When you ask a special someone out, you carefully pick a fancy restaurant, reserve a table near the window and hope for a beautiful night.
Everything works toward a romantic atmosphere, at least until a waiter politely asks: "Do you want to try our 'husband and wife's lung slice'? It's today's special."
"That is one of the most horribly translated Chinese cuisine names. I've heard many of my foreign friends complain about it," said Chen Lin, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. "You won't know what's in the dish from the name, and you definitely don't dare try it."
The dish, fuqi feipian, literally husband and wife's lung slice, is actually sliced beef and ox tongue in chili sauce, a famous cold dish from Sichuan.
Similar translations of Chinese dishes have confused foreign visitors in Beijing for years. But now, the municipal office of foreign affairs is trying to end this by publishing a book of English translations of dishes.
Chen Lin, head of the expert committee that created the book, said it was a new effort to promote Chinese culture.
"Chinese cuisine is an important part of Chinese culture, and Chinese food has become popular across the globe in recent years, so it is high time for us to standardize the translation, to name the ingredients, how it’s cooked and the cultural content," Chen said.
Chen said some dishes have stories behind their names. Take kung pao chicken for example. "Kung pao" was an official title during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and the inventor of the dish, Ding Baozhen (1820-1886), possessed the title. So his title was used to name the dish.
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