新與舊、變與不變：紐約唐人街的食物與人

Even when I lived hours away, Manhattan’s Chinatown was my family’s destination for groceries. Decades back, you couldn’t find the same variety and quality of Chinese produce, meats and dried goods in most of the Mid-Atlantic.

即使是在從我住的地方到曼哈頓的華埠要花好幾個小時的時候，那里也是我家購買食品雜貨的地方。幾十年前，在美國大西洋沿岸的大部分地區(qū)，你找不到同樣種類和質量的中國農產品、肉制品和干貨。

But that’s changed.

但這已有所改變。

Cheaper options in Flushing, Queens; Sunset Park, Brooklyn; and elsewhere in the city have drawn working-class Chinese immigrants away from this neighborhood bordered by trendy SoHo and TriBeCa.

皇后區(qū)的法拉盛、布魯克林的日落公園，以及紐約市其他地方已經有了更便宜的選擇，把工薪階層的華裔移民從毗鄰時髦的蘇豪區(qū)(SoHo)和翠貝卡區(qū)(TriBeCa)的華埠吸引走了。

As Chinatown’s population changes, what will happen to the grocers and specialty food stores that feed the community?

隨著華埠人口的變化，養(yǎng)活這個社區(qū)的食品雜貨店和特色食品店將會發(fā)生什么呢?

“One of the reasons Chinese in our neighborhood have been able to sustain our community nutritionally is because these vendors exist,” said Jan Lee, a Chinatown resident and property owner in the neighborhood. “For gentrification, people think it’ll be $8 coffee, but before that happens you’ll displace a fishmonger or a fruit seller who is providing inexpensive food.”

“我們社區(qū)的華人之所以能夠不斷為維系社區(qū)提供養(yǎng)分，原因之一就是這些商販的存在，”華埠居民、該社區(qū)的業(yè)主簡·李(Jan Lee)說。“人們對社區(qū)高階層化改造的想法是，一杯咖啡要8美元，但在這之前你會看到的是，為社區(qū)提供便宜食物的魚販子或水果商沒有了。”

For several years, Chinatown has helped teach my third-generation American children what it means to be Taiwanese-American, not only because they go to Mandarin school there, but also because, just as importantly, they eat the foods, foods that aren’t pristine and sterilized, boneless and skinned.

多年來，華埠一直在幫助我的美國第三代子女們了解作為臺灣裔美國人意味著什么，不僅因為他們在那里上普通話學校，也因為他們在那里吃那些看起來不怎么干凈、沒有經過消毒和去骨去皮的食物，而這同樣重要。

But while New York City’s Chinese population continues to grow, by more than 70 percent since 2000, Manhattan’s Chinatown is losing Chinese residents. According to census data, and the city’s neighborhood map, Chinatown’s Chinese population has declined by 30 percent since 2000.

但是，盡管紐約市的華裔人口持續(xù)增長，自2000年以來增長了70%以上，但曼哈頓華埠的華裔居民人數正在減少。據人口普查數據和紐約市社區(qū)地圖，華埠的華裔人口自2000年以來已經下降了30%。

I spoke to some food shopkeepers, who ran first- and second-generation family businesses in Chinatown. Their answers both surprised and inspired me and suggested that while some see a neighborhood in decline, others see merely a transition.

我采訪了一些食品店主，他們在華埠經營著第一代或第二代的家族生意。他們的回答既讓我感到驚訝，也給了我啟發(fā)，讓我認識到，雖然有些人認為這個社區(qū)正在衰落，也有一些人認為它只是在經歷一個過渡期。

Lewis Wu, 50 劉易斯·胡(Lewis Wu)，50歲

Hong Kong Supermarket, 157 Hester Street

香港超級市場(Hong Kong Supermarket)，Hester街157號

After immigrating from Burma, Lewis Wu’s father opened his first store in 1973, a small dry goods grocery on East Broadway in Chinatown.

劉易斯·胡的父親從緬甸移民美國后，于1973年在華埠的東百老匯街上開了他的第一家店，那是一家小小的干貨雜貨店。

Business was brisk, especially on Chinese New Year’s. “It was actually like a can of sardines.” Mr. Wu reminisced, “long lines throughout the whole day.”

店里生意興隆，尤其是在中國的舊歷新年。“里面簡直就像是個沙丁魚罐頭，”劉易斯·胡回憶說，“一整天都排著長隊。”

And Mr. Wu loved it. Choosing products and seeing what sells at what price was like running little experiments for him.

