每日跟讀#498: As Japan Ages, Menus Adapt to Finding the Gourmet in Purées

The 94-year-old man had come for lunch at a Chinese restaurant, and he was determined to make the most of his squid and leek stir-fry.

Eigo Shinoda, a former shipbuilding executive and fighter pilot in World War II, spends his days in a wheelchair and has trouble eating solid food. But that was no impediment as he dug into his meal with a plastic turquoise spoon recently.

這位94歲的男士來到一家中國餐館用午餐，他打定主意要盡情享受他的韭菜炒墨魚。

筱田三郎曾任造船公司高級主管，二次大戰時開過戰鬥機，如今成天離不開輪椅，吃固體食物也有困難。但他最近用一根土耳其藍的塑膠湯匙舀食物大快朵頤，一點都難不了他。

That’s because the staff at the restaurant, Kaze no Oto, had pureed the stir-fry in a food processor and served it to his group, which was from a nearby nursing home. While it didn’t look that appetizing, it did the trick for Shinoda. He finished by licking his plate clean.

Kaze no Oto, in a suburb of Yokohama, is one of a few restaurants in Japan catering to an aging population with meals for those who have difficulty chewing or swallowing. In the way that restaurants have long offered children’s menus, some are now offering special senior meals, too.

那是因為這家kaze no Oto餐廳的工作人員，用食物調理機把韭菜炒墨魚打成了泥，供給他們這群住在附近養老院的人享用。雖然這道菜泥看起來不怎麼開胃，但對筱田來說，這一招很成功，他把盤子舔得一乾二淨。

位在橫濱郊區的kaze no Oto餐廳，是為咀嚼和吞嚥有困難的老人準備餐食的少數日本餐廳之一。就和一般餐廳長久以來供應兒童餐一樣，有些餐廳現在也提供銀髮族專用餐。

Japan has the world’s highest proportion of people 65 and older, at more than one-quarter of its population. The country is a global leader in adapting to the needs of an aging citizenry, with racks of reading glasses at bank counters and walking-cane holders in city offices.

With its expanding efforts to accommodate the growing population of the elderly, Japan offers a foretaste of the kinds of societal changes that are beginning to shake wealthy places with rapidly aging populations, including many countries in Western Europe as well as South Korea and Hong Kong.

日本65歲以上人口比率為全球最高，超過總人口的四分之一。這個國家在適應高齡國民需求方面居全球領導地位。銀行櫃台上有老花眼鏡架，市政府辦公室也有枴杖架。

日本為越來越多的老化人口提供便利著力日深，也從而向世人展示了開始搖撼人口快速老化富裕地區的一些社會變化，這些地區包括許多西歐國家，以及南韓和香港。

In Japan, companies are developing special thickening products that can be added to meals during preparation to alter the texture of various foods and ease swallowing. In a culture where meals are prepared with great care and artistry, the thickening gels make it possible for chefs to reshape the food into visually pleasing dishes.

At the Mutuai nursing home in Yokohama, nutritionists and chefs experiment regularly so that they can offer residents a variety of meals.

在日本，企業界正在研發讓食物變濃稠的特殊產品，在準備餐點時，可以加到食物裡，以改變各種食物的質地，變得容易吞嚥。在這種準備餐點極花功夫且當成藝術的文化裡，把食物變濃稠的膠化物讓廚師得以重新塑造食物的形狀，變成悅目的菜餚。

在橫濱的Mutuai養老院，營養師和廚師經常實驗新菜色，讓院內老人的食物能多所變化。

On a recent afternoon, the lunch menu was Japanese sea bass and sweet-and-sour marinated carrots and radishes, with a side dish of spinach and mushrooms. To adapt the meal to those with slight swallowing problems, the kitchen staff substituted flounder, a more tender fish, and removed the mushrooms and stems from the spinach.

For the residents who have more severe swallowing issues, the staff sent the meal through a food processor, adding a gel powder before cooking the pureed versions in vacuum-sealed plastic bags. Then the resulting gelatinous blocks were poured into molds so that the chefs could create meals that looked like a piece of fish accented with slices of carrots and radish.

在最近一個下午，午餐菜單有日本海鱸魚、酸甜口味的醃胡蘿蔔和蘿蔔，配菜有波菜和香菇。為照顧輕微吞嚥的老人，廚房工作人員幫這些人換上肉質更嫩的比目魚，並拿掉香菇和波菜的梗。

對於有更嚴重吞嚥問題的老人，工作人員把菜送進食物調理機，加入一種膠質粉，再把泥狀的菜放入塑膠袋真空密封後低溫烹調煮熟。之後把煮好的一塊塊凝膠倒入模型裡，廚師可以做出看起來像一塊魚的餐點，配上一片片的胡蘿蔔和蘿蔔。

Source: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/310747/web/

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