5 popular Chinese snacks in American streets

What comes to mind when we speak of cultural exports from China to the United States?
说起中国对美国的文化输出，你会想起什么？

Bruce Lee, the giant panda, or kung fu?
李小龙？大熊猫？还是中国功夫？

Without a doubt, these cultural symbols are successful exports of Chinese culture, but another form of Chinese culture widely known in the US is Chinese cuisine.
毫无疑问，这些文化符号都是非常成功的中华文化输出，但目前还有另一种形式的中国文化也风靡全美，那就是中国美食。

Many types of local snacks, all deeply loved in China, are taking over the streets of America. Some were modified to suit to Americans' tastes, while others retain the traditional taste of China.
深受中国人喜爱的多种当地小吃现在已经攻陷了美国的大街小巷。其中有些为了适应美国人口味做了调整，而还有一些则完全保留了其原汁原味。

Here are just some of them.
接下来将列举几个在美国很热门的中国小吃。

1. Pai huang gua (smashed cucumbers)
拍黄瓜

In a report titled Smashed cucumber salad takes Manhattan, The New York Times praised the method of smashing cucumbers in making salads as a completely new way to eat a cucumber.
一篇名为《拍黄瓜沙拉》的报道攻占了曼哈顿，《纽约时报》也对其大加赞赏，对这种吃黄瓜的新方式赞不绝口。

As the latest trend in New York this summer, smashed cucumbers and "their craggy edges and rough surfaces absorb flavors and form relationships in seconds," as opposed to sliced cucumbers, which tend to "shrug" off the dressing.
作为纽约今夏的最新风潮，拍黄瓜"凹凸的棱角以及粗糙的表面能快速地吸收调料味道并能在数秒内和调料融为一体，"和"油盐不进"的黄瓜片恰好相反。

"It's cool how just changing the way you break down an ingredient completely changes the way it feels and tastes," said Danny Bowien, the chef at Mission Chinese Food on the Lower East Side.
丹尼•鲍温是曼哈顿下东区龙山小馆（Mission Chinese Food）的主厨，他表示"你添加调料的方法不同，会导致食物的口感和味道也不同，这非常奇妙。"

The traditional Chinese cucumber salad, or pai huang gua, is dressed with a vinaigrette of soy sauce, rice or black vinegar, chopped garlic, sugar and sesame oil. In North and West China, where spicy foods are preferred, chili oil or Sichuan peppercorns are added for that extra kick.
传统的中式黄瓜沙拉，或者说拍黄瓜，表面都裹着一层沙拉汁，由酱油、白醋或黑醋、蒜蓉、糖和芝麻油调制而成。中国北部和西部的人民嗜辣，所以有时会加辣椒油或者朝天椒来调味。

Smashed cucumbers have long been found in Chinese restaurants in New York, but they have branched into other types of cuisine this summer. At Mr. Bowien's Mexican-influenced restaurant Mission Cantina, they are served with an intensely flavored dressing of lime, cumin and oregano-flavored sesame paste. At the Japanese restaurant Untitled, they are served with buckwheat noodles, baby turnips and tuna tartare.
拍黄瓜在纽约中餐馆里的历史其实已经不短了，但这道菜在这个夏天发展成好几种美味。在鲍温的另一家具有墨西哥风情的小馆Mission Cantina，拍黄瓜搭配的调料味道很强烈，有酸橙、茴香和牛至叶粉口味的芝麻酱。而在日本料理店"无题"内，和拍黄瓜一起端上桌的还有荞麦面、嫩芜菁和金枪鱼鞑靼。

At Superiority Burgers, the cucumbers are mixed with tangy yogurt and jalapeno honey and sprinkled with crushed sesame breadsticks, a form that the traditional Chinese dish has never taken before.
在"上等汉堡"店（Superiority Burgers）内，厨师将拍黄瓜与气味扑鼻的酸奶和墨西哥胡椒蜂蜜混合，再撒上掰碎的长棍芝麻面包，创造出这种与中餐截然不同的小吃。

"There's something about the roughness, and the variety of shapes and sizes, that you get with smashing that is incredibly satisfying," said Julia Goldberg, a sous-chef who created the recipe alongside Brooks Headley, chef and owner of Superiority Burger."上等汉堡"店的助理厨师茱莉亚•哥德堡和主厨兼老板布鲁克斯•黑德利一起研发了这道菜谱，她表示，"拍黄瓜的棱角、形状和大小的多样性都让人非常满意。"

2. Jian bing (grilled savory crepe)
煎饼

Jian bing, a form of grilled savory crepe with stuffing, is a popular dish in North China. The mung-bean-and-millet crepe is often made on a well-heated pan. Freshly scrambled egg, pickled vegetables, scallions, cilantro, black bean paste, chili sauce and a crispy fried crackers (the secret that adds a crunch to the crepe) are added on the crepe and rolled up. Often sold by street vendors, Jian bing is a popular choice for breakfast for on-the-go commuters.
煎饼，是一种包有内馅儿的咸味煎薄饼，它在中国北方广受欢迎。在烧得滚热的案板上，摊开绿豆和小米面糊烙成面饼，在面饼上打一个鸡蛋，撒上泡菜、大葱、香菜，涂上豆瓣酱、辣椒酱，然后放上一块薄脆（让煎饼酥脆的秘密），再卷起来。煎饼通常是大街小巷的小贩在卖，它是许多赶着上班的通勤族最爱的早餐。

