因纽特人冬日美食：晶莹剔透的冰下贻贝正肥

KANGIQSUJUAQ, Quebec — For eight months a year, the flat bay around the village of Kangiqsujuaq in far northern Quebec freezes beneath a white expanse of ice and snow, leaving ravens and foxes as rare signs of life, along with Inuit and their dogs. Throughout the winter the Inuit hunt seal and caribou, and they fish through the ice for arctic char.

魁北克坎吉苏加克——一年当中八个月的时间里，魁北克最北的村庄坎吉苏加克村附近萧瑟的海湾都沉睡在大片冰雪之下，难得一见的生命迹象包括乌鸦和狐狸，还有因纽特人和他们养的狗。整个冬季，因纽特人都会狩猎海豹和驯鹿，还会凿开冰面捕捞红点鲑鱼。

But in the coldest months, when the ice is thickest, some venture beneath the ice to gather mussels. Every two weeks the pull of the moon combines with the geography of this region to create unusually large tides. The water falls as much as 55 feet in some places, emptying the bay under the ice along the shore for an hour or more. That’s when some Inuit climb aboard their snowmobiles and head out onto the bay.

但在冰层最厚的最冷月份里，为了采集贻贝，一些人会到冰下探险。每隔两个星期，在月亮的引力和这一地区的地理条件共同作用下，都会出现异常大的潮汐。某些地方的水位会下降55英尺之多，让岸边冰层下的海湾在一个小时乃至更长时间里处于空心状态。这时候，一些因纽特人就会骑着雪地摩托车向海湾进发。

Watch a 360 video of the mussel collecting mission.

观看采集贻贝之旅的全景视频。

One recent day I joined two of them, Tiisi Qisiiq, 51, and Adami Alaku, 61, who identified a void and chopped a hole into the ice.

不久前的一天，我和两名因纽特人——51岁的蒂西·吉西克(Tiisi Qisiiq)和61岁的阿达米·阿拉库(Adami Alaku)结伴而行，他们探明了一个空心之处，在冰面上凿开了一个洞。

Underneath is a beautiful, eerie world of bending ice, glowing blue from the sunlight outside. The sound of trickling water fills the humid, salt-laced air. On my recent trip it was 20 degrees below zero (minus 29 degrees Celsius) but a balmy 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) beneath the ice.

下方是一个由弯曲冰块构建的世界，美丽而又怪异，从外面透进来的阳光让它呈现出一片幽蓝。耳中能听到滴水声，口鼻中涌入带着一丝咸味的潮湿空气。那天的气温是零下20华氏度(零下29摄氏度)，但冰下却是宜人的32华氏度(零摄氏度)。

The men lowered themselves through the hole to the bay floor. The ground was covered with kelp, the occasional crab and edible clumps of roe from the fourhorn sculpin, which the Inuit call the ugly fish. But Mr. Qisiiq and Mr. Alaku came for fat blue mussels that cling to the rocks. Using lamps to light the way, they pulled the frigid mussels free with their hands.

吉西克和阿拉库从凿开的洞口处下到海湾底部。地上布满巨藻，偶尔还能看到螃蟹，以及一团团鱼籽——它们是可以食用的，来自被因纽特人称为“丑鱼”的四角床杜父鱼。但两人的目标是附着在岩石上的肥美的紫贻贝。他们一边用灯照路，一边徒手把冰凉的贻贝毫不费力地拽下来。

Before long, the sound of ticks and pops signaled the returning tide as it lifted the ice on the bay. Soon, the water would fill the caverns. The flood tide is deceiving, starting slowly until it rises more than a foot (30 centimeters) a minute. The men headed for the hole and climbed out into the clear, cold air.

很快，耳边传来咔哒声和砰啪声，意味着潮水正在返回，把海湾的冰层向上顶起。涨潮的过程颇具欺骗性，水位起初上升得很慢，直至达到每分钟一英尺(30厘米)。两人赶往洞口处，从那儿爬了出来，进入清透的冷空气中。

I first heard of mussel gathering under the ice when I lived in Shanghai and my son was given a children’s book called “Very Last First Time,” by the Canadian author Jan Andrews. It tells the enchanting tale of an Inuit girl’s first time under the ice alone. Ever since, I’ve wanted to go under the ice myself. Now I have, and I saw the bay floor’s bounty brought to the surface.

