By now, the American search giant's cafeteria has achieved a fame to match the firm itself. In keeping with the corporate¹ "Innovate² or Die" motto, Google's chefs come up with new ideas every day。要说谷歌食堂的名气，丝毫不亚于这间互联网公司本身。先不管吃鲍鱼龙虾和烤鸭的传闻是否为真，谷歌(微博)中国公司的食堂百分之百地延续了“不创新会死”的工程师文化，甚至连大师傅都是半个“极客”——卖点十足。

At 11:30 each morning, as the sun streams in through the bay window of Google's canteen, an aroma³ begins to fill the room. It's time for those hoodie-and-jeans sporting IT workers to march in with identity cards hanging round their necks – ready for a good meal. They are calm and in a good mood: they know what awaits them. Those of us who don't get to enjoy this every day can't but help feel a little envious。每到中午十一点三十，阳光刚好打在一层餐厅的大玻璃窗上，厨师依次将菜盘摆上厨架，餐碟、碗筷准备到位，掀去保鲜膜，香气随着热气飘出来，穿着帽衫仔裤或是格衬衣毛坎肩、脖子上挂着工牌的IT达人们，插着裤子口袋淡定入场。

You are wrong if you think these workers are taking a break -- they have simply embarked⁵ upon a fresh project. Their first mission is to choose between Chinese or Western food. Then comes the multi-choice exam of selecting what you'd like from the buffet⁶, the salad bar or perhaps ordering something to be cooked.Among the dozen Chinese dishes on offer, we have braised duck wings, fried kidneys with squid, lamb chops and Mandarin⁷ fish - all steaming hot and ready to go. If that doesn't get your digestive juices flowing, consider what is available from the West: slow-stewed shoulder of beef with mango salsa, grape-braised clams⁸ and homemade pizza.After you've managed to choose a main course, six highly original desserts are lying in wait. Everything is free and you can eat as much as you want. At this point, if you work somewhere else, try not to think about your own office cafeteria。每天的菜单都贴在食堂门口，里边则分为中餐区、西餐区、沙拉区和 现做区。举个例子，某天的中餐凉菜是卤鸭翅和酸辣蕨根粉，热菜则有韭黄炒杏鲍菇、温炝双花、盐水鳜鱼、风味羊排等等不下十种，西餐主打的则是“12小时焗 牛肩峰配芒果萨萨汁”以及白葡萄汁烩蛤蜊，另配当家比萨，还有六道西式甜品。形式是自助餐，不用刷卡不用付费，吃多少悉听君便。

Xue Rongsheng (薛荣升)， Google China's head chef, with nearly 20 years of experience in five-star hotels, told the EO that the chefs use the world's best equipment in the kitchen. When the canteen was opened in 2007, in all of Beijing you could only find two of the ovens that they use. In addition, he is told not to worry about the purchasing budget for his ingredients。这家公司的企业文化决定了其对于员工饮食的投入是不遗余力的。厨师长薛荣升说，他们的设备都是世界上最顶级的，2007年谷歌食堂刚开业时使用的烤箱，全北京只有两台。而每年公司给出的餐饮预算，基本上不会让厨师团队面临成本上的压力。

The only mission for Xue and his assistants is: "to submerge ourselves in the ocean of cuisine⁹." They are a team of two-dozen people. There are more than 500 in-house diners daily, but they provide enough quantity for up to 800, because the staff loves bringing in their friends and family for the occasional meal - and they often pick up take-away when they plan to work late into the night。这种环境让厨师们“完全沉浸在了技艺的海洋”。目前谷 歌拥有20多名员工的餐厅团队服务对象是公司超过500名员工，而每日提供的则是七八百人的菜量，因为经常有员工会带家人和朋友过来吃饭，偶尔还要打包留 给晚上加班。厨师长薛荣升有近二十年的五星级酒店从业经验，五年前经数轮PK成为谷歌食堂的当家掌勺人。

Innovation创意

So how passionate¹⁰ are Google's chefs about their work? One answer is that between 2007 and 2010, the team created more than 3,000 different kinds of dessert. As for the main courses, they gave up counting. One can't help thinking that there are some people who would pay to work at Google。谷歌厨师的创新热情有多高？据不完全统计，他们从2007年到2010年，就开发了超过3000种甜品，而菜品的数目则多到无法计算。

Once a week, there's a Research-and-Development menu. Every chef has to come up with a new invention on this day. After trying it out, some of the new dishes are offered in the following week's menu. Google's workers know that they will see at least one or two new dishes each day. Workers say they don't expect any repetition on the menu for at least 20 days, but Xue raised his eyebrows。每周都有固定的一天是“菜品研发日”。厨师们上班颠勺，下班还得做功课，到了研发日这天，几位师傅凑在一起，每人做一道新菜，大伙品尝、点评，选出好的就放在下周的菜单之中。这样，每天员工的餐桌上至少都能有一两道新菜。