他很喜歡那種場景。在他看來，選擇產品、發(fā)現(xiàn)什么東西能以什么價格賣出去，就像是做小小的實驗。

So while his sisters went into medicine and dentistry, he chose the family business.

所以，當他的姐妹們選擇了行醫(yī)或當牙醫(yī)時，他選擇了家族生意。

With two floors and 17,000 square feet, Hong Kong Supermarket is one of the largest in Chinatown and larger than most grocery stores in Manhattan: The store has several tanks for live fish and shellfish, a butcher section, a back wall entirely for frozen goods, and a lower level for kitchenware, herbs, rice and noodles.

香港超市有上下兩層，總面積約1600平方米，是華埠最大的超市之一，比曼哈頓的大多數食品雜貨店都大。店里有幾個養(yǎng)著活魚和貝類的缸，有現(xiàn)切現(xiàn)賣的新鮮肉，有排滿整個后墻的冷凍商品柜，地下層銷售廚具、各種香草、大米和各種面條。

Just a few years ago, Hong Kong Supermarket expanded its selection of non-Asian products, like yogurts and cold cuts, though Mr. Wu explained that it wasn’t just non-Chinese customers who had asked for it.

就在幾年前，香港超市擴大了店內非亞洲產品的選擇，增加了酸奶和冷盤切肉等食品，不過劉易斯·胡解釋說，有這些購買需求的不只是非華裔顧客。

While his customer base used to be more first-generation Chinese, he said now he saw more second-generation Chinese-Americans along with non-Asians.

雖然他的顧客群過去更多的是第一代華裔，但他說，現(xiàn)在他也看到更多的第二代美籍華人和非亞裔。

And Mr. Wu’s family also opened stores in East Brunswick, N.J., and Flushing, Queens, to tap into growing Asian communities outside Chinatown.

劉易斯·胡的家人還在新澤西州東不倫瑞克和紐約皇后區(qū)的法拉盛開了店，以爭取華埠以外日益壯大的亞裔社區(qū)顧客。

“Like dinosaurs,” said Mr. Wu, “if you don’t change with the environment, you won’t be here.”

“和恐龍一樣，”他說，“如果你不隨著環(huán)境的變化而改變的話，你就活不下去了。”

But he added that despite the relative higher rent in Chinatown, the volume of sales at the Hester Street store still made it the most profitable.

但他補充說，雖然華埠的租金相對較高，但這家位于Hester街的店面銷售額也高，所以它還是最掙錢的店。

Muoi Truong, 51 張梅(Muoi Truong，音)，51歲

Sidewalk stand on Mulberry Street near Canal 桑樹街(Mulberry Street)上離運河街(Canal)不遠的街攤

On a recent December afternoon, Muoi Truong could be found wearing six layers of clothing and three hats.

在12月不久前的一個下午，人們可以看到穿了六層衣服、戴了三頂帽子的張梅。

In front of her was a rainbow of fruit from the tropics — pink-red lychees, ruby rambutans, yellow mangos, pale green Taiwanese guava and fuchsia dragon fruit — sitting atop three tables on the sidewalk of Mulberry Street near Canal.

她在桑樹街離運河街不遠的地方擺街攤，面前的三張桌子上擺滿了各種顏色的熱帶水果——粉色的荔枝、紅寶石色的毛丹、黃色的芒果、淺綠色的臺灣番石榴，以及紫紅色的火龍果。

One shopper considered a box of strawberries and asked, “Is it sweet?”

一位猶豫著是不是買盒草莓的顧客問道：“甜嗎?”

“Sweet like you,” replied Ms. Truong, 51, almost instinctively.

“像你一樣甜美，”51歲的張梅幾乎本能地回答。

Karlin Chan, a community activist in Chinatown, introduced me to Ms. Truong, who has sold fruit with her husband for over 20 years at this location. Her sister and brother run a similar stand around the corner farther east on Canal.

華埠的社區(qū)活動人士陳家齡(Karlin Chan)把張梅介紹給了我，她和丈夫在這個攤位賣水果已經20多年了。她有兄弟姐妹在運河街往東更遠的拐角處經營著一個類似的攤位。

Ms. Truong usually starts at 8 a.m. and works until 10 p.m. (Her mother, 83, often spends the day outside as well.)

張梅通常早上8點開始工作，一直到晚上10點收攤(她83歲的母親也經常把整天的時間花在攤位上)。

But she says her business has declined, and standing all day has started to wear on her. She pointed to her bowed legs and said her knees had been bothering her.

