鄰居花園裡的無花果 Figs in Neighbor’s Garden

在搬到義大利以前，對無花果的印象一直停留在小時候跟媽媽到迪化街辦年貨時，那個栗子大小、淺褐色、表皮皺不拉基的小果子，咬在嘴裡的奇特口感，幾乎是春節假期中我最愛吃的零嘴之一。
Before I moved to Italy, my impression on figs was “the chestnut size wrinkled little fruit with light brown color”. The peculiar texture and taste made it one of my favorite snacks in Chinese New Year.

搬到義大利以後的經驗，腦子裡許多既往的印象受到顛覆，無花果便是一個例子。記得搬來以後的第一個夏天，初次在超市裡看到這種淺綠深紫、如乒乓球大小的果實，還狐疑了老半天，看來看去就是看不出個所以然，問了米奇，才知道這東西就是無花果！對從來沒看過新鮮無花果的我來說，還真是個新鮮的玩意兒，馬上買了一些回家品嘗…回到家剝開來，裡頭白色的子和淺紅色的果肉，看起來煞是噁心，讓我直接想到電影「異形」的某個場景，一下子竟然不敢咬下去，過了幾分鐘，看到一旁的米奇吃得高興地很，我硬著頭皮咬了一口，微酸微甜的滋味真好吃。只是外觀上而言，實在引不起我的食慾…即使到今天，每次要吃無花果的時候，我還是得要想一下，閉著眼睛才咬得下去。
Many of my impressions have been overthrown after I moved to Italy. Fig is just one of the many examples. I still remember the first summer after I arrived. I saw the light green deep purple color fruit in the supermarket. It’s about a ping-pong ball’s size. I wondered what it could be but couldn’t figure out by myself. So I asked Michele… It’s fig!! I’ve never seen a fresh fig in my life, so it has become one of the “news” for me. I just couldn’t wait to taste it! After we arrived home, I opened it and saw the white seeds with light red pulp. It looked disgusting… coz it reminded me one of the scene in the movie “Alien”. I just couldn’t bear the idea to have a bite… but seeing Michele eating one by one satisfactorily, I just had to try. And I did. It tasted good, not too acid/sour and not too sweet. However, its appearance just kills every single appetite I have. Even today, whenever I eat it, I still have to think for a while, close my eyes and then give it a bite.

昨天下午，我和米奇好不容易有點時間去整理花園，把花園裡破掉的、不要的花盆給處理掉。因為受不了蚊子猛烈的攻勢，我早早跑進屋裡，留米奇一個人在花園裡搬東搬西。約莫半小時以後，米奇捧著一盤無花果走了進來，說是鄰居花園裡種的，今年果子長得好，分一些給我們吃。 Yesterday afternoon, Michele and I finally had some time to go and clean the garden, trying to throw away some broken and unwanted pots. I couldn’t bear the attacks of the mosquitoes, so I ran indoors after a while and left Michele alone in the garden to finish the work. Half-hour later, he came inside with a dish of figs. It’s grown in our neighbor’s garden. They’ve got quite some harvest and would like to share some with us.

米奇把無花果端進來以後，便開車出門，把一些不要的廢物載到資源回收中心。我看著這盤滿滿的果實，少說也將近二十個，等不及米奇回到家，忍不住偷吃了一個。味道真是不錯，比前一陣子在市場買的還好吃。心裡頭也開始盤算的，可以把這盤無花果拿來做些什麼變化…
Michele went to the recycle center after he brought in the figs. I looked at them and counted roughly. There’re more or less twenty of them. I couldn’t wait until Michele’s return and tasted one secretly. It’s good, much better than what we’ve bought in the market some weeks ago. In the mean while, I also started to think what I could do with them…

吃完晚餐，米奇把無花果拿了出來。基本上無花果是可以連皮吃的，不過一方面因為我們懶得洗，一方面也因為這些無花果已經熟透了，幾乎是一捏就爛，看樣子是洗不得，所以我們才剝了皮吃。我剝了一顆吃將起來，米奇馬上說：「妳不再把果實剝開來，看看裡面有沒有蟲喔！」他話才講完，我差點沒把滿口的無花果噴了出來…腦子裡馬上想到大學做生態學實驗時數榕果小蜂的景象…真是噁心…
After dinner, Michele took out the figs. Basically, figs can be eaten without peeling. But we’re too lazy to wash them, and they were too ripen to be washed… So we decided to peel it. I peeled one and started to eat. Michele said, ‘you don’t open it and see if there’s any bug inside?’ I was about to spit it out of my mouth… it reminded me the ecology experiment I did in university, counting the little bugs in the fruits of the small-fruited fig tree… it’s so disgusting…

我回過神來，盤子裡的無花果只剩下六個…看樣子大概是留不到我做蛋糕或果醬了…
When I came back to myself, there’re only six figs left in the dish… I guess they can’t really wait until I make them into cake or jam…