Alisa Grandy, the owner of Bing Mi!, fell in love with the snack when she returned to Portland from her trip in China.
艾丽莎•格兰迪是Bing Mi的店主，在她从中国旅游回到波特兰以后，她对煎饼的爱就一发不可收拾。

"When she got back from China, that's all she would talk about," says her husband Neal. Grandy spent months perfecting the right mix of ingredients to recreate the exact taste she enjoyed in China. Six months later, the couple opened a store. Business is good, as they've already got two crepe-makers on back order.
她的丈夫尼尔称"自打她从中国回来以后，她成天都在谈论煎饼"。后来格兰迪花了好几个月，专门研究煎饼的原料和配方，以复制她在中国尝过的那种味道。六个月后，夫妇俩开了家店。生意非常红火，两个煎饼师傅都忙不过来。

Bing Mi! sells a piece of jian bing for $6. In fact, it is the only item that they sell. According to Grandy's husband, Chinese customers nostalgic for the taste of home have given their compliments.
Bing Mi!的煎饼每个售价6美元。事实上，他们只卖煎饼。格兰迪的丈夫称，因思乡而来品尝故乡味道的中国顾客称赞了他们做的煎饼。

3. Rou jia mo (Chinese hamburger)
肉夹馍

Rou jia mo, which translates as "meat placed between bun", has a similar recipe to hamburgers, consisting of chopped meat inside a bun.
肉夹馍，翻译过来就是"夹了肉的小圆面包"，它和汉堡的配方类似，就是在小圆面包里夹入肉糜。

The chewy bun baked in a clay oven or fried in a pan and with a mouthwatering meat filling stewed in a variety of spices — is not only popular in China's streets and alleys but also with foodies overseas.
充满嚼劲儿的馍馍通常是在土灶内烤制或平底锅上煎制而成，然后在里面加入让人垂涎欲滴的风味烤肉——这道小吃不仅火遍中国大街小巷，在海外吃货的嘴里，也是赞不绝口。

Xie Yunfeng, a Chinese vendor selling rou jia mo in front of Columbia University in New York, became an online sensation in 2013. Xie said he could sell more than 100 rou jia mo a day.
谢云峰在纽约的哥伦比亚大学前卖肉夹馍，他在2013年还火了一把，他称他一天能卖100多个肉夹馍。

Commenting on the reported comparison between rou jia mo and hamburgers, one Internet user said, "People like eating meat by sandwiching it between buns, whether they are in the East or the West."
在一则比较肉夹馍和汉堡的报告下有一则评论，一位网友如此说道，"不管是东方还是西方，人们都爱把肉夹在面包或馒头里吃。"

4. General Tao's Chicken
左宗棠鸡

Though name of the dish comes from general Zuo Zongtang (1812-1885),
who lived during the Qing dynasty in today's Hunan province, the general
himself carries little relation to the dish.
名字虽然来源于左宗棠将军，他曾在清朝居住在现今的湖南省境内，但这道菜其实和他并没多大关系。

The dish General Tao's Chicken is neither served in Changsha, the
capital of Hunan province, nor in Xiangyin, the birthplace of the
general. The generals' descendants, who still live in Xiangyin, said
they have never heard of such a dish.
这道菜，你不仅在湖南省会长沙找不到，在他的出生地湘阴也找不到。如今他的后人仍生活在湘阴，他们表示从未听说过此道菜。

General Tao's Chicken can be found almost ubiquitously in Chinese
restaurants in the US. The chicken chunks, battered and deep fried, are
often covered with a thick sweet and sour sauce seasoned with soy sauce,
rice wine, rice wine vinegar, sugar, cornstarch and dried red chili
peppers. 但是这道菜在美国境内的中餐馆里可到处都是。"左宗棠鸡"的做法是将鸡块先捶打，后油炸，再浇上一层浓郁的酸甜酱汁。这种酱汁由酱油、米酒、白醋、糖、玉米粉和干辣椒制成。

5. Egg rolls
蛋卷

The term egg roll often refers to a variation of fried spring rolls
in China, only the wrap is thicker, the entire form bigger, and it
doesn't have much to do with eggs.
在中国，蛋卷一词通常指的是炸春卷的变体，只不过表皮变厚了一些，体积大了一点，和鸡蛋并没有太大关系。

The typical spring rolls in China are made with rice dough, wrapped
around fillings which often consists of julienned vegetables and
sometimes meat, and then deep fried. The egg roll, however, is made with
flour dough, which gives it a thicker texture as opposed to the rice
wrap.
中国春卷的做法一般是用大米粉制成春卷皮，裹住馅料再下油锅炸，馅儿通常由蔬菜丝和肉组成。而蛋卷皮是用面粉制成，所以比大米粉做的春卷皮更厚。

Egg rolls are often served as appetizers in the US, just as spring rolls are in China.
蛋卷在美国通常是作为开胃菜，就像中国的春卷一样。