双语精读 || 多家著名餐厅出没...吃货必须了解的西方美食史

Covid brought to a halt an astonishing expansion. In 2010-19 the number of licensed restaurants in Britain grew by 26%. Americans were, for the first time, spending more than half their total food budget on eating out. Well-paid folk from Hong Kong to Los Angeles were happily renting kitchenless apartments: why bother cooking when good food was so lavish ly available beyond your front door?

新冠暂停了（餐饮业）惊人的扩张。在 2010 - 19 年，英国有营业许可的餐馆数量增长了 26 %。美国人第一次把超过一半的食物预算花在了外出就餐上。从香港到洛杉矶的高薪人士都乐于租住没有厨房的公寓：既然家门口就有丰盛的美食，为什么还要去做饭呢？

(1) halt：暂停，a suspension of movement or activity, typically a temporary one

(2) lavish：丰富的、奢华的，sumptuously rich, elaborate, or luxurious

Being deprived of restaurants has made people realise how much they value them. Eating out fulfils needs which seem fundamental to human nature. People need to date, to seal deals and to peer at their fellow humans. At a good restaurant you can travel without travelling, or simply feel coddled.

被剥夺了去餐厅的权利让人们意识到餐厅对他们有多重要。外出就餐满足了人们的基本需求。人们需要约会，谈生意，了解他人。在一家好的餐厅，你不用出行就可以旅行，或者单纯享受关爱。

Yet restaurants in their current form are a few hundred years old at most. They do not satisfy some primeval urge, but rather those of particular sorts of societies. Economic and social forces, from political reform to urbanisation to changing labour markets, have created both the supply of and demand for restaurants. Their history also hints at what their future could look like in a post-pandemic world.

然而，现代餐厅的形式最多只有几百年的历史。现代餐厅不是为了满足某些原始的需求，而是为了满足某些特定阶层的欲望。从政治改革到城市化再到不断变化的劳动力市场，各种经济和社会力量造就了餐厅的供给和需求。餐厅的历史也暗示了在疫情后的世界里它们的未来会是什么样子。

primeval：原始的、本能的， based on primitive instinct

People have long feasted outside the home. Archaeologists have counted 158 snack bars in Pompeii, a city destroyed by a volcano in 79AD—one for every 60-100 people, a higher ratio than many global cities today. Ready-cooked meat, game and fish were available for Londoners to eat from at least the 1170s. Samuel Cole, an early settler, opened what is considered to be the first American tavern in 1634, in Boston.

人类早就开始外出就餐了。考古学家在庞贝（公元 79 年被一座火山摧毁的一座城市）发现了 158 家小吃店，每 60 - 100 人就有一家，这个比例比今天许多全球化的城市都要高。至少从 1170 年起，现成的肉、野味和鱼就可供伦敦人食用。1634 年，早期的殖民者 Samuel Cole 在波士顿开了被认为是美国历史上第一家的酒馆。

game：野味，wild mammals or birds hunted for sport or food

These were more like takeaways, though, or stands where food might be thrown in with a drink, than restaurants. The table d’hôte , which appeared in France around Cole’s time, most closely resembled a modern restaurant. Clients sat at a single table and ate what they were given (trends now making a comeback). Many of these proto- restaurants resembled community kitchens, or quasi-charities, which existed for the benefit of locals. Strangers were not always welcome.

不过，这些地方更像是外卖店，或者买食物送饮料的小摊，而不是餐馆。和 Cole 同时期在法国出现的 table d’hôte 与现代餐厅更为相似。顾客们坐在一张桌子前，给什么吃什么（现在这种趋势再次流行了起来）。许多这些原始的餐厅类似于现在的社区厨房，或半慈善机构，是为了当地人的利益而存在。陌生人并不总是受欢迎的。

(1) throw in：附赠， include something free with a purchase

(2) table d’hôte: 套餐、定食，a restaurant meal offered at a fixed price and with few if any choices.

(3) proto-：原始的，original or primitive

Nor were they destinations predominantly for the well-heeled