纽约时报 原住民抗击粮食危机(1)（在线收听）

How Native Americans Are Fighting a Food Crisis

原住民抗击粮食危机

For the roughly 20,000 members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation —

松岭印第安保留地是南达科他州南部幅员200万英亩的一片广袤土地，

a vast, two million-acre expanse in southern South Dakota —social distancing is certainly feasible.

对于居住在这里的近2万名奥格拉苏族部落成员来说——保持安全距离当然没有问题。

Putting food on the table? Less so.

但保证三餐就不是那么回事了。

Getting to food has long been a challenge for Pine Ridge residents.

对松岭地区的居民来说，获取食物历来都是一大考验。

For a lot of people, the nearest grocery store is a two-hour drive away.

当地有不少人距离最近的超市都有两小时车程。

Many rely on food stamps or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations,

很多人维持生计都要依靠靠食品券或印第安保留地食品配送——

a federal initiative that provides boxes of food (historically lacking in healthy options) to low-income families.

为低收入家庭提供食盒（一直都缺乏健康选择的盒装食品）的一项联邦政策。

Diabetes rates run very high.

正因为如此，当地糖尿病发病率颇高。

The coronavirus crisis — one case has been reported on the reservation — has only made access to food harder,

新冠肺炎疫情——该保留地也报告了一例确诊病例——爆发后，为数不多的食品货架变得空空如也，

as shelves of the few groceries empty out, shipments of food boxes are delayed because of supply chain disruptions,

食盒供应链中断配送延误，加之狩猎和采集受到了政府法规和环境条件的限制，

and hunting and gathering are restricted by government regulations and environmental conditions.

当地原住民获取食物的难度进一步加大。

But the Oglala Sioux, like many other Native Americans across the country, are relying on the practices — seed saving, canning, dehydrating —

好在，和其他地区的原住民一样，奥格拉苏族部落也开始回归留种、制作罐头、脱水等传统经验，

that their forebears developed to survive harsh conditions, with limited supplies.

他们的祖先便是凭借这些经验在食物有限的情况下度过了一个又一个艰难时期。

“It is kind of a Catch-22 to be so well-adjusted to react to threats,” said Jamie Azure, the tribal chairman of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, in Belcourt, N.D.

“面对威胁，我们迅速做好了调整，结果反倒让人有点左右为难了，”北卡罗来纳州贝尔考特奇佩瓦龟山部落的部落首领杰米·阿祖尔说道。

“You’re forced to stay in a specific area, you’re told to trust the government, you’re told food will be scarce — welcome to 1700s Native nation.”

“他们强制要求你待在某个特定的区域内，告诉你你要相信政府，告诉你食物会短缺——欢迎来到17世纪原住民的世界。”

Big-box stores and processed foods have eroded some of the old customs.

大卖场和加工食品已经蚕食了奥格拉苏族的部分传统。

But now, faced with a disrupted food system, many Native Americans are looking to those traditions for answers.

面对当下混乱的食品体系，许多寻找出路的原住民便开始将目光转向了这些传统。

Milo Yellow Hair, who lives in Wounded Knee, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Reservation,

为了大家能在自家园子顺利下种，家住南达科他州松岭保护区“伤膝”地区的黄毛米洛

is hard at work preparing 8,000 seedlings of local varieties of squash and corn — hearty crops with a short growing time — to plant in people’s yards.

正忙着为当地居民准备8000株当地品种的南瓜和玉米幼苗——这些都是成熟时间短，产量还丰富的作物。

Many residents live without electricity to run refrigerators or freezers,

由于许多居民家中都还没通上能够供应冰箱或冰柜的电力，

so to prepare for what could be weeks or months of staying indoors,

为了应对接下来或将持续数周乃至数月的居家隔离生活，

he is encouraging people to dry their vegetables so they’ll keep for a while.

米洛正在鼓励大家晾制能够长期保存的干菜。

Corn, for example, can be cooked and dried to be used as a base for soups and stews,

玉米可以煮熟烘干，为汤或炖肉打底，

or to make wagmiza wasna, a traditional snack in which the corn is pounded with berries and tallow.

也可以和浆果、牛油一起捣碎，制成当地的传统零食wagmiza wasna。

“Here on the reservation it is a day-by-day existence,” said Mr. Yellow Hair, 70, who works for the nonprofit Slim Buttes Agricultural Development Program.

“我们保留地的日子都是过一天算一天，”已经古稀之年却仍在公益组织“瘦岭农业发展计划”工作的米洛说道。

“If this thing goes crazy and the external food services stop,

“如果疫情失控，外面的食品配送也不送了，

the food we grow locally is going to be paramount to meet this need.”

我们自己种的粮食就能在食物供应方面发挥首要作用了。”