Sunday Roast 英国周日烤肉

陈思羽

When Lucy Bella Earl， an English teacher from Britain， talked about British culture2 in one of her videos3， she said， “Sunday roast is the best meal in the world， and everyones favorite Sunday roast is their mums Sunday roast.”

露西·贝拉·厄尔是一位来自英国的英语老师。她在一段介绍英国文化的视频中说：“周日烤肉是世界上最棒的食物，每个人最喜欢的周日烤肉就是自己妈妈做的周日烤肉。”

The Sunday roast， also known as Sunday lunch or Sunday dinner， is a traditional4 British meal that people usually have on Sunday. In the meal， there are roasted meat and potatoes. The British often eat Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding5.

周日烤肉，又称周日午餐或周日晚餐，是人们通常在周日吃的一道传统的英国美食。这道菜里有烤肉和烤土豆，英国人常常配上约克郡布丁一起食用。

The history of the Sunday roast goes all the way back to 15th century Britain. Heres how it all started.

周日烤肉的兴起可以一直追溯至15世纪的英国，以下是这道传统美食的起源故事。

Its said that the British peoples love of beef started during the rule6 of King Henry VII. His royal guard7 would eat roasted beef every Sunday after church8. It became such a habit that the guards were called “beefeaters”.

据传，在亨利七世统治时期，英国人开始爱上牛肉。皇家护卫队每周日去了教堂之后会吃烤牛肉，这成为了他们的习惯，护卫队员因此被称作“吃牛肉的人”。

During the Industrial9 Age， almost every family would eat a roast before going to church on a Sunday. The rich10 would place a large cut of beef in front of the fire and slowly roast it. More often， people would put a cut of meat and some vegetables into the oven11 as they got ready for church on a Sunday morning. When they came back home， the dinner was all but ready. By 19th century， its said that every English person—royal guard or villager—should eat 3 kg beef every week to keep themselves in good health.

到了工业时代，几乎每家每户都会在星期天去教堂之前吃一顿烤肉。富人会把一大块牛肉放在火上慢慢烤。更多的人通常会在星期天早上准备好去教堂前把一块肉和蔬菜放进烤炉。等回到家时，晚餐就做好了。到了19世纪，人们相信，每个人，不论是皇家护卫队员还是普通村民，都应该为了保持身体健康每周吃3公斤牛肉。

Meat is no longer roasted in front of the fire. Today it is cooked in the modern12 oven， but the word “Sunday roast” is still used. On Sundays in the UK， restaurants are ready for the roast dinner. Some even have the meal on other days of the week. But for many British， cooking Sunday lunch at home is the very heart of British food and cooking. Sunday is the time for families or friends to eat great food and talk with each other.

现在很少有人生火烤肉，人们都用现代烤箱，但人们还是称这道菜为“周日烤肉”。在英国，每逢周日，餐厅都会准备周日烤肉，有的餐厅甚至在其他时间也会供应周日烤肉。不过，对许多英国人來说，在家里制作周日烤肉才是英国美食和烹饪最核心的部分。星期天可是亲朋好友聚在一起分享美味佳肴和谈天说地的日子。

Today， people in the UK are said to still eat about 1.5 kg of meat each week—only 200 g of which is beef. Outside Britain， the tradition of a Sunday roast has been a great influence13 on food cultures in the English-speaking countries， such as Australia， Canada， South Africa and New Zealand.

今天，据说英国人每周仍要吃掉大约1.5公斤肉，其中牛肉只有200克。周日烤肉传统在英国之外极大地影响了澳大利亚、加拿大、南非、新西兰等英语国家的饮食文化。

（英语原文选自：blog.goodfoodgiftcard.com.au）

【Notes】

1. roastn. 文化

3. videoadj. 传统的

5. puddingn. 统治

7. royal guard皇家卫队

8. church n. 教堂

9. industrial   adj. 富有的

11. ovenadj. 现代的

13. influence n. 影响