A Bite of Hakka

福建客家菜家乡情味浓

   Hakka people often find excuses for the lack of presentation for their food, especially compared with their seafood-rich neighbors of Chaozhou and Shantou, where more attention is paid to how dishes are prepared and presented.

   跟海味十足的潮州菜和汕头菜比起来，客家菜显得有些默默无闻，前两者食材讲究，制作精良，上菜时摆盘也很精美，而客家菜却不怎么讲究这些，这样说来，默默无闻也就情有可原了。

   It may not be the best-looking cuisine in the vast array of Chinese gastronomy, but it is surely a strong contender for the best tasting. It reminds one of the kind of food a mother cooks for her child who is visiting after a long absence from home.

   在中国的各色菜系中，客家菜不是最有卖相的，但是其味道绝不输给任何菜系。品尝客家菜，会让你想起母亲的味道，一道道菜就像是母亲为远游归来的孩子烹饪的美食。

   The Hakka idea of feasting is mostly meat. Its salt-roasted chicken has been incorporated into Cantonese cuisine as a standard. The origin of bean curd stuffed with a small meatball goes back to the time before the Hakka moved away from the Central Plains. Unlikely as it seems, this famous dish is a variation of jiaozi, but since wheat was hard to come by in South China, the Hakka had to make do with tofu.

   在客家人眼里，宴席主要就是要吃肉。客家菜里的盐焗鸡已经被纳入经典粤菜。豆腐丸的起源可以追溯客家人从中原迁离之前。让人感到不可思议的是，这个著名的菜肴其实是饺子的变形，因为南方不太种植小麦，客家不得不用豆腐来代替。

   Like its dialect, the Hakka cuisine has traces of their connection to the landlocked north. The emphasis on meat could be a testament to hard times when meat was a luxury and reserved for only the rarest of occasions. But dishes like pork with salted vegetables have gained popularity across the nation. It is, however, pork tripe stewed chicken, among the Hakka staples, that was relatively unknown to me and it proved to be delicious beyond description.

   就像客家方言一样，客家菜也处处体现着与北方内陆地区的密切关系。客家菜对于肉的重视证明了，在困难时期，肉是奢侈品，只有在很重要场合才能吃到。但是像咸菜焖猪肉这样的菜肴在全国都很受欢迎。还有一道我不太熟悉的客家主食，叫做猪肚炖鸡，也是美味到无法形容。