但她說，她的生意已經不如過去了，整天站著工作也開始讓她感到疲憊不堪。她指著自己彎曲的雙腿說，她的膝蓋一直不好。

Would she want one of her four children to continue the business? “Of course not, I’m hoping they’ll go to medical school!” she said. Her two oldest are in college, at Columbia University and the University of Richmond.

她會讓四個孩子中的一個繼續(xù)這個生意嗎?“當然不會，我希望他們都能上醫(yī)學院!”她說。她的兩個最大的子女正在上大學，一個在哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)，一個在里士滿大學(University of Richmond)。

My 80-something-year-old uncle in Missouri said that before he died, he would love to be able to eat cherimoya, a fruit closely related to the soursop and brought to Southeast Asia from the Americas. We sent one from Ms. Truong.

我住在密蘇里州的80多歲的叔叔說，想在去世前再吃一次番荔枝。那是一種類似紅毛榴蓮、從美洲傳入東南亞的水果。我們在張梅的攤子上買了一個給他寄去。

Paul Eng, 51 伍啟芳(Paul Eng)，51歲

Fong On, tofu store, 81 Division Street (opening early 2019) 宏安豆腐店，將于2019年初在Division街81號開業(yè)

Paul Eng really wants to appeal to everybody.

伍啟芳真的想吸引每一個人。

His new shop will offer riffs on Asian foods to attract younger customers who are into the “snacking, foodie culture,” basically, quick bites, usually novel and Instagram-able, that could be sweet or savory.

他的新店將供應亞洲美食的改良版，以吸引熱衷“小吃、吃貨文化”的年輕食客，大體上就是能很快吃點兒，通常要新穎、適合拍照，可以是甜味或咸味。

The store will also sell conventional tofu, other soy-based products and sticky rice cake to serve older Chinatown residents.

店面還將售賣傳統(tǒng)的豆腐、其他豆制品以及年糕，服務華埠的老居民。

“I still want to serve the community,” Mr. Eng said.

“我仍然想服務這個社區(qū)，”伍啟芳說。

Though Mr. Eng has a family history in the tofu business (his father owned Fong Inn Too on Mott Street, the oldest tofu and noodle shop in the city), this new store is a somewhat surprising turn for him.

雖然家里一直經營豆腐生意(他的父親曾擁有勿街[Mott St]的宏安[Fong Inn Too]，那是紐約最老的豆腐和面條小食店)，但這家新店對他而言多少是個意外的轉折。

He had long disliked working at his family’s store. “Any little thing that needed attending to, it had to be done right away, seven days a week,” said Mr. Eng, who was the youngest child.

他一直都不喜歡在父親的店里工作。“任何需要經管的小事情，必須馬上去做，一周七天都是如此，”伍啟芳說，他是家中老小。

So a few years ago, when his parents and older brothers asked if he wanted to take over the business, he had no interest.

于是幾年前，當父母和兄長問起他是否想接管家里的生意時，他表示沒有興趣。

Fong Inn Too, known as 宏安, closed in February 2017. 2017年2月，宏安關了門。

Now though, at 51 with two young children, Mr. Eng is looking for a steady job instead of freelance photography. He had spent 10 years as a commercial photographer in Russia, where he met his wife.

但眼下，51歲育有兩名幼子的伍啟芳在尋找一份穩(wěn)定的工作，不再做自由攝影。他已經在俄羅斯當了10年商業(yè)攝影師，并在那兒認識了他的妻子。

But unlike the original shop owned by his father, the new shop will serve foods like soy custards topped with red and mung beans, boba or grass jelly, a combination he was introduced to while visiting Taiwan.

和父親原來那家店不同，新店將供應豆奶凍這類食品，配有紅豆和綠豆、珍珠或仙草凍做澆頭，這是他在臺灣旅行時引進的美味組合。

“Who knew?” Mr. Eng’s eyes brightened. “I’ve eaten all this stuff in separate parts my whole life, but together? Oh my God!”

“誰會想到?”伍啟芳的眼睛一亮。“這玩意我在整個人生的不同階段都吃過，但全放一起?噢，天吶!”

The name will still be 宏安, this time transliterated as Fong On.

店名仍叫“宏安”，不過這次音譯為Fong On。

“I’m going to put everything that I know into it,” Mr. Eng added. “The photography, the marketing, the art direction.”

