2015-07-03

【Aiden in English】

        Pizza is the new Alexander the Great in Italian culinary, which conquests countries with ease and turns people’s appetites against themselves. Its origin comes from the beautiful city of Naples with more than 2,500-year-old history.

        In the downtown Naples crammed in a small, dark side stands a tiny alley with a golden plaque that reads: “Nacque la Pizza Margherita”. This is an official plaque that states the origin of the monstrosity known as “Pizza”. The cheesy, tasty dough was invented in the 1889, and from the very start, Italians saw potential in the small circular bread of triangles consisted of green basil, red tomatoes and white mozzarella di bufala. Back in the old day, the pizza was a simple delicatessen of Italy, native to the country, and only known in this country. Then, Queen Margherita of Savoy happened to taste it. Those British and their explorers were always nosing their way into secrets. And so the pizza was no longer loyal to this country and owned by this country. In fact, Europe was reacting to this discovery like a girl to Cinderella’s crystal shoe (See Note at the bottom). Once the merchants passed it onto the Americans, the meaning of “pizza” was taken quite differently. The path split, and the American version of pizza was born. The oil, the grease, and the non-formality were given to an amazing dish. 

        It was astonishing to see how the world reacted to such a delicious pastry transform. They actually accepted it in a crazy and inhumane way. People switched their shops’ food to keep up with the competition here. After completing a diagram and analysis, I believe that it is because of US tourists and their money. When rich people come to poor places, money talks and leaves a trail. That’s why tourism becomes such a big hit in certain economies. The people need to get the tourists willing to spend money to buy their goods at higher prices. Now money can also make you a target, which leads to theft, hate, and assassination. It didn’t help that the Mafia was used to be extremely strong in Naples. Why was that? It’s the very people that tend to hand on to their money, sometimes even more than life. At what a point in time was money worth more than life? Well, some people have a thing for the green paper and numbers, I guess. Money stands out everywhere. It makes many people respect you, while others may resent you. Believe or not, nearly everyone sees you as a possibility to be like you.

Note: The story of Cinderella was actually inspired by the architecture in Naples.

【紅霞譯文】

        皮薩可謂意大利烹飪界的亞歷山大大帝，不僅輕而易舉地征服了整個國家，並且還博取全體同胞交口稱讚，其發源地正是風景優美、具有2500年悠久文化歷史的那不勒斯。

        地處那不勒斯市中心一個空間狹隘光線暗淡的胡同鑲金牌匾上寫着“皮薩瑪格麗塔誕生”，這就是官方認可的被慣稱為“皮薩”尤物出世之地。1889年，乳香可口的麵食在此首次跟公眾見面，儘管從一開始意大利人早已嗅到這個由三角麵皮塗滿綠紫蘇紅番茄白水牛奶酪拼成的圓餅會帶來無限商機，但那時皮薩只被當成熱氣騰騰的風味小吃，僅在本土頂多行銷本國範圍，直到英國薩伏依女皇瑪格麗塔道訪親口嘗試，才引起英國人及其獵奇者的高度重視。打那以後，皮薩不再由意大利人獨享，也不再歸意大利專屬。實際上，歐洲人對這項發明趨之若鶩，猶如公主小姐情系灰姑娘水晶鞋一般^【注】；而美洲商家則借題發揮，“皮薩”本土氣息蕩然無存，取而代之的是膩乎乎油漬漬的家常便飯，米式皮薩應運而生。

        皮薩轉型過程令人感慨，中間不乏武斷缺乏情理。為了適應競爭，當地人不得不改造皮薩生意，縱觀總體分析，這種結果完全由美國遊客一手造出。當富人來到窮地，物質消費必定刺激生機，遊客喜愛的東西會引起商家關注，所以說旅遊業促進一定的經濟發展。生意人期待從觀光者消費中獲得利潤，他們把遊客當成發家致富的對象，這也是為什麼搶劫、仇恨、暗殺等犯罪事件時有發生，這樣只會給那不勒斯旅遊業雪上加霜，為什麼這麼說呢？要知道從前這裡黑手黨勢力強大，他們圖財害命殺人不眨眼。在我看來，某些人把金錢看得比生命還重要。物慾社會哪裡都需要金錢，人們對它羨慕嫉妒恨，五味雜陳。不管相信與否，幾乎所有人或多或少認為金錢萬能。

【注】事實上，《灰姑娘》原著中的場景設計靈感來自那不勒斯建築。