舌尖上的航海丨第25集 奇特的輪船“黑匣子”

古時候，海上通訊不發(fā)達(dá)，船舶失事后，往往在危急時刻，將遇難的經(jīng)過和船員的遺言遺囑封存在“漂流瓶”或木桶里拋向大海，成為最早的船舶“黑匣子“

1905年，英國海洋生物學(xué)會還專門成立了搜集和研究這些“漂流瓶”的機構(gòu)。一百多年來，搜集整理千余件各式各樣的船舶“黑匣子”，為尋找遇難船舶和分折失事原因做出了重要貢獻(xiàn)。

但是，不久前，人們意外拾到一個在海上漂流了幾十年的”黑匣子”，這只“黑匣子“里的內(nèi)容完全出乎人們的意料，被人們稱為航海史上最奇特的“黑匣子”。

事情發(fā)生在浩瀚的印度洋上。

這天，航海學(xué)院的實習(xí)船《園夢號》正在風(fēng)平浪靜的洋面上進(jìn)行“救生演習(xí)”。身著救生衣的學(xué)員紛紛跳入水中，朝救生艇游去。

就在這時，學(xué)員姚航和季云突然發(fā)現(xiàn)，不遠(yuǎn)處海面上漂浮著一個閃亮的物體。原來是只漂流瓶。

姚航舉起這只漂流瓶，高聲喊道：”輪船黑匣子！”

玻璃瓶封存完好，通過瓶表面長著的斑斑海苔，隱約發(fā)現(xiàn)里面有個紅色封皮的夲子。

姚航和季云在校學(xué)過航海史，知曉輪船“黑匣子”的知識。

但是，當(dāng)姚航和季云將這只“漂流瓶“交給實習(xí)代隊老師吉喆拆開后，方才發(fā)現(xiàn)”漂流瓶”里的內(nèi)容完全出乎人們的意料，與以往“黑匣子”的內(nèi)容大徑相庭，引起學(xué)員們的極大興趣：“這是航海史上最奇特的《黑匣子》”！

實習(xí)歸來后，學(xué)校專門舉辦了這只《黑匣子》的座談會。

會前，吉喆老師就這只《黑匣子》的來歷及其主人做了多方面的調(diào)硏，均未獲得滿意結(jié)果，從《黑匣子》里面內(nèi)容得知，這是一個化名叫“牧海人”的中國水手拋撒的，事情發(fā)生在印度洋，時間在1948年8月，距今已有60多年。

”這個奇特的《黑匣子》里面到底寫了什么？”

座談會上聚集了眾多航海學(xué)子。

人們以期盼地眼神望看吉喆老師。

吉喆老師慎重地從“漂流瓶”里取出一夲已經(jīng)退色的紅色筆記夲，小心翼翼翻開扉頁，一字一板地念道：“我是一名老海員，足跡幾乎遍及全球，在海上漂泊了二十多年，世界各地的飲食和習(xí)慣，可謂五花八門，一天，我突然萌發(fā)出一個想法，把這些知識記在日記本里留給下一代。十幾年來，累計寫了幾十篇，現(xiàn)在我服務(wù)的船即將沉沒了，為了使這些知識保留下來，實現(xiàn)留給下一代的願望，我將日記本隨著漂流瓶拋進(jìn)大海，希望有朝一日，人們能發(fā)現(xiàn)它…。”

讀到這里，會場上一片寂靜。

吉喆老師感概地說”這是位值得大家敬重的海員。時間關(guān)係，我們選擇日記本中幾個有代表性的片段讀給大家聽?！?/p>

這時，一位身著校服的學(xué)生登上講臺，翻開厚厚的日記本，娓娓動聽地講述選出的一篇篇日記。

循規(guī)守矩的埃及歺桌

八月十月 船仃泊在亞力山大港

埃及是著名的文明古國。

這天，正值埃及的齋月。埃及在飲食上嚴(yán)格遵守伊斯蘭教規(guī)。齋月期間，白天禁食，不吃一切忌物，也不吃帶汁和未熟透的菜。吃飯時不能與人淡話，喝熱湯及飲料時不能發(fā)出聲響。忌緯用左手觸模歺具和食品。

古埃及人一日二歺，現(xiàn)在改為三歺。午歺和晚歺必較講究；以肉食，米飯，水果為主。齋月里要吃燜蠶豆和甜食。甜食是埃及人的最愛。

埃及人習(xí)慣用右手抓飯。歺前必須先洗手。埃及的食品制作帶有濃郁的阿拉伯風(fēng)情。一種在面粉中添加蜂蜜和調(diào)味料的發(fā)酵面餅，備受埃及人喜爰。齋月里一種叫阿洛伊夫，類似中國餃子的甜食是家家必備的食品。

