VOA文化艺术2022--担心传统食品消失的农民

Farmers Concerned about Disappearing Traditional Food

A small number of farmers near Lake Texcoco, Mexico, fear that a tradition dating back to the Aztec Empire may disappear.

The tradition involves collecting and eating the eggs of an insect known as the "bird fly."

The bug¹, which only occasionally appears before going again under the water, would not look like food to most. But it was once important to the people of the Valley of Mexico.

For Juan Hernández, a farmer from San Cristóbal Nezquipayac, cultivating and collecting the tiny insect eggs known as "ahuautle" or "Mexican caviar" is a way of life.

"For me, more than anything, it means tradition," said the 59-year-old Hernández. He is one of only six people known to still harvest ahuautle, at least in the Texcoco area. They fear they may be the last people that harvest it.

Jorge Ocampo is a historian at the Center for Economic, Social and Technological² Research on Agribusiness and World Agriculture in Mexico State. Ocampo suggested three main reasons for the decreased "Mexican caviar" collection: Lake Texcoco is drying out; the lake area is being developed; and young people are not familiar with the dish.

Ocampo called the dish's survival an example of "community resistance," similar to how people around Lake Texcoco have been able to keep other traditions, festivals and ceremonies.

For Hernández, it is hard, dirty work that few are willing to do anymore. While Hernández takes care of collecting the eggs, restaurant owner Gustavo Guerrero serves them to customers at his eatery in Iztapalapa.

One of Guerrero's favorite dishes is to mix the ahuautle with breadcrumbs and then add eggs. He then fries and serves the mixture with green tomatillo sauce, nopal cactus³ and squash flowers — all pre-Hispanic ingredients.

"Eating this is like revisiting the past," said Guerrero, 61. He says the flavor of the ahuautle reminds him of his childhood, when his mother cooked the dish according to a recipe that she learned from her grandmother.

Insects and their eggs have been a part of Mexican cooking for hundreds or thousands of years. Edday Farfán of Mexico's National Autonomous⁴ University said there are more than 430 kinds of edible⁵ insects in Mexico.

Farfán has been studying bird flies since 2016, and even has one tattooed⁷ on his arm.

Farfán said indigenous⁸ peoples living around the lakes adopted the insect eggs as a source of protein because they had few domestic animals before the Spanish conquest of 1521.

But now, Farfán said, the dish "is associated with the countryside, perhaps with poverty, as if it were an undesirable⁹ protein." Even those still familiar with ahuautle often consider the insects to be food for chickens or turkeys.

"There are a lot of kids, young people who don't eat it anymore, they don't like it," Hernández admits.

"Now we are just keeping ahuautle alive," he said. "I hope it doesn't disappear, because it is a source" of "income for those of us who live off the land."

Words in This Story

cultivate – v. to grow or raise (something) under conditions that you can control

dish -- n. food that is prepared in a particular way

breadcrumb – n. a very small piece of bread

fry – v. to cook (food) in fat or oil

ingredient -- n. one of the things that are used to make a food, product, etc.

edible – adj. suitable or safe to eat

tattoo⁶ -- v. to draw or write (a picture, word, etc.) on a part of someone's body by using a needle and ink

adopt -- v. to begin to use or have (a different manner, method, etc.)

income – n. money that is earned from work, investments, business, etc.

1 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

2 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

3 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

4 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

5 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

6 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。

7 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

9 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。