狱中生活经历如何点燃了一个男人的做饭激情 [美国媒体]

-------------译者：magicqueen99-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------



At 50 years old Kevin Williams appears happy as can be when demonstrating his mastery of a grilling miso-marinated chicken thigh.

50岁的凯文.威廉姆斯看上去很乐意表演他的拿手好菜：味噌酱腌制的烤鸡腿。

He places it on the grill and gracefully flips it to achieve those crucial criss-crossed grill marks. Once he gets the marks he removes the pieces. “Now we remove it from the grill and help it out by dry roasting it in the oven at 475 degrees for six minutes.”

他把鸡腿放到烤架上优雅地翻动，让鸡腿烙上那些至关重要的纵横交错的烧烤痕。鸡腿上一出现烧烤痕，他就拿开。“现在我们得把它从烤架上拿开，然后把烤箱调成475°，干烤6分钟。”

Williams is employed full-time at LA Kitchen a self-sustaining social enterprise that according to its visionary founder Robert Egger “demonstrates the power of food versus the mere use of food.” In a nutshell the mission of Egger’s forward-thinking food business is to hire underserved people like Williams to bring fresh nutritious meals to seniors all around LA. Egger believes that we may be on the cusp of a national crisis in a few decades thanks to soon-to-be seniors being the largest demographic in the US right now.

威廉姆斯是妙厨的全职员工，妙厨是一家自给自足的社会企业，根据其富有远见的创始人罗伯特.艾格的说法，它“展示了食材的魔力而不仅仅是食材的用途。”简而言之，艾格的前瞻性思维的食品企业的使命是：雇用服务像威廉姆斯这样的服务水平底下的人，给妙厨周围的老人们提供新鲜的营养餐。艾格认为，几十年之后，因为步入老龄社会，美国将因为拥有最多的老年人而处于全国性的危机。

-------------译者：magicqueen99-审核者：珂求一生------------

Robert Egger founder of LA Kitchen

妙厨创始人罗伯特.艾格



Robert Egger 
However LA Kitchen isn’t just another radical food-operated charity especially if you consider who else is involved: High-profile chef José Andrés is the board’s co-chair and successful food entrepreneur Erik Oberholtzer of Tender Greens is a board member.

话虽如此，但是妙厨并非一家激进的食品行业慈善机构，特别是当你考虑到其它参与者：高调的主厨约瑟.安德烈是董事局的联合主席，而成功的食品行业“善待绿色"的老板埃里克.欧博霍策也是董事局成员时，就更不会这么想。

The company is perfectly summarized by Egger: “Too often charity is about the redemption of the giver not the liberation of the receiver.”

艾格对公司总结得很棒：”情况经常是这样的：慈善是对施者的救赎，而非对受者的拯救。“

Williams is one of these receivers to say the least.  

至少可以这么说：Williams 是其中一个受者。

-------------译者：bonjour-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

Back in the huge facilities kitchen located in LA’s northeast Lincoln Heights neighborhood I stand next to Williams as we patiently wait for the chicken thigh to get caramelized and cooked all the way through. He pierces the meat with his electronic thermometer and tells me “We need to wait until the internal temperature is at at least 165 degrees or higher.” A former prison inmate he learned to cook professionally through LA Kitchen’s education component. This is Williams’ first job ever and LA Kitchen’s cooking school is the only school he’s ever graduated from.

回到妙厨在洛杉矶东北的林肯岗的设备齐全的巨大厨房里，耐心等待鸡腿上糖色并熟透时，我站在威廉姆斯的旁边。他用电子温度计穿透鸡肉，然后告诉我“咱们得等内部温度至少上升到165度或者更高”。作为一名前囚犯，他在妙厨的教学机构学会了专业的烹饪知识。这是威廉姆斯在洛杉矶的第一份工作，妙厨烹饪学校也是他毕业的第一所学校。

Kevin Williams pan-roasting some vegetables for his dish

凯文·威廉姆斯在用烤盘烤蔬菜



Kevin_Williams_testing_kitchen_flipping_veggies - 1
I gingerly ask him what he was convicted of but he has no absolutely no problem talking about it with me.

