夕陽餘暉撒落在這片爬滿鬣蜥蜴和小型美洲鱷的熱帶溼地上,荷西.伊斯馬艾.席梅內茲用魚叉瞄準一隻約中型犬大小的齧齒動物。憑著多年的瞄準經驗,他把魚叉射進了牠的後腦杓。
SAN FERNANDODE APURE, Venezuela - As dusk fell on the tropical wetland crawling with iguanas and small crocodilian caimans, Jose Ismael Jimenez pointed his harpoon at a rodent about as big as a medium-sized dog. With aim that comes from years of practice, he landed his spear on the back of its head. 不過這次狩獵的目的並非掃除該國南部平原的有害動物,而是取得盤中飧。 But this hunt was not about ridding the country’s southern plains of varmints. It was about catching food for dinner. 這位獵人的唯一目標是水豚的肉。水豚據說是全世界最大的齧齒類動物。阿根廷與巴西等其他南美國家飼養水豚,主要是為取獸皮,水豚肉在委內瑞拉卻是廣受歡迎的美食,幾乎比牛肉貴一倍。 The hunter’s only goal was the meat of the capybara, reputed to be the world’s largest rodent. Unlike other South American countries, including Argentina and Brazil, where capybaras are raised mainly for their hides, here the rodent’s meat is a sought after delicacy, fetching prices almost double those for beef. 席梅內茲在阿多聖露易莎牧場進行夜間打獵時說:「水豚比牛還難獵捕。不過同樣值得。」阿多聖露易莎牧場是委內瑞拉平原上一座綿延達1萬6千多公頃的牧場。 “This job is harder than cattle,” Mr. Jimenez said while on a nighttime hunt on Hato Santa Luisa, a ranch spread over more than 16,000 hectares on Venezuela’s plains. “But it’s just as rewarding.” 席梅內茲是精壯的「亞雷諾」,也就是委內瑞拉這個地區遠近馳名的平原牛仔。他和另7個獵人這趟狩獵帶了.22口徑的步槍和鋼管,獵到18隻水豚。 Mr. Jimenez, a wiry llanero, as the plainsman cowboys of this part of Venezuela are known, and seven other hunters armed with .22- caliber rifles and steel pipes, killed 18 capybaras during their foray. 這個一年一度的狩獵在4月18日復活節前進行。羅馬天主教會通常禁止在四旬齋(復活節前的40天)的某幾天吃肉,但許多委內瑞拉人堅稱水豚肉接近魚肉甚於獸肉。 The annual hunt comes before Easter, which is Aprils. While the Roman Catholic Church generally forbids eating meat during certain days of Lent, many Venezuelans insist that the capybara is more akin to fish than to meat. 這可能和醃水豚肉的味道有關,它兼具沙丁魚和豬肉的味道。水豚肉在當地稱為chiguire(發音為齊圭雷),傳說18世紀當地神職人員請求教廷將水豚視同魚類,食用水豚之風因而大盛。 That may have something to do with how salted capybara tastes, resembling a mixture of sardines and pork. Legend has it that eating capybara, known here as chigüire (pronounced chee-GWEE-reh), got a boost in the 18th century when the local clergy asked the Vatican to give capybara the status of fish. 科學家明白表示水豚非魚也非禽,卻並未影響水豚肉受歡迎的程度。事實上,由於水豚肉如此令人垂涎,在當局規定只能在私人土地上獵捕一定數目的野生水豚之前,盜獵者幾乎已把委內瑞拉全境的水豚抓光。 Scientists’ assertions that capybara is neither fish nor fowl has not dented its popularity. In fact, the meat is so coveted that poachers nearly wiped-out the country’s capybara population, until the authorities limited hunting of the wild rodent to controlled amounts on private land. 水豚肉的熱愛者包括在巴里納斯州長大的委內瑞拉總統查維茲。巴里納斯位於委內瑞拉的平原上,當地水豚很多。查維茲曾在他主持的電視節目「哈囉,總統」中推廣水豚肉餡餅配木瓜汁的吃法。 Capybara aficionados include President Hugo Chávez, who grew up in Barinas, a state on Venezuela’s steamy plains where capybaras are common. On his television show, “Hello, President,” Mr. Chavez has promoted capybara Empanadas accompanied by papaya juice. 可別在意水豚有一些不尋常的習慣,例如會吃自己的排泄物。另外,有些主廚不諱言,宰殺水豚通常是以棍棒重擊牠的頭部,確實令部分饕客不安。 Never mind that capybaras have some unusual habits like eating their own feces. And yes, some chefs acknowledge, the methods used to kill capybaras, normally involving a sharp clubbing of the rodent’s head, bother some diners. 委內瑞拉首都加拉加斯的烹飪學校「美食研究中心」首席主廚維克特爾.莫雷諾說:「我們不是要求讓水豚在韋瓦第的樂曲聲中死去,不過總可以想辦法讓宰殺方式不要這麼殘忍。水豚肉是肉之上品,理應在我國烹調傳統中占有一席之地。」 “We’re not asking for the capybaras to be put to death while listening to Vivaldi, but something could be done to make the practice less brutal,” said Victor Moreno, the head chef at the Center for Gastronomic Studies, a Caracas cooking school. “Capybara is an exquisite meat that deserves prominent stature in our culinary tradition.” 和其他牧場一樣,阿多聖露易莎牧場獲准獵殺牧場上20%的水豚,約相當於1400隻。 Like other ranches, Hato Santa Luisa was allowed to kill 20 percent of its capybara population, or about 1,400 of the rodents. 在阿多聖露易莎牧場負責獵捕水豚的46歲領班雷納多.阿瓦拉多說:「偷水豚比偷牛容易,所以有些牧場不時還會遭竊。」不過他表示,有些公水豚可重達63公斤,身長1.2公尺。 “The capybara is easier to steal than a cow, so there’s still a bit of thievery that takes place on some ranches,” said Reynaldo Alvarado, 46, the foreman in charge of the capybara hunt at Hato Santa Luisa. Still, he said, some male capybaras can weigh as much as 63 kilos and measure 1.2 meters long. 阿瓦拉多說:「這樣的水豚非常特別。」 “Those ones are very special,” Mr. Alvarado said. By SIMON ROMERO |