咖啡与茶——英国的饮食文化与民族认同

Coffee and Tea:British Food Culture and National Identity

近代早期,英国人在开展东方贸易时初识咖啡,后来向土耳其人学习咖啡馆的经营,并逐渐使咖啡馆发展成为集社交娱乐、商业贸易、新闻传播、政治辩论和学术研究于一体的公共场所,咖啡文化曾在英国兴盛了一个多世纪。然而,抢占先机的咖啡文化在英国传播时却面临重重阻力,最终被后起的茶文化取代。在英国东印度公司和统治者的支持下,饮茶从上层社会的贵族消费转变为普通民众的大众消费,并在维多利亚时代形成了独具特色的英式下午茶文化。与咖啡文化相比,茶文化更能适应英国传统的贵族文化、性别文化和高雅文化,因而英国人更认同茶文化,并不断将其发扬光大。咖啡文化和茶文化在英国的传播历程折射出饮食文化与民族认同之间的关联,从而推动物质文化中的饮食文化研究向纵深发展。

In early modern times,the British first learned about coffee when they were engaged in Oriental trade.Later,they learned the management of coffeehouses from the Turks,and gradually developed coffeehouses into public places integrating social entertainment,commercial trade,news communication,political debate and academic research.Coffee culture flourished in Britain for more than a century.However,coffee culture,which prevailed in Britain,faced many obstacles and was eventually replaced by tea culture.With the support of the British East India Company and the rulers,tea drinking changed from the consumption of the upper class aristocracy to the mass consumption of the general public,and formed a unique British-style Afternoon Tea Culture in the Victorian era.Compared with coffee culture,tea culture can better adapt to the British traditional aristocratic culture,gender culture and elegant culture.Therefore,the British people more identify with tea culture,and continue to carry it forward.The spread of coffee culture and tea culture in Britain reflects the relationship between food culture and national identity,thus promoting the further development of food culture research in material culture.