"It's more than that," he boasts. "Sometimes you have to wait three to five months before you see the same dish again. We exhaust all our energy in researching new dishes."外界有传闻说谷歌菜单二十天不重样，厨师长薛荣升表示“远远不止”，有时“同一道菜，要隔三五个月才能再次出现”。“我们几乎把所有的精力都放在菜品研发之上。”薛师傅补充道。

Xue uses a weekly videoconference to report on his work to Google's US headquarters, as well as the firm's Asia-Pacific chief executive

officers.Every day the secretary to the team of chefs uploads the menu in advance on "Foodback," an internal company website that lets staff members at Google log on to Google+ social network to comment on each dish。薛荣升每周要通过视频会议的形式，与美国总部和亚太地区的主管沟通食堂的近况，厨师团队的秘书则会每日将菜单提前上传至员工 内部网站Foodback(饮食反馈)上，与全球的谷歌厨师分享。他们甚至会应用谷歌的社交网站Google+，设立群组，在线讨论菜单的制定、开发和创 新，当然，任何一位谷歌员工都可以在上面发表对每一道菜品的评价和感受。当然，每年薛荣升还要飞去谷歌的北美总部，参加一年一度的谷歌厨师“大会师”。

"Traditional style restaurants are slow in responding to clients' reactions to their food, unless the diners demonstrate

a strong demand," Xue said. But as an Internet giant, Google relies on technology to respond to the needs of diners in a timely manner.And more than that, "We use our imagination to develop the Google staff palate," he explains. "For instance, we have Western and Chinese bakers¹² working together to invent new desserts, combining Beijing's traditional bean cake with tiramisu filling, or our snail¹³ roll using millet¹⁴ flour pancakes from Shandong, and our steamed Cantonese pork roll matched with Japanese tempura. They are all very popular with the workers."

这种在互联网辅助下的电子化有效沟通，充分地展现了谷歌作为一家互联网企业的个性十足。“传统餐馆对于客人的反应是滞后的，往往只有客人有了强烈的要求，

才会反馈到厨房里，”薛师傅说，而谷歌的厨师则喜欢用想象力决定员工的味觉，“中点师傅和西点师傅一起工作，发明出提拉米苏驴打滚，颠覆了中式驴打滚硬硬 的红豆馅料。我们的蜗牛卷用的是山东临沂的小米面煎饼，广东的肠粉搭配日式天妇罗，这些菜都受到了员工的欢迎。”

Science科学

So with all this top-end (gratis) gastronomy¹⁵, are Google's staff stuffing themselves too much?Not necessarily. The menus are carefully designed to meet the requirements of a balanced diet. Most cooking methods involve stewing¹⁶ and boiling, with much less frying than one might find in other Beijing restaurants。其实非要说谷歌的工程师天天吃大餐，倒也并不客观。因为他们的菜谱是经过严格的营养学搭配，以炖、煮为主，极少见煎、炸。

There's a chart called "The pyramid of health" stuck at the most obvious place in the canteen. It's a diagram, developed by Google and Harvard University, where foods are divided into three color-coded groups: Green means "Eat as much as you fancy," yellow means "in moderation," and red means "just occasionally."谷歌与哈佛大学共同研发了饮食结构的“健康金字塔”，是独家的营养秘籍，讲解图张贴在食堂最显眼的位置。金字塔从尖到底分为红、黄、绿三个层次，绿色代表“可以随便吃”，黄色则是“不要吃太多”，而红色告诉员工这些食物“偶尔可以尝一尝”。

There are only two universal rules for Google's canteens throughout the world. One is no MSG. The other is to limit the use of oil."The amount of oil used in a normal restaurant would be enough for us to fry 30 dishes," Xue says."Besides, we encourage the staff to eat whole rice. We let the rice soak 20 for hours first. The amino acid content is thus multiplied, guaranteeing both the taste and the healthiness."谷歌 厨房的全球统一标准是不放味精，并且严格控制炒菜的用油量，“在外面炒一盘菜的油，谷歌用来炒30盘菜，”薛师傅说，“我们主张员工吃糙米饭，提前用水把 糙米泡上20个小时，等待其出现了发芽的物理反应再上锅蒸，氨基酸的含量呈几何倍数增加，并同时保证了口感与健康。”

One of the characteristics of an engineer is their attachment¹⁷ to using data to analyze¹⁸ an issue. Even such a concern as the proper amount of salt added to a dish can be collected through Internet feedback。除此以外，每一盘菜都有自己的标签。“画一颗星的是烹饪温 度低于48度，两颗星则是高于这个温度；有猪肉的菜，我们会画一只小猪，提示穆斯林员工；菜里加了酒，我们会加‘酒杯’的标志；加了奶，就有‘奶瓶’的标 识；如果有蚝油或者蛤蜊、虾等，我们会画一个小螃蟹，对贝壳类过敏的员工就会了解。”薛师傅解释。

"Don't ever imagine that engineers are somehow a shy bunch," says Xue. "Their willingness to express what they want would surprise you."工程师文化便是以数字说明问题，谷歌会科学地收集大家的反馈，哪怕一道菜是咸是淡，都可以通过员工的网络投票比率来分析， “不要以为工程师是羞涩的群体，他们的表达欲会出乎你的意料。”薛荣升说。