When Michelle Tam was growing up in Menlo Park, Calif., in the 1980s, her family sipped¹ broth² with dinner every single night.

20世纪80年代，米歇尔·谭(Michelle Tam)在加利福尼亚州门洛帕克长大，那时她家每晚都煲汤。

“We were full-on Cantonese,” Ms. Tam said, explaining that a light soup with herbs and perhaps a vegetable or two is an integral part of many traditional Chinese meals, acting³ as a digestive, a palate cleanser and a drink. “My mom used to make me go to the butcher and ask for the bones to make broth, which was totally embarrassing.”

“我们是地道的广东人，”谭说。她解释说，带有药草和一两片蔬菜的清淡骨汤是很多中国人传统一餐中必不可少的一部分，它能帮助消化，清洁味蕾，也是一种饮料。“以前，我妈经常让我去肉铺要骨头炖汤，搞得我很难为情。”

Today, Ms. Tam writes and illustrates⁴ the popular Nom Nom Paleo blog, one of many sources devoted⁵ to Paleo eating, the diet du jour that is an exercise in eating “like our ancestors,” as adherents⁶ describe it, by which they mean the hunter-gatherers of the late Stone Age.

如今，谭是Nom Nom旧石器饮食博客的博主。这个热门博客是专门研究旧石器饮食的众多资源之一。追随者们把这种日常饮食习惯形容为“像祖先那样”饮食，他们说的祖先指的是石器时代后期的采集狩猎者。

One of the cornerstones of the diet is “bone broth,” the clear, concentrated meaty elixir⁷ that home cooks and chefs have known more or less forever as stock. Those ancestors probably made theirs by dropping fire-heated rocks into the stomachs of whatever animals they managed to kill. The subsequent invention of the pot made soups, stocks and broths⁸ staples⁹ in virtually every corner of the culinary world.

这种饮食的基础之一是“骨汤”。这种清澈、浓郁、多肉的灵丹妙药被称为高汤，长期以来，各种家庭厨师和大厨们对它或多或少都有了解。祖先们做骨汤的方法很可能是把用火烤热的石头放入他们杀死的任何猎物的胃里。锅发明之后，汤、高汤和骨汤成为世界各地烹饪界的一道主食。

Recently, this prehistoric¹⁰ food has improbably become a trend beverage¹¹, ranking with green juice and coconut¹² water as the next magic potion in the eternal quest for perfect health. Like other health foods that have taken off in recent years — yogurt, quinoa — broth combines mystical connections to the ancient world and demonstrable nutrition benefits in the modern one.

最近，这种史前食物不可思议地成为一种流行饮品，和蔬菜汁、椰汁一起，成为人类在不断追求完美健康的道路上发现的新魔力药水。和近些年受热捧的酸奶、藜麦等其他健康食物一样，骨汤既与古代社会有神秘联系，也在现代社会具有可证明的营养益处。

“I would never have thought I’d be the person who makes homemade stock,” said Ms. Tam, who now saves bones from grass-fed beef and frequently produces batches¹³ of stock in her pressure cooker. She used to grab a box of shelf-stable stock when making soup or stew¹⁴, figuring that organic was a good substitute for homemade. Now, she’s a convert to the real thing: the clear, bright, essential flavor that only fresh stock, made from high-quality ingredients, can provide.

“我原本从没想过自己会成为自制高汤的人，”谭说。现在她把草饲肉牛的骨头存起来，经常用高压锅炖好几轮高汤。过去，她经常购买耐储存的汤冻，用来煲汤或炖菜，还认为这种有机食品是自制高汤的优良替代品。现在，她转向了真正的高汤：只有用高品质的食材现做的高汤才能带来清澈、透亮、纯粹的风味。

“Just because something is organic doesn’t mean it has the nutrition we’re looking for,” Ms. Tam said. “Or that it’s delicious.”

“有机的东西里不一定具有我们想要的营养，”谭说，“也不一定美味。”

The difference between stock and broth is elusive¹⁵ in the bowl but clearer in the kitchen. Many people use the terms interchangeably, but strictly¹⁶ speaking, both broth and stock include bones and meat, but stock has a higher proportion of bones to meat. And to those who have taken up “broth-ing,” it is the content of the bones — including collagen, amino acids and minerals — that is the source of its health benefits. Extracting the nutrients¹⁷ from bones is accomplished¹⁸ through long cooking and by adding some acid to the pot, like vinegar, wine or a bit of tomato paste, which loosens and dissolves the tough bits.