我小心翼翼地问他犯了什么罪，但是他很明显没有障碍跟我谈论他的过去。

-------------译者：bonjour-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

“At a hamburger stand one night I was with a couple of friends and my co-defendant went outside and messed with some individuals at a bus stop. I was an 18-year-old Crip gang member and I wanted to make a name for myself so I pulled out a .22 handgun and started shooting. I was convicted of a murder 1-8-7.”

“有天晚上我跟一群朋友在一个汉堡店，然后我的共同被告人走出去跟什么人在公交站打起来了。我那时18岁，是瘸帮的小弟，我想给自己打出名气，于是我拔出.22口径的手枪一通射击。我被判谋杀1-8-7。”

He admits that he was hanging out with the wrong crowd and made a poor decision that led to a senseless murder. Since that dreadful day he tells me that he has lived the rest of his life in the name of the person that he murdered. As he shares his heartfelt heavy story the chicken in the oven starts to smell amazing. We stop talking and he checks it once more. “It’s ready” he says. He then refreshes some noodles and rehydrated mushrooms he had already pre-cooked in boiling water along with some roasted vegetables that he prepped earlier that morning.

他承认那时他跟错误的人混在一起并做出了愚蠢的决定导致一场无意义的谋杀。他告诉我从那个悲惨的日子起他的余生都在为被他杀害的人活着。当他诚恳地跟我讲述这个沉重的故事时，烤箱里的鸡翅发出了醉人的香味。我们停止交谈，他再次检查鸡翅。“鸡翅好了。”他说。他把一些面条热了一下，把已经做好的蘑菇和早上烤好的蔬菜放在滚水里过水。

-------------译者：bonjour-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------



Kevin_Williams_testing_kitchen - 1
As he does this another unassuming employee in a chef uniform named Charlie Negrete steps in to help him with a miso sauce made from the chicken juices in the pan. He stayed after hours to help Williams during my interview and cooking lesson with him. I eventually learn that Negrete has worked at half a dozen notable restaurants in LA: Terranea The Jonathan Club The Peninsula Hotel and Bottega Louie just to name a few. Despite his accolades Negrete tells me that working with Williams has taught him “the meaning of hope and how [you] can restart your life in a very uplifting way no matter what.”

当他在做这些时，另一个穿着大厨制服的谦虚的人过来帮他。他叫查理·内格莱特，他帮威廉姆斯用烤盘里的鸡油做味噌酱。在我采访的几小时内，他帮威廉姆斯烹调并一起上烹饪课。这一切结束后他留了下来。我最终了解到内格莱特在洛杉矶半打的着名餐馆工作过：Terranea、乔纳森俱乐部、半岛饭店和Bottega Louie等等。除了赞扬威廉姆斯意外，内格莱特告诉我，跟威廉姆斯一起工作让他明白了“希望的含义，以及不管怎样都要用非常鼓舞人心的方法重新开始你的人生”。



Kevin_Williams_plating - 1
Negrete admits that he has dealt with a lifelong drug addiction problems himself and working with Williams inspires him every single day. “People just don’t know the realness of working at LA Kitchen” Negrete says.

内格莱特承认他一生都在跟毒瘾作斗争，跟威廉姆斯一起工作让他每天都很受鼓舞。“人们不知道在妙厨工作的真相。”内格莱特说。

-------------译者：bonjour-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

Williams interjects: “I don’t think the mushrooms are where I want them to be.”

威廉姆斯插话道：“我觉得蘑菇做得还不到位。”

Dried mushrooms along with roasted vegetables and miso paste are foods that Williams had never tried until he got his job at LA Kitchen about a year ago. Growing up in South LA he describes growing up with soul food. In prison he had an “addiction” to candies. He tells me that his diet was mostly made up of prison-issue meals and “chocolates and candies every day.” He started to feel body pains so he got checked out—only a day before my visit—and discovered that he was pre-diabetic. Fortunately for him LA Kitchen has taught him how to enjoy eating roasted vegetables as much as he likes to eat pasta and candy.

