美国国家公共电台 NPR Why Is Venison On Expensive Plates And Food Pantry Shelves?

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

There is a wintertime food that bridges the gap between rich and poor. It's a luxury food that you can also find in surprisingly un-luxurious (ph) places. It's venison, a kind of meat that you can spend a lot of money on or nothing at all. NPR's Dan Charles has the story.

DAN CHARLES, BYLINE¹: Winter is a special time of year at Cafe Berlin on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. James Watson is one of the chefs here.

JAMES WATSON: This time of year, we run generally a wild game menu.

CHARLES: People come here this time of year for deer and wild boar and quail².

WATSON: I mean, they ask, you know, weeks in advance when does the wild game menu start? When does it start?

CHARLES: And the star of the menu is venison.

WATSON: Venison ribs³ and a venison loin.

CHARLES: Dishes that take you back to some old European castle eating like aristocracy. You won't see venison in ordinary supermarkets. At a specialty⁴ meat shop in Washington, those top cuts are selling for $40 a pound. This venison comes from farms that raise a species of very large deer called red deer. Meanwhile, less than two hours' drive from Washington, Daniel Crigler has a whole freezer full of venison that he got for free.

Oh, this is great. This is your stash⁵ of...

DANIEL CRIGLER: That's all venison.

CHARLES: All venison.

CRIGLER: (Laughter).

CHARLES: Crigler's home in central Virginia surrounded by woodlands that are full of white-tailed deer - venison on the hoof⁶ - and Crigler loves hunting.

CRIGLER: I love the outdoors. I love being out, but I also like to eat the meat.

CHARLES: It's pretty much the only red meat he eats.

CRIGLER: That's a whole loin right there.

CHARLES: OK.

CRIGLER: What I like to do with that is split it open, fill it full of blue cheese, wrap it up in tinfoil⁷ and put it on the grill⁸ for about an hour and a half.

CHARLES: But here's the odd thing about this meat - it's so scarce and expensive in big cities, so abundant if you're a hunter in Madison County, Va. Hunters like Crigler kill millions of deer every year in America, but the meat from those animals can't be sold. It hasn't been officially approved by meat inspectors⁹. Also the government doesn't want hunters to make money from poaching. Hunters can give it away, though, and many do.

JILL SKELTON: We're starting to gear up. We've got bags built this morning.

CHARLES: This is the basement of a Methodist church in Culpeper, Va., and an organization called Empowering Culpeper is passing out free food to people who need it. Jill Skelton's in charge.

SKELTON: We got over 600 pounds of venison. A lot of times venison is the only protein meat source that we have available to distribute.

CHARLES: And it was all donated by hunters, including Daniel Crigler. An organization called Hunters for the Hungry pays small deer processing shops to cut and grind the meat into usable portions. There are organizations like this across the country, and Phil Ferlazzo, one of the volunteers here this morning, is offering the meat to a line of people coming through.

PHIL FERLAZZO: Now how about venison? Do you like venison?

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yeah, yeah, that's good.

CHARLES: For a lot of people here, venison is not like the meats you find in the supermarket. It's not coming from a faraway farm. It's from the woods next to their homes, and they have personal experiences with deer, which is why Alsace Lee Kwai won't eat this meat.

ALSACE LEE KWAI: 'Cause the first time I ever went hunting with my husband, he shot one, I heard one cry like a baby. No, no, thank you.

CHARLES: On the other hand, Bonita Gray grew up eating meat from deer and rabbits that her family shot, and she loves it.

BONITA GRAY: 'Cause I'll take all of it if they give it to me (laughter). And it tastes so good. You season real good, put onions in it, green peppers, make deer burgers. Oh, my God.

CHARLES: And that experience is something she'll have in common with the people spending plenty of money on the wild game specials at Cafe Berlin. Dan Charles, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SOUL'S RELEASE'S "EVER ALONE")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 quail   

n.鹌鹑；vi.畏惧，颤抖

参考例句：

• Cowards always quail before the enemy.在敌人面前，胆小鬼们总是畏缩不前的。
• Quail eggs are very high in cholesterol.鹌鹑蛋胆固醇含量高。

3 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

4 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

5 stash   

v.藏或贮存于一秘密处所；n.隐藏处

参考例句：

• Stash away both what you lost and gained,for life continues on.将得失深藏心底吧，为了那未来的生活。
• That's supposed to be in our private stash.这是我的私人珍藏。

6 hoof   

n.(马，牛等的)蹄

参考例句：

• Suddenly he heard the quick,short click of a horse's hoof behind him.突然间，他听见背后响起一阵急骤的马蹄的得得声。
• I was kicked by a hoof.我被一只蹄子踢到了。

7 tinfoil   

n.锡纸，锡箔

参考例句：

• You can wrap it up in tinfoil.你可以用锡箔纸裹住它。
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto tinfoil.Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.用大餐勺把刚刚搅拌好的糊糊盛到锡纸上，烘烤9至11分钟，直到变成金黄色。

8 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

9 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》