说起一座多元文化的城市，怎么能少了吃？---Food is an essential ingredi

At noon on a recent sunny Saturday morning, I sat down on the wooden bench of a spacious open kitchen to enjoy my own delicious handmade herb linguine with sweet juicy tomatoes and fresh basil leaves. Hours of busy chopping, dough kneading and pasta rolling that very morning certainly paid off as the lovely flavors melted in my mouth. Listening to jazz music in the background and birds chirping outside the window, I almost imagined I was on holiday in the exotic Tuscany countryside. I was not in Tuscany, of course. Instead, I was taking a pasta-making class at Central London’s La Cucina Caldesi cookery school. The United Kingdom is a nation that has, in the past, been “notorious” for its food, and I still remember worrying before I arrived here about being stuck with boring fish and chips for dinner every day. Hence, you can imagine my surprise when I discovered how multicultural and dynamic London’s food scene is. Eight years of living in London has taught me how to make dishes from many different cuisines, thanks to lessons from the likes of La Cucina Caldesi, and after learning from my new friends about their grandmas’ secret recipes. I have also learned where to shop for my favorite ingredients: Korean kimchi from New Malden, spicy curry from Brick Lane, and the freshest fish from Billingsgate Fish Market. Even during busy weekdays, I have the luxury of tasting flavors from around the world from Borough Market, which is minutes from my office in the heart of London’s Square Mile financial district. Chinese cuisine is also rapidly evolving. London’s Chinatown, which was famous in the previous century for basic dishes such as kungpao chicken and sweet and sour pork, has undergone a massive facelift and now offers the likes of hotpot from Sichuan, oyster omelet from Taiwan, and delicately made xiao long bao from Guangzhou, and much more. Michelin star Chinese restaurants Hakkasan and Yauatcha have destroyed the old stereotype of the oily Chinese takeaway. Chinese food is increasingly an art, a way of life, and a window for the world to understand Chinese culture. In more recent years, celebrity chef Ching He Huang has popularized Chinese food through her BBC food programs, teaching a British audience how to make a mouthwatering Chinese dish in five minutes. Meanwhile, the young chef Jeremy Pang has opened the School of Wok in Covent Garden and is giving hands-on guidance to students. More recently, I observed a Chinese cooking lesson at St Michael’s Catholic College in London, where 13-year-old students were learning how to make stir-fried Chinese egg noodles. The lesson was a part of the Healthy Chinese Cooking Ambassadors program that was launched in 2013 by the Chinese sauce manufacturer Lee KumKee and which has already reached more than 1,000 British students. Seeing the big smiles on the students’ faces as they took a bite of their own delicious noodles, I felt that Chinese food is bringing China to London. Through food, China is truly becoming an essential and welcome ingredient in London’s cultural melting pot. 前不久一个风和日丽的周六上午，我坐在开阔的厨房里一条木制长椅上，悠闲地品尝着自己做的甜美多汁的番茄夹心意大利扁面包和新鲜的罗勒叶。 几个小时一直忙着切菜，和面，擀面，最后当这绝妙的美味融化在嘴里时我就确信这一上午没白忙活。在后院听听爵士乐，听鸟儿在窗外啁啾，这一切几乎都让我有种在意大利托斯卡纳（Tuscany）度假的错觉。 当然，我并不在托斯卡纳区，相反，我正在伦敦市中心一所名叫La CucinaCaldesi的烹饪学校里上意面制作课。 过去，英国的食物曾“饱受诟病”，我仍清晰地记得在我还没到英国之前，曾担心过整天吃炸鱼和薯条的日子要怎么熬。现在你可以想象，当我发现英国的食物是如此多元化且还在不断创新时有多惊讶了。 在伦敦生活的八年，我上过像La CucinaCaldesi这样的烹饪学校的课，也从新朋友那儿学到了他们奶奶的许多烹饪秘籍，因此在怎样用不同的食材做出美味可口的饭菜方面受益颇多。 对于在哪儿能买到最爱的食材我也是轻车熟路。比如韩国泡菜要在韩国城（New Malden）买，香辣咖喱要去红砖巷（Brick Lane），最新鲜的鱼一定得在比林斯门海鲜市集（Billingsgate Fish Market）买等等。即使在繁忙的工作日，我也能忙里偷闲，去离我在伦敦市金融区的办公室只有几分钟路程的博罗市场（Borough Market）逛逛，品尝世界各地的美食。 中国菜也正快速发展。过去，伦敦的唐人街以宫爆鸡丁、咕噜肉等家常菜而著名，但如今经过彻底改头换面后，提供的菜品更加丰富多样，比如四川火锅、台湾蚵仔煎、精致的广州小笼包等等。 米其林星级餐馆客家山（Hakkasan）以及唐茶苑（Yauatcha）打破了人们对中餐就是油腻腻的快餐的固有成见，使中餐越来越成为一门艺术，一种生活方式，成为世界了解中华文化的窗口。 最近几年，明星厨师黄瀞亿（Ching He Huang）在BBC开设美食节目，教英国观众怎么在五分钟内做出令人垂涎欲滴的中国菜肴，极大地推广了中国美食。同时，年轻的厨师Jeremy Pang也在伦敦考文特花园（Covent Garden）创办了一所厨师学校，手把手指导学生做菜。 最近，我发现在伦敦圣米迦勒天主教学院（St Michael’s Catholic College）的中国烹饪课上，13岁的学生们正在学习怎样做蛋炒面。该课程是“健康中餐大使”计划中的一项，由中国酱油制造商李锦记（Lee KumKee）于2013年发起，现已普及至1000多名英国学生。 看到学生们尝过自己亲手做的美味蛋炒面后脸上灿烂的笑容，我深深地感觉到中国美食正将中国文化带到英国。通过这种食物的交流，中国正在成为伦敦文化大熔炉中必不可少且愈受欢迎的原料。