsible for pairing bacon with eggs on American breakfast tables. Hed been hired by a producer of bacon in the 1920s， to increase demand for the porky product. At the time， Americans ate a light breakfast—maybe coffee and a roll. Bernays asked a physician16 whether a heavy breakfast was better than a light one since “the body loses energy in the night and needs it in the day”. Unsurprisingly， the company physician agreed.

“We asked him if hed be willing—at no cost—to write to 5，000 physicians and ask them whether their judgments were the same as his. He said hed be glad to do it，” reminisced17 Bernays in an interview decades later. “Obviously， all of them concurred18.” This news was reported in newspapers throughout the country， many of which added that bacon and eggs should be part of the “healthier” breakfast. Sales of bacon went up and bacon became embedded19 with eggs.

爱德华·伯尼斯是使人们在美国的早餐桌上把培根和鸡蛋搭配起来的那个人。他在20世纪20年代被一家培根生产商雇佣，以增加人们对这种猪肉产品的需求。当时，美国人吃的早餐比较清淡——可能是咖啡和面包卷。伯尼斯问医生，一顿丰盛的早餐是否比一顿清淡的早餐好，因为“人体在夜间失去能量，在白天需要能量。”不出所料，该公司的医生同意了这一点。

“我们问他是否愿意——免费——写信给5000名医生，询问他们的判断是否与他的相同。他说他很乐意这样做。”几十年后，伯奈斯在一次采访中回忆道，“很明显，所有人都同意这一点。”这个消息在全国各地的报纸上都有报道，其中許多报纸还说培根和鸡蛋应该是“更健康的”早餐的一部分。培根的销售量增加了，培根也和鸡蛋放到了一起。

5 The phrase  “bring home the bacon” doesnt have to do with bacon.

“带培根回家”这一说法与培根没啥关系。

Back in the 12th century， the Prior20 of Little Dunmow in Essex， England offered a “flitch” （or side） of bacon to any couples who could prove that after a year and a day of marriage they have “not wish themselves unmarried again”. Though some people think this is the origin of the expression， “bringing home the bacon”， it appears to have a more recent history.

“Bacon” has been a slang21 term for “body” （and by extension22 “livelihood”） since the 17th century， but the entire phrase seems to have first appeared in a 1906 news article about a boxing match between Joe Gans and Oliver Nelson. A newspaper  reported， “Before the fight Gans received a telegram from his mother： ‘Joe， the eyes of the world are on you. Everybody says you ought to win. Peter Jackson will tell me the news and you bring home the bacon.” Gans indeed won the fight. Whether he took home some actual bacon is unrecorded.

早在12世纪，英国埃塞克斯郡小邓莫的修道院长就向那些能够证明结婚一年零一天后“不希望离婚”的夫妇提供一份腌猪肋肉。尽管有人认为这是“把培根带回家”这一说法的由来，但这个说法的历史似乎更短一点。

“培根”自十七世纪起一直是“身体”的俚语说法（引申为“生计，营生”），但整个短语似乎首次出现在1906年的一篇有关乔·甘斯与奥利弗·尼尔森的拳击比赛的新闻文章中。一家报纸报道说：“比赛前，甘斯收到了他母亲的电报：‘乔，全世界的目光都在你身上。大家都说你应该赢。彼得·杰克逊会告诉我这个消息，你会赢。”甘斯确实赢了这场拳击比赛。他是否带了一些真正的培根回家则没被记录下来。

（英语原文选自：recipes.howstuffworks.com）

◎Definition of “bring home the bacon”：

If you bring home the bacon， you achieve what you needed to achieve.

1. enhance [■] vt. 提高;加强;增加   2. fad [■] n. 时尚;一时流行的狂热

3. load [■] vt. 使担负;装填   4. ingredient [■] n. 原料;要素

5. taste bud  味蕾

6. chewy [■] adj. 有嚼劲的   7. crunchy [■] adj. 易碎的;发嘎吱嘎吱声的

8. cure [■] v. （用腌、晒、熏等方法）加工处理，保存

9. refrigeration [■] n. 冷藏 10. preserve [■] vt. 保存;腌

11. loin [■] n. 腰;腰部;腰肉 12. nitrite [■] n. 亚硝酸盐

13. preservation [■] n. 保存，保留14. PR [■] abbr. 公共关系（public relations）

15. stunt [■] n. 噱头，手腕 16. physician [■] n. 医师，内科医师

17. reminisce [■] v. 追忆说 18. concur [■] vi. 同意;一致

19. embed [■] vt. 使嵌入 20. prior [■] n. （小隐修院） 院长，会长，副院长

21. slang [■] n. 俚语;行话 22. extension [■] n. 拓展;延伸