埃及人辦喜事，喜歡大擺筵席。陌生人同樣受至熱情接待。如果受邀到埃及人家里作客，進(jìn)門前先要脫鞋，而且最好先恭維一下主人的房子。吃飯時只能用右手抓飯，而且要吃第二回菜。如果吃飽的話，盤子里最好剩一些菜，否則主人會不仃地給你夾菜…。

埃及人請客，座席十分講究等級和身份。主人常常習(xí)慣用發(fā)誓的方式勸客人多吃。菜肴越多越好，那怕原封未動端上來又端下去，賓主都會十分高興。

這些知識，是我經(jīng)過多年來往埃及時的親身經(jīng)歷和聽當(dāng)?shù)厝酥v過的。

韓國歺桌上的“三寶”

三月四日 韓國斧山港

俗話說：韓國歺桌三件寶：泡菜，人參，糯米糕。

在絕大多數(shù)中國人的印象中，韓國的泡菜僅僅是棘白菜，其實不然。韓國泡菜有三千多年歷史。據(jù)說在中回《詩經(jīng)》里出現(xiàn)的“菹”字，中國人的字典里“菹”字解釋為酸菜，韓國則認(rèn)為這次首次用文字記載的泡菜。

泡菜在韓國飲食中占有特殊地位。最初泡榮用鹽制蔬菜。16世紀(jì)后，辣椒傳入韓國，泡菜出現(xiàn)了革命般的變化。由于韓國所處的地理位置，冬季寒冷漫長。泡菜在腌制中產(chǎn)生大量乳酸菌，增加了韓國人的營養(yǎng)，人們尊稱泡菜為“國菜”。無論在繁華的都市或偏僻的村莊，居民的院庭和陽臺上擺滿了大大小小的泡菜壇子。

在韓國被稱為“神草”“靈草”和“不老草”的人參，在韓國人的眼里，是對各種疾病預(yù)防和保養(yǎng)身體的必需品。中國人看來只有體弱，病后或老人才會用人參補身體。在韓國幾乎日常生活中都會接觸到人參；人參酒，美容的人參粉，歺桌上各式各樣用人參制作的菜肴。按中國人的說法，沒有人參不成席！

糯米糕是韓國人節(jié)日食品的“臺柱子”。韓國人的生日，探親，結(jié)婚，祭祀…都會制作糯米糕祈求平安。韓國的許多飲食文化與中國十分相似，例如正月十五吃五谷飯，端午節(jié)喝菊花酒…。

韓國歺桌上的“三寶“，多多少少帶有中國文化的色彩！

這些知識是船上韓藉大廚樸正順講給我的。

五光十色的印度歺

十月六日 印度新德里

印度是個佛教文明古國。

印度人不吃牛肉和豬肉，羊肉雞肉，魚嚇配上米飯或烤并是印度人的主食。

”咖喱”是印度獨有的調(diào)味料。第一次嘗試印度菜，有一種說不出的特殊味道，那就是“咖喱“的功效。

印度天氣炎熱，多數(shù)來自非洲的移民口味重，嗜好有刺激的食物。這是印度當(dāng)?shù)刂匾氖?/p>

印度蔬菜產(chǎn)量少，但是蔬菜和水果顏色卻五光十色，胡羅卜似血通紅，四季豆如同翡翠一般，土豆金黃飽滿…，經(jīng)過一番烹調(diào)后，可謂五光十色，色味俱全的美食！

印度人不愛喝湯，認(rèn)為任何種湯，也比不上白開水更爽更開胃。一歺下來總要喝上五六杯白開水和奶茶。冰涼的白開水配上熱騰騰的奶菜，成了印度人最佳的飲品。

印度人特別喜歡香蕉樹。由于香蕉樹，一年只結(jié)一次果，香蕉樹心還可以食用，纖維用來織布，香蕉葉可代替盤子盛物傳習(xí)至今，所以當(dāng)前許多歺廳仍然用香蕉盛菜，香噴噴的菜肴配看奇形的“盤子“，吸引著外來人的眼球。

“抓飯”是印度人特殊的用歺習(xí)慣。印度人的姆指，食指和中指生來就似乎特別靈活：在指不觸口唇，手不沾飯的優(yōu)美姿態(tài)下，香噴噴的咖喱飯已在齒間留香！

我多次來到印度，印度“咖喱“料理的飯菜十分迷戀，正是印度“咖喱“的功能！

In ancient times, when communication systems at sea were not yet well-developed,

sailors on ships that lost contact with their bases often wrote messages and notes in glass

bottles and tossed them out to sea, in the hopes that their families and friends would

somehow receive the message one day. These floating glass bottles became the very first

messenger boxes of steamships.

In 1905, the Marine Biological Association in Great Britain launched an operation that

focused specifically on researching floating bottles and their origins. Within the century that

it had been operating, scientists from the Floating Bottles Initiative collected and studied

countless messages that drifted upon the sea in bottles of various shapes and sizes, and

uncovered the backgrounds and reasons why many ships met disasters in the past.