直到一年前开始在妙厨工作，威廉姆斯从未吃过干蘑菇配烤蔬菜和味噌酱。他说他在南洛杉矶是吃黑人食品长大的。在监狱里他吃糖“上了瘾”。他告诉我他的饮食基本就是牢饭然后“每天都吃巧克力和糖”。他感到身体疼痛然后去做了检查——就在我采访前一天——发现他处在糖尿病前期。幸运的是妙厨教会他喜欢吃烤蔬菜，就像他喜欢吃意面和糖果一样。

Williams and Negrete enjoying Williams’ miso chicken

威廉姆斯和内格莱特在享用威廉姆斯的味噌鸡腿

-------------译者：bonjour-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------



team_la_kitchen - 1
“I especially love veggies when roasted with harissa” he says casually.

“我特别喜欢蔬菜跟哈里萨辣椒酱一起烤。”他无意中说。

Despite growing up with little exposure to the vast world of food Williams credits being assigned to work in the kitchen while serving his 31 years as a catalyst for his new passion. There wasn’t much to experiment as a prison cook then so he loved to watch and read Martha Stewart and Julia Child. “I didn’t know much about French food but I loved watching Julia cook” he says. When I ask which chefs he looks up to he gets a little shy and responds: “To be honest I don’t know of many yet since I just got out.”

尽管在成长过程中没有接触过巨大的美食世界，威廉姆斯的信用让他被派到厨房工作，并将他３１年的经历作为新激情的催化剂。作为监狱厨师他没有太多机会去实验，所以他喜欢看和读玛莎·斯图尔特和朱利亚·柴尔德的作品。“我对法国菜了解不多，但是我喜欢看朱利亚做饭。”他说。当我问他仰慕哪位大厨时，他有点害羞，说：“说实话我不太了解都有哪些大厨，因为我刚出狱。”

He shares a few words with me before catching one of the multiple busses he takes to make the 44-mile daily roundtrip commute to his home in Lawndale from Lincoln Heights.

他跟我说了几句话，然后上了一辆公交车。他每天都要往返通勤４４英里，从林肯岗回到他位于代尔市的家。

-------------译者：大汉故土-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------



“In life I didn’t think I would have this kind of job but Robert [Egger] gave me a second chance to really be who I was meant to be. He saw something in me that I really didn’t see. Coming out of prison I was wondering how I was going to make it out here. I didn’t want to go back home to my family; I wanted to stay in re-entry and work on me. Now my girlfriend and I just bought our first car. I rent my own apartment and I’m happily paying bills. These are all things I’ve always wanted in life. Doing harm to others used to be my life as a gang member and now LA kitchen is my gang.”

在我一生中，我从没想过会拥有这样一份工作，但是罗伯特艾格给了我第二次机会，让我得以回归宿命中我本该属于的那种类型的人。他从我身上看到了一些我自己都没发现的东西。从监狱出来的时候，我对前途一片茫然。我不想回家。我想浪子回头，重新开始。现在，我和女朋友已经买了我们的第一辆车，愉快的为我自己租的公寓付账，这是我梦寐以求的生活。曾经，作为一个黑帮成员，伤害别人是我的日常，而现在，我终于（回归正途）找到了组织。

chicken_by_williams - 2
Williams’ long-term goal is to be a sous chef at a restaurant. Considering the tenderness of his miso chicken—which if I’d have been blindfolded while eating I might have assumed had come from an upscale Japanese restaurant—that goal doesn’t seem too lofty.

威廉的远期目标是成为一个餐厅的副主厨，就他做的味噌鸡的软嫩程度来看，如果我蒙上眼睛品尝，我肯定会以为这是一家高级日本餐厅提供的料理。所以他的目标看起来过于谨慎了。

-------------译者：布拉格鸽子蛋-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

As he packs up his stuff and exits through the building’s front door. I pound his fist with mine and he gives me a small grin. I later learn that he’s only recently started smiling in public thanks to him finally having a front tooth that he’d been missing for years. All thanks to his new dental benefits from LA Kitchen.

当他收拾好东西，穿过大楼的前门时，我跟他碰了下拳，他朝我微笑了一下。后来我才知道，那是他最近唯一一次在公众面前微笑，因为他终于补好了那颗缺失了很多年的门牙。而这都归功于他在洛杉矶厨房所得到的新牙科福利。



williams_chicken_portrait - 1
“I hate that I had to take a life to make me see all of this. I’m still paying for it and I’m living my life for the person I killed. I am bettering myself every day for him.”

“我讨厌自己不得不过一种一眼就望到头的生活。我依然在还债，为那个被我杀死的人而活着。为了他，我日臻完善。”