In Malta, ‘Dead Men’s Bones’ Are a Sweet, Spiritual Tradition马耳他“亡灵骨头”饼干：美味融合宗教传统

The cookies are just one way that the island nation remembers the dead.

“亡灵骨头”饼干是这个岛屿国家缅怀逝者的一种方式。

For more than 50 years， Baron Confectionery in Ħaż-Żabbar， Malta， has been crafting pastries. Often， they turn out flaky ricotta1-or-pea-filled pastizzi2 or figolli3， the colorful Easter-time sweets. But by the end of October， their treats take on a more macabre look.

50多年来，位于马耳他扎巴尔的巴伦糕点店一直生产手工点心。他们通常制作酥脆的里科塔芝士馅或豌豆馅帕斯蒂奇，或是色泽鲜艳的复活节甜点菲戈拉。然而到了10月底，他们推出的糕点新样式就有些可怖了。

Għadam tal-mejtin （dead men’s bones）， or alternatively， għadam ta’ Novembru （November bones） are available not just here， but across the country throughout November. They are edible memento mori4， part of Malta’s longstanding Month of the Dead celebrations.

Għadam tal-mejtin（亡灵骨头）又称为għadam ta’ Novembru（11月的骨头）。整个11月间，这款饼干不仅此店有售，在整个马耳他都能买到。这是一种铭记死亡的美食，在马耳他历史悠久的“亡灵月”庆祝活动中必不可少。

The għadam look like chunky sugar cookies. They’re typically large enough to share， and， traditionally， each one is uniquely knotty—though some bakers now use cookie cutters to make them more uniform. The creviced dough is smoothed out by shiny white royal icing on top.

这种骨头饼干形如厚实的糖霜饼干，通常个头很大，足够与他人共享。按照传统工艺，每块饼干都是独特的扭结造型，但现在也有糕点师傅使用饼干模具，让形状更加统一。蛋白糖霜覆在裂纹的面团上，让饼干的顶端平整光滑。

But the three-dimensional bone shapes hold a secret. The vanilla exterior gives way to a center that’s flavored with cardamom and clove， even aniseed in some versions. This second dough， made with almond flour， crumbles at the first chewy bite.

但这种立体的骨状饼干内有门道。外皮是香草风味，内馅则混有小豆蔻和丁香，甚至有些做法还会用到大茴香。作为馅料的第二层面团由杏仁粉制成，入口酥脆。

These unexpected flavors owe much to Malta’s location. South of Sicily and flanked by Tunisia and Libya， the country has been a hotbed for both traders and invaders since time immemorial. That， coupled with the fact that Malta is not rich in its own natural resources， means that many Maltese flavorings have roots in the Arab world， North Africa， and mainland Europe. The one major exception is the homegrown almonds that make the central “marrow” of the cookie so compellingly different from the sugary “bone.”

这些出人意料的风味很大程度上要归因于马耳他的地理位置。这个国家位于西西里岛以南，两侧是突尼斯和利比亚，自古以来就是商人和侵略者的温床。加上马耳他本身自然资源并不丰富，因此该国的很多调味香料来源于阿拉伯世界、北非和欧洲大陆。本土出产的杏仁则是个显著的例外，它使饼干中心的“骨髓”风味与加糖的“骨头”截然不同。

Marlene Zammit grew up near Sydney， Australia. But the blogger behind A Maltese Mouthful can thank both her parents for introducing her to their native land’s rich culinary heritage. Her family considered Halloween， with its costumes and candy， “really more of a thing for the younger generation，” she says.

马琳·扎米特在澳大利亚悉尼附近长大。然而，这位主页名为“A Maltese Mouthful”（“舌尖上的马耳他”）的博主会感谢父母让她接触到了祖国丰富的烹饪传统。她说自己的家人认为万圣节的节日服装和糖果“实在更适合年轻人”。

Instead， they attended mass and prayed for the souls of the dead on All Souls Day， November 2. Though the Zammits were thousands of miles away from their family’s graves， people back in Malta celebrated by visiting loved ones’ resting places， neatening them up， and leaving flowers and other mementos.

她和家人们不过万圣节，而是在11月2日的“万灵节”参加弥撒，为亡灵祈祷。扎米特一家与家族墓地相隔数千英里，而身居马耳他的人在这一天会回到亲人的长眠之地扫墓，并献上鲜花和其他纪念物。

But Halloween has slowly become a presence in Malta. “People move on and traditions change. It’s a living situation. We feel that this shouldn’t take place at the detriment to what makes us Maltese，” says Kenneth Cassar. The senior curator of MUŻA， Malta’s national art museum， is also a member of Taste History， a group of historians that works to preserve the country’s culinary traditions. The organization is part of Heritage Malta， the national agency that oversees the museums and cultural sites of the islands.

然而，万圣节也已逐渐在马耳他流行起来。“人们会有新的变化，传统也随之改变，生活就是如此。我们认为，这不能以牺牲我们马耳他人的特色为代价。”马耳他国家美术馆的高级策展人，同时也是“品味历史”组织成员的肯尼思·卡萨尔说。“品味历史”组织由一群历史学家组成，致力于保护马耳他的烹饪传统，隶属于马耳他遗产局，后者是负责管理岛上博物馆和文化遗址的国家机构。

In Malta， November is unofficially considered the Month of the Dead. Għadam tal-mejtin are part of the festivities and available everywhere， from the bus station at the main island’s capital of Valletta to countryside pastry shops.

马耳他民间将11月视为“亡灵月”。亡灵骨头饼干在节庆中不可或缺，从主岛上首都瓦莱塔的巴士站到乡村的糕点铺，随处都能买到。

According to Cassar， it’s difficult to trace the precise origins of għadam tal-mejtin， because historical references only appear in snippets， and there are very few historical books on Maltese food. However， Zammit says that her recipes for cheerful figolli and għadam tal-mejtin are almost identical， save for the aromatic spices and bone shapes of the latter. Could they be siblings？ Cassar thinks this is likely， which means that għadam tal-mejtin could date back as far as the 17th century， considering that the first mention he’s found of figolli is from 1660.

据卡萨尔说，亡灵骨头饼干的确切起源很难追溯，因为历史资料零零散散，且有关马耳他食物的历史书籍也很少。不过，扎米特表示，她制作的美味菲戈拉和亡灵骨头饼干的食谱几乎相同，唯一的区别是后者所用的香料和骨头造型。二者可能本出同源吗？卡萨尔认为很有可能，因为他发现菲戈拉最早的记载是在1660年，这说明亡灵骨头饼干的历史可以追溯到17世纪。

But why were they created in the first place？ “It is very much typical to our way of life，” says Cassar. “It is tied in with fate.” In other words， memento mori are everywhere. Churches all over Malta are decorated with skulls and skeletons. The most famous， St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta， sports marble floors that depict skeletons doing everything from wielding scythes to reading scripture.