從江南到嶺南：當代兩部小說中的戰爭、離散與飲食傳承

From Jiangnan to Lingnan: War, Diaspora, and Food Heritage in Two Contemporary Novels

人類學家將飲食之道看作個人與國族的可食用身分來研究。作為「文化傳承」的飲食方式承載了額外的情感重量和文化意義，甚至可以成為料理創傷記憶的工具。本文比較王安憶的《一把刀，千個字》（2021年）和葛亮的《燕食記》（2022年）兩部分別描摹江南和嶺南飲食文化的長篇小說，以「飲食傳承」為切入點揭示二者如何藉此處理20、21世紀中國歷史上的戰亂、離散造成的悲劇。王安憶筆下的大廚陳誠經歷了從1949年後的大陸到美國的顛沛流離，葛亮書中的大廚師徒榮貽生和陳五舉目睹、經歷了20世紀20年代後的廣東、香港的沉浮悲歡。王安憶強調草根生活、人間煙火，把「變」視為尋常，而葛亮則關注與飲食之道一脈相承的古典文化傳統，將「常」奉為圭臬。對照兩部小說，祖地與異鄉、傳統與變遷、個人身分的穩固性與流動性的矛盾呼之欲出。但兩者也都通過主人公的成長史及「尋找母親」的副線揭示了飲食的最終功用：為漂流異鄉、歷經個體、集體創傷的個人謀求一線生機，讓他們獲得肉體、情感與靈魂的滋養，進而找到對抗「生命中不可承受之輕」的策略。歸根結底，兩位作者都通過構建「飲食後記憶」為漂泊人世間的個人找到安身立命之所，也為飲食書寫開闢了新的篇章。

Two contemporary Sinophone novels centering around the lives of chefs, The Knife and Words (Yi ba dao, qian ge zi 2021) by Wang Anyi and Food is Heaven (Yanshi ji, 2022) by Ge Liang, represent different ways of narrating war and trauma through food heritage in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Greater China. Respectively hailing from Jiangnan and Lingnan, the chefs have experienced seismic socio-cultural transformations during their lifetimes: Chef Chen in Wang’s work in post-1949 mainland China and then the USA, and Chef Rong and his disciple Chef Chen in Ge’s work in Guangdong and Hong Kong from the 1920s onward. Their exiles and partly subconscious“search for mother”embody the tension between motherland and adopted home, between tradition and change in cultural heritage, and between rootedness and transcendence of identity.
　　Ge enacts a premodern understanding of food heritage by privileging legends and traditions. The two chefs in his work achieve a sense of transcendence by acting as stewards of food heritage and the classical Chinese cultural traditions it invokes. In comparison, Wang validates ordinary living and casts food heritage as ever-evolving grass-roots experiences that sustain individuals in their struggle against inherited trauma. Ultimately, the two novels both bear out the life-affirming efficacy of food that defies national borders and ideological discourses. Depicting how food enables individuals to practice care and self-care to counteract the“unbearable lightness of being”facing exiles in a strange land, the two works also usher in a new chapter in Chinese gastronomical literature by deploying food heritage as postmemory to navigate overwhelming historical and cultural traumas.