英国卫报：人类的感官重要吗？该如何修复？(4)（在线收听）

　　I first became aware of the extent to which a sensory disconnect from fresh food has become normal when I started conducting taste education sessions with children in British schools a few years ago.

　　几年前，当我开始在英国学校对孩子们进行味觉教育时，我第一次意识到，在某种程度上，感官与新鲜食物的脱节已经成为一种常态。

　　I am one of the founders of an organisation called TastEd – short for taste education.

　　我是Tested组织的创始人之一，品味教育的简称。

　　TastEd -- which is based on the Sapere method used in France, the Nordic countries and the Netherlands -- involves bringing fresh vegetables and fruits into the classroom and getting children to use all of their senses to interact with them.

　　Tested基于法国、北欧国家和荷兰使用的Sapere方法，包括将新鲜蔬菜和水果带到教室，让孩子们用所有的感官与它们互动。

　　The programme, which is now taught by nursery and primary teachers in more than 160 schools in England, consists of a range of free teaching materials designed to help children to get to know basic foodstuffs by touching, smelling, listening and looking at them, as well as eventually tasting.

　　该项目目前由英格兰160多所学校的幼儿园和小学教师教授，由一系列免费教材组成，旨在帮助孩子们通过触觉、嗅觉、视觉以及最终品尝来了解基本的食物。

　　Some would argue that this kind of sensory food education in school is superfluous.

　　有些人会争辩说，学校里的这种感官食品教育是多余的。

　　Don’t children learn this stuff at home?

　　孩子们不是在家里学这些东西的吗？

　　But apparently they don’t, or at least nothing like as much as they did in the past.

　　但很明显，他们没有，或者至少不像过去那样。

　　Some parents are forced to work such long hours that they hardly get the chance to share family meals with their children.

　　一些父母被迫长时间工作，以至于他们几乎没有机会与孩子一起吃家常饭。

　　Many others are on such squeezed incomes that fresh food can be more or less unaffordable.

　　其他有许多人的收入非常少，以至于新鲜食品或多或少是买不起的。

　　For families of all incomes in the west, there is an additional cultural problem, which is that it is not seen as normal for children to enjoy fresh vegetables.

　　对于西方所有收入的家庭来说，还有一个额外的文化问题，那就是孩子们享受新鲜蔬菜被视为不正常。

　　Whatever the reason, the average child now seems to have a very limited sensory literacy of food.

　　无论是什么原因，现在的孩子对食物的感知能力似乎非常有限。

　　In 2010, the TV show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution showed American children in West Virginia who believed that tomatoes were potatoes and who said that an aubergine was a pear.

　　2010年，电视节目《杰米·奥利弗的食物革命》展示了西弗吉尼亚州的美国儿童，他们认为西红柿是土豆，说茄子是梨。

　　At the time, I recall hearing people commenting that the children’s ignorance was symptomatic of living in West Virginia.

　　当时，我记得听到人们评论说，孩子们的无知是生活在西弗吉尼亚州的症状。

　　In fact, you will now find children all over Britain with a similar lack of food knowledge.

　　事实上，你现在会发现在英国各地都有缺乏食物知识的孩子。

　　A few summers ago, while I was first trialling the lessons alongside a reception class teacher in Cambridge, it was peach season and I bought some delicious flat peaches to share with a class of four- and five-year-olds.

　　几年前的夏天，当我第一次和剑桥大学的一位接待班老师一起尝试这些课程时，正值桃子季节，我买了一些美味的扁平桃子，和一个四、五岁的班级分享。

　　One boy leaned forwards and said: “I’ve never touched a peach before, but I’ve had peach-flavoured medicine.”

　　一个男孩探过身子说：“我以前从来没碰过桃子，但我吃过桃味的药。”

　　This boy had never known the fuzzy sensation of peach skin on his hand or in his mouth, or the quiet squelching noise a peach makes when you bite into it.

　　这个男孩从来没有体验过桃皮在他的手上或嘴里的毛茸茸的感觉，也不知道咬桃子时那种安静的嘎吱声。

　　This wasn’t unusual.

　　这种现象并不罕见。