又中又英｜Rice Burgers

又中又英｜Rice Burgers

I have visited many countries but never saw a rice burger. There were no rice burgers on menus when I lived in the US and Britain. The numerous European countries I have visited also didn’t have rice burgers. I may be wrong, but I don’t think Hong Kong has rice burgers. I only heard of rice burgers when I arrived in Taiwan for an extended Asian holiday. A Japanese fast-food restaurant chain invented rice burgers in 1987. There is a branch of that fast-food chain near my Taipei apartment. A rice burger is like a hamburger but uses compressed rice patties instead of buns.
The word “compress” means to press something tightly together into a smaller space. A patty is food made into a disc shape. The hamburger meat between the two buns is called a patty. After wondering for a long time what a rice burger would taste like, I took the plunge and bought a box of frozen beef rice burgers in a supermarket. To take the plunge means to finally do something after thinking about it for a long time. I microwaved a rice burger and looked at it while crazy thoughts raced through my mind.
If something races through your mind, it means different thoughts come quickly, one after another. What if the rice patties break when I pick up the rice burger like a hamburger? What if I don’t like it? The patties did break when I picked up the rice burger. I had to eat it with a fork but enjoyed it. I don’t think Americans will prefer rice burgers because they love hamburgers and fries too much.

我去過許多國家，但都從未見過飯堡（rice burger）。我以前住在美國和英國的時候，餐牌上都不曾出現過飯堡（rice burgers）；我到訪過無數的歐洲國家，也沒有飯堡（rice burgers）。或許我是錯的吧——但我不認為香港有飯堡（rice burgers）。我是在來到台灣，度過一個延長了的亞洲之旅時，才聽見飯堡（rice burgers）這一樣物事。一間日本連鎖快餐店於一九八七年發明了飯堡（rice burgers），在我台北的住所附近，就有那間連鎖快餐的分店。A rice burger就像漢堡包，但用壓扁的米飯餅（compressed rice patties）去代替那兩片麵包。
Compress一字解作壓縮、壓扁某物，成為體積較小的物件。A patty是將食物製成圓餅狀。兩塊漢堡麵包中間夾着的那片漢堡肉餅便叫作patty。飯堡（rice burger）到底是甚麼味道的呢？我思忖良久過後，終於 took the plunge從超市買了一盒急凍的牛肉飯堡（rice burgers）回去試試——to take the plunge是指經過一番長時間的考慮過後，終於毅然地去做某事。我用微波爐叮熱了一個飯堡（rice burger），看着它的時候，一些瘋狂的想法 raced through my mind。
若某事 races through my mind，意即腦海裏先後閃過許多不同的想法。如果我像拿漢堡包般拿起飯堡（rice burger）的時候，那些飯餅（patties） 碎了呢？要是我不喜歡吃呢？我拿起飯堡（rice burger）時，那些飯餅（patties）果然散開了，我得用叉來吃，不過我也喜歡它的味道。我不認為美國人會喜歡吃飯堡（rice burgers），因為他們太愛漢堡包和薯條了。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