我第一次听说采集贻贝的事情是在上海居住期间。当时，我儿子得到了一本加拿大作家简·安德鲁斯(Jan Andrews)写的童书，名叫《最后的第一次》(Very Last First Time)。它讲了一个因纽特女孩初次独自探访冰下世界的迷人故事。从那时起，我一直渴望亲自到冰下看看。现在我得偿夙愿，还目睹了这些来自海湾底部的慷慨赠与是如何被带到冰面上的。

The book’s drawings depict a colorful, cavernous space beneath the ice, far different from the cramped and narrow confines that I discovered. The colder the winter, the thicker and more stable the ice and the larger the spaces left by the ebbing tide.

那本书里的图画描绘了一个多姿多彩的洞穴状冰下空间，和我探访的这个狭窄空间天差地别。冬天的气温越低，冰层就越厚越结实，退潮所制造出的空间就越大。

Mr. Qisiiq’s mentor, Lukasi Nappaaluk, remembers gathering mussels as a child in caverns of ice with ceilings 20 feet high. But global warming is making the ice less predictable and more prone to buckling. Warm water currents thin the ice from below, making the snowmobile crossings increasingly dangerous.

吉西克的师傅吕卡西·纳帕卢克(Lukasi Nappaaluk)，还记得自己小时候在底部距离上方冰层足有20英尺的冰穴里捡贻贝的情形。但全球变暖正让冰面变得更不可预测，更容易坍塌。温暖的水流从下方把冰层变薄，在冰上骑摩托车穿行越来越危险。

The mussels are a welcome winter treat these days, but at one time they were a lifesaving source of food during the lean frozen months. Raw meat, with its abundance of vitamins, has allowed the Inuit to live for centuries on a diet almost devoid of fruits and vegetables. The only preparation for the mussels is pulling off their beards, the strings of protein that mussels make to cling to rocks, and then rinsing them.

近来，贻贝成了一道颇受欢迎的冬日佳肴，但是曾几何时，在天寒地冻、物资匮乏的月份里，它们是具有救命功能的食物来源。生贻贝肉富含维生素，让因纽特人得以在几乎吃不到水果和蔬菜的情况下存续了千百年。食用前只需除去贻贝的“胡须”，也就是它们用以附着在岩石上的蛋白质须状物，再用水冲洗一番。

The Inuit still eat a lot of “country food,” caribou and seal and whale and fish that they prefer to eat raw while sitting on the floor.

因纽特人依然大量食用当地“土产”，譬如驯鹿、海豹、鲸鱼和鱼，并且喜欢坐在地上生吃。

Mussels are no exception. Mr. Qisiiq and his wife, Siasi Qisiiq, shucked the bivalves using the edge of a shell. They scraped out the meat and squeezed it in their fist, wringing out the salty seawater, before eating them as is.

其中当然也包括贻贝。吉西克和妻子夏西·吉西克(Siasi Qisiiq)用一个贝壳的边缘给这种双壳类动物去了壳。他们把肉弄出来以后，用手攥了一攥，挤出咸咸的海水，然后直接吃掉。

Ms. Qisiiq boiled some of the mussels for me. They were rich and meaty, salty with no seasoning, and steaming — welcome warmth after hours outside. I had some of the raw mussels, too, still chilled from the bay. They tasted a lot like raw oysters, but with a bitter finish. I would prefer them marinara style.

夏西·吉西克为我煮了一些贻贝。它们肥美多肉，没加任何调味料但自带咸味，冒着腾腾热气——给在室外呆了几个小时的人奉上久违的温暖。我也生吃了一些贻贝，入口时还带着来自海湾的凉气。它们尝起来和生牡蛎非常接近，但余味较苦。我还是更喜欢用意大利番茄酱调味的那种。