Out of the thousands of floating canisters that the Association had investigated, one

particular message bottle contained information that went above and beyond anyone’s

expectations. It was soon considered the “most unique floating bottle ever found”, and made

the headlines for multiple newspapers across the world.

This floating bottle was found on the Indian Ocean. A training vessel from a Chinese

nautical academy was performing capsize recovery exercises in a safe, quiet zone of the sea.

Students wearing life suits jumped into the water as if a real disaster had occurred, and swam

towards their liferafts.

As they dove for their lives, two students named Yaohang and Jiyun suddenly noticed an

object drifting atop the waters and shining under the sunlight. They veered off course and

retrieved the object, which turned out to be a floating bottle.

Yaohang raised the bottle high above her head, and yelled, “There’s a message inside!”

The bottle was screwed tight with a cork, and algae grew all around its bottom edges.

Through the blurred, dented glass, Yaohang and Jiyun noticed a notebook with maroon red

covers inside the bottle.

When Yaohang and Jiyun studied maritime history in nautical school, they had learned

about these floating bottles and the messages they contained. However, when the two

students entrusted the bottle to their instructor, they were told that this bottle was unique and

included letters that were vastly different from any other drifting message ever found before.

The story of this curious message spread through Yaohang and Jiyun’s nautical school, and

soon the students began referring to it as the Strangest Floating Bottle Ever Found.

Later on, Yaohang and Jiyun’s instructor, Professor Zhe, conducted a lot of research and

investigative inquiries into the mysterious bottle that his students found, but yielded no

satisfying results. All he discovered was that this bottle was tossed into the deep by a Chinese

sailor named the “Shepherd of the Sea” in August of 1948, while the Shepherd was sailing in

the Indian Ocean.

Professor Zhe organized a schoolwide assembly to discuss the contents of the floating

bottle. Students and professors alike sat in the black box theater, and patiently awaited

Professor Zhe’s explanations.

As Professor Zhe readied himself onstage, he took out the glass bottle, unscrewed its

cork, and carefully extracted the red notebook from inside. The notebook’s red color was

fading, and its pages were a shade of yellow rather than the white it once was. Slowly,

Professor Zhe flipped through the pages and began reading.

“I am a seasoned seafarer and have sailed across the entire world. After drifting on the

ocean for over twenty years, I have tried a myriad of worldly cuisines, grown accustomed to

the diverse customs and traditions that the world has to offer, and can even speak quite a few

languages. I have become passionate about sharing my knowledge with other people, and

decided to retell the stories of my journeys in this notebook and pass it on to future

generations. Today, as the vessel that I call home continues to sink into the abyss, my only

option for keeping my voyages alive is by folding my writing into this glass bottle, and

tossing it into the sea, in the hopes that someone, someday will come across it, and recognize

its obscure value...”

The auditorium fell into complete silence as Professor Zhe read on.

He paused for a moment, then closed the notebook and looked into the audience. “The

author of this notebook is a highly respectable seafarer who saw the extensive merit in sailing

even before maritime communications were well-developed. Today, my students and I would

like to read a few of his chapters to everyone, in order to accomplish his dreams of sharing

his journeys with the rest of the world.”

Professor Zhe took a seat at the side of the stage, and a student walked into the center

wearing a sailor’s uniform. She flipped to a cautiously bookmarked section of the notebook,

and recounted a story with passion and respect in her voice.

Table Manners in Egypt

On August 10th, our ship docked at the Alexandria Port here in Egypt.

Egypt is a stunning country with cultures and customs that have been established for

centuries.

As we approached the Alexandria Port, the crew and I realized that August is the month

for this year’s Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslim populations of Egypt fast during the day,

place restrictions on their diet, and tend to stay away from raw vegetables. People don’t speak

when eating, and prefer to stay quiet even when drinking beverages and eating soup. They

also eat almost exclusively with their right hand.

I found Egyptian table manners fascinating. In Ancient times, people in Egypt only ate

two meals a day, and only recently switched to eating three meals in one day. Lunch and

dinner were more extravagant than breakfast, and consisted of meat, rice, and fruits. During

Ramadan, many also liked to prepare fava beans and sweets, which many Egyptian people

have a soft spot for.

In Egypt, we also often eat with our hands. Egyptian cuisines have a distinct flavor and

clear influences from Arabic flavors, complete with many unique pastries that caught my

attention immediately. They particularly love adding honey and sweeteners to flour and

fermented pastries, giving the dough a dense consistency and saccharine taste. My favorite is

the Qatayef, which bears many similarities to the Chinese dish dumplings.

