导读:新锐大厨周梅的小小包餐厅供应中式汉堡,她刚被300多位评审评为亚洲最佳女主厨。
The humble steamed bun is taking Hong Kong’s culinary scene by storm - and scooping up awards along the way.
一个谦卑的包子正在席卷香港烹饪界,一路上还收获了各种奖项。
May Chow, the owner of restaurant Little Bao, has just been voted Asia’s best female chef by a panel of over 300 experts.
新锐大厨周梅,小小包餐厅的主人,刚被300多位评审评为亚洲最佳女主厨。
The 32-year-old’s restaurant serves what she calls Chinese burgers: steamed white buns filled with braised pork belly, fried chicken or fish.
周梅32岁,她的餐厅供应她所谓的中式汉堡包:蒸白馒头,中间夹着炸猪排,炸鸡或炸鱼。
Winning the award is no mean feat, considering Asia’s competitive food scene, but the restaurant might not have started at all if Ms Chow hadn’t sneaked behind her parents’ back.
亚洲食品界竞争激烈,获奖相当不易,但如果周梅没有背着父母偷学厨艺,这家餐厅根本不可能存在。
She developed a love of cooking from watching her mother cook in Canada - where a typical meal involved serving more than 20 people in the extended family.
在加拿大看她的母亲做饭激发了她对烹饪的热爱,在那里,一顿饭有超过20个人的大家庭一起享用。
"Growing up I told my parents I wanted to be a chef," Ms Chow tells the BBC.
“长大的过程中我告诉我的父母我想成为一名厨师,”周梅告诉BBC。
"But back then, cooking was considered low-class work, and my parents felt it would be a waste of my education."
“但是那时,烹饪被认为是低级的工作,我的父母觉得这会浪费我的教育。
As a result, Ms Chow studied hotel management at university in the US instead, but says her love for cooking kept calling out to her. By her third year at university, she was ready to take the plunge.
因此,周梅在美国的大学学习酒店管理,但她说她对烹饪的热爱不断地呼唤她。 在大学的第三年,她准备好了。
"I didn’t tell my parents, but I started interning with restaurants."
“我没有告诉我的父母,但我开始在餐馆实习。”
That paved her way to becoming a full-time chef at high-end restaurants in Hong Kong.
这为她成为香港高档餐厅的全职厨师做好了铺垫。
Just a few years later, and after road-testing her dishes at local food markets, Ms Chow opened Little Bao.
几年后,在当地食品市场路试她的菜后,周梅开了小小包餐厅。
Bao means bun in Chinese, and Ms Chow says she drew on her own identity, as a Chinese person who had grown up in North America, when designing her signature dish.
Bao中文是包的意思,周梅说,她在设计招牌菜时,利用自己作为在北美长大的中国人的身份。
"If you define me, my food is exactly me," she says. "Am I really Chinese? Why do I sound so American?"
“如果你定义我,我的食物就是我,”她说。 “我真的是中国人吗?为什么我听起来像美国人?
"That bao is me - Chinese but understands American culture - putting [the two sides] together in an honest way."
“这个包子就是我——理解美国文化的中国人——以诚实的方式融合这两个方面。”
She says she is happiest with the authenticity of her buns when her mother and grandmother enjoy them.
她说最让她感到快乐的是她的母亲和祖母喜欢吃她的包子。
Their approval "comes from 30 years of eating bao - you have to stand up to that quality check".
她们的认可“来自30年的包子饮食——你必须达到她们的质量标准”。