“我將把我會的每一樣都放進去，”他補充說。“攝影、營銷、藝術指導。”

I asked Mr. Eng what his father, who has died, would say about his return to the tofu business after so many years of resistance. His answer: “I told you so.”

我問他，在抗拒了這么多年后又回到豆腐生意上，父親若仍健在，會怎么說。他的回答是：“我早就跟你說過嘛。”

Zee Ying Wong, 73, Steven Wong, 39, and Freeman Wong, 42 王徐嬰(73歲)、史蒂文·王(39歲)和弗里曼·王(42歲)

Aqua Best Seafood, 276 Grand Street 格蘭街(Grand Street)276號福旺海產(Aqua Best Seafood)

The customers, and even the vendors, call her “Mommy.” 顧客們、甚至小販們都叫她“媽咪。”

Though she’s not in charge anymore, Zee Ying Wong, 73, manages the register at Aqua Best and enjoys chats with longtime customers.

雖然店面不歸她管了，但73歲的王徐嬰還在負責收銀，也喜歡跟老顧客拉家常。

“It would be boring to stay home,” she said.

“待家里太悶了，”她說。

About 30 years ago, after Ms. Wong’s husband passed away, she built up the current business, now managed by her two sons, Freeman, 42, and Steven Wong, 39, along with other family members.

大約30年前丈夫去世后做起來的生意，現(xiàn)在由兩個兒子——42歲的弗里曼和39歲的史蒂文——和其他家庭成員一道經營。

But she still comes every day “to point out the things they should pay attention to and how to solve problems,” she added.

但她依然每天前來“指出他們應當注意的地方，以及怎么解決問題，”她補充說。

One entire wall of this spacious store is occupied by glass tanks, filled with barramundi, spotted shrimp, whelk, Dungeness crabs, King crabs and lobsters. In the center are trays of razor clams and other shellfish next to several types of iced fish, and a bucket of frogs near the back (so as not to scare the non-Chinese customers, Steven Wong explained).

這家寬敞的店有一整面墻被玻璃魚缸占據，里面擺滿了澳洲肺魚、斑點蝦、峨螺、珍寶蟹、帝王蟹和龍蝦。店中央是一盤盤的大蟶子和其它貝殼海鮮，旁邊是幾種冰凍魚，后面有一桶蛙(以防嚇到非華人顧客，史蒂文·王解釋說)。

Freeman Wong spent 10 years in the finance industry. But when his job required a move to Ohio, he decided in 2004 to dedicate himself full time to Aqua Best.

弗里曼·王在金融行業(yè)工作了十年。但當他的工作要求調動到俄亥俄州時，2004年他決定全職投身福旺。

“I needed a little bit of time to figure out what I wanted to do,” he said.

“我需要一點時間弄明白我想干什么，”他說。

The business and its block have changed a lot since then. Its neighbors used to be a handful of other Chinese-owned seafood shops, now replaced by an ice cream shop and a Vietnamese restaurant among others.

自那以來，這里的業(yè)務和所在街區(qū)有了很大變化。從前的鄰居是十來家其他華人所有的海產店，現(xiàn)在變成了一家冰激凌店、一家越南餐館以及其他的店鋪。

And wholesale makes up 90 percent of its revenue now, with restaurant clients like Blanca and Del Posto, along with nearby Chinese restaurants.

另外，有了Blanca和Del Posto這樣的餐廳客戶，以及附近的中餐館，批發(fā)現(xiàn)在占到了它收入的九成。

Steven and Freeman Wong have partnered with a former executive chef from the restaurant Talde to open a seafood market and restaurant called Essex Pearl. It’ll be ready next spring at the new Essex Crossing, an enormous development on the Lower East Side.

史蒂文和弗里曼·王跟Talde餐廳的前行政主廚合作，打算開一家叫埃塞克斯珍珠(Essex Pearl)的海產市場和餐廳。餐廳將在明年春季就緒，位于新的埃塞克斯路口(Essex Crossing)——紐約下東區(qū)一片巨大的開發(fā)項目。

The menu won’t be strictly Chinese, but rather a mix of Jewish, Hispanic, and Asian cuisines, a homage to the neighborhood’s history.

菜單將不局限于中式，而是混合了猶太、西班牙和亞洲美食，以此向這片社區(qū)的歷史致敬。

Freeman Wong said, “The second and third generation, we’re bringing our own ideas of what Chinatown should be.”

弗里曼·王說，“作為第二代和第三代，我們對華埠是什么提出了自己的看法。”