The Egyptian people also love to host large parties and celebrations. Even if you’re a

stranger and a foreigner in their country, they will welcome you with open arms and invite

you into their homes. But always remember to take off your shoes before entering someone’s

house and to be polite when making conversation. It’s best to eat with your right hand and try

dishes multiple times, and leave some scraps on your dish when you are full, or the host will

continue adding portions into your plate.

The Egyptian people are very aware of respect and courtesy, so they will ask you to

continue eating and trying their dishes. Even if they have to keep moving in and out of the

kitchen, they will promise that they are more than happy to serve you.

These tips and suggestions are all taken from my personal experiences with local people

in Egypt.

The student took a deep breath, and continued reading.

The Three Korean Culinary Treasures

March 3rd, Port of Busan

Some say that there are three unmissable treasures of Korean cuisines: kimchi, ginseng,

and rice cakes.

In the minds of many foreign travelers, Korean kimchi is nothing but spicy fermented

cabbages, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Kimchi has over three thousand years of history

in Korea. Some say that the word “Zu” or “菹” in ancient Chinese poetry refers to kimchi,

which was brought to China by Korea voyagers.

Kimchi has a special place in the diet of Korea locals. It was originally made by soaking

vegetables in salt, but after the 16th century, chili was introduced to Korea and changed the

entire course of Korean cuisine. Because of Korea’s geographical location, the country’s

winters are harsh and lengthy, so crops were not often harvested during the cold long months.

But kimchi was fairly simple to make and produced high concentrations of lactic acids and

beneficial nutrients, improving the health of Korean citizens whether it was in the heat of

summer or in the depths of winter. Eventually, kimchi became Korea’s national dish.

Wherever you go in the cities and towns of Korea, if you look carefully, you can notice jars

and pots of kimchi on the balconies of local houses and apartments.

Known to Korean people as the “magical herb” or the “grass of spiritual health”,

ginseng is essential to the prevention of aging and diseases in the hearts of Koreans. In China,

most think that ginseng is only used for those who are elderly or sick, but in Korea, all sorts

of people come across ginseng frequently in their daily lives. They make ginseng wine,

ginseng face lotions, and various delicious dishes with ginseng as its star. The Korean’s

people’s grace and ageless appearance could perhaps be attributed to their love of ginseng!

Lastly, rice cakes are the staple of Korean food festivals. On birthdays, weddings, and

national holidays, Koreans eat rice cakes as a sign of peace and prosperity. This aspect of

Korean cuisine is quite similar to Chinese cuisine - we can increase our cross-cultural

understanding through the sharing of rice cakes, glutinous rice, and chrysanthemum wines…

Most of this information was told to me by our chief cook, Park Jung-soon. The Korean

people’s enthusiasm and love for their cuisine have brought joy and knowledge to nations all

across the world!

The student smiled at the audience, and began her rendition of the last chosen piece.

The Colorful Cuisines of India

October 6th, New Delhi, India

In India, peaceful religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism have been practiced for

centuries.

Most Indian people do not eat beef or pork, so lamb, chicken, and fish make up for the

majority of protein found in Indian dishes.

Curry is a distinctive ingredient that originated in India. The first time I ever tried Indian

food, I was blown away by its inexplicable, remarkable flavor that was unparalleled

anywhere else in the world.

Because of the sweltering heat in most areas of India, many Indian dishes are spicy and

full of heavy flavors. On a single table, vegetables and meats of a myriad of colors are

presented: carrots in the shade of a bustling red, beans green like emeralds, potatoes golden

like the sands… Not only are the foods beautiful, they are equally as delicious.

Throughout my travels, I’ve noticed that Indian palates are not overly fond of soups or

broths, and instead prefer to pair their meals with a glass of cold, fresh water. Many also love

tea and milk tea, often repeatedly filling their cups with these light beverages and sipping

them continuously. Iced water and boiling milk tea served side by side make an undefeatable

combination that Indians love to indulge in.

Additionally, Indian people are particularly fond of banana trees. Banana trees only yield

fruits once a year, but the purple flower known as the heart of the banana tree is also edible.

Its fibres can be used to weave clothing and fabrics, and banana leaves can even be used as

plates to serve food on. That’s why lots of restaurants in India still choose to use banana

leaves to serve their dishes instead of glass or paper plates, catching the attention of travelers

from all corners of the world.

The traditional way of eating in India is to also use your hands. Indian recipes are

designed specifically to be eaten with fingers, and using your hands to eat is seen as a way of

connecting with your psyche and soul in India. The Indian people are able to successfully use

their fingers to eat with grace and utter enjoyment, impressing any tourist that steps foot onto

the elegant land.

Every time I’ve come to India, I become enchanted by the flavors of curry and Indian

spices all over again.

The student read on from the Shepherd’s journal, and the entire auditorium listened with

their complete concentration. The seemingly inconspicuous red notebook eventually became

a cultural artifact in the entire nautical world