高汤和骨汤的区别从碗里不大容易看出来，但是在厨房里看得比较清楚。很多人混用这两个词，不过，严格来讲，虽然骨汤和高汤都是用骨头和肉熬出来的，但是高汤中骨头的比例较大。对于用骨汤养生的人来说，骨汤的健康益处来自骨头中的成分，包括胶原蛋白、氨基酸和矿物质。从骨头中萃取这些营养素要靠长时间熬制，加入醋、葡萄酒或番茄酱等酸性物质能帮助溶解骨头中较硬的部分。

Nourishing bone broth has even begun to replace espresso and chai in the to-go cups of the millions of Americans who have at least attempted the Paleo diet. (Coffee and tea, along with dairy products, legumes and grains, are forbidden.)

营养丰富的骨汤甚至开始取代浓咖啡和印度奶茶，成为上千万对旧石器饮食（禁止食用或饮用咖啡、茶、奶制品、豆类和谷物）多少有点兴趣的美国人外带杯中的饮料。

“When you talk to chefs about this, everyone’s head is exploding,” said the chef Marco Canora, who has just opened Brodo, a storefront window in the East Village attached to his restaurant, Hearth²⁰, where three different flavorful broths are dispensed²¹ in paper cups. Like an espresso drink, the broths at Brodo can be customized, with add-ins like grated fresh turmeric, house-made chile oil and bone marrow²² from grass-fed cattle, which transforms plainly delicious broth into a richly satisfying snack.

“我跟大厨们谈起这个时，简直炸开了锅，”大厨马尔科·卡诺拉(Marco Canora)说。他刚在东村开了一个店面窗口Brodo，这个窗口是和他的餐馆Hearth连在一起的。他在这个窗口用纸杯售卖三种口味的骨汤。和浓咖啡一样，Brodo的骨汤也可以依照顾客的口味添加调料，比如磨碎的鲜姜黄、自制辣椒油或草饲肉牛的骨髓，这些东西能把清淡、美味的骨汤变成浓郁、可口的小吃。

“Every chef knows how to make stock, everyone uses it as an ingredient, but it would never occur to anyone that you could sell it,” he said.

“每个大厨都知道怎么做高汤，每个人都用它作原料，但谁也没想过，你能单卖高汤，”他说。

But right now, it seems, you can. Belcampo, the year-old meat company that sells pasture-fed beef from cattle raised on its own ranch²³ in Northern California, just started serving $3.50 cups of house-made bone broth as a side dish in its five butcher shop-restaurants. Online sources have sprung up to meet demand, selling frozen bone broth by the quart or by subscription²⁴.

但是现在你似乎可以这样做。老牌肉类公司Belcampo售卖在北加州自己牧场上草饲的肉牛，现在它刚开始在自己的五个肉店餐馆供应3.5美元一杯的自制骨汤，作为一道配菜。网上也涌现出很多骨汤供应商，按夸脱或按订购量售卖。

Mr. Canora turned to broth after he adopted a modified Paleo diet about five years ago, when at age 40 he found himself depressed²⁵, prediabetic, overweight and showing early signs of gout. “For 20 years, I smoked, I drank my face off, and 80 percent of my diet was bread and butter,” he said. Like many chefs, he ate mostly standing²⁶ up, late at night, and with an eye to consuming as many fatty pork products as possible.

大约五年前，40岁时的卡诺拉发现自己情绪低落，糖尿病前期，超重，有痛风的早期迹象，于是开始采取略加改造的复古饮食法，开始喝骨汤。“有20年的时间，我抽烟，经常喝醉，80%的食物是面包和黄油，”他说。和很多大厨一样，他经常深夜吃快餐，只关心摄取尽可能多的肥猪肉制品。

“Twenty years ago, if you talked about health and wellness in chef circles, they would laugh you out of town,” he said. Now, chefs are beginning to understand that food has to be more than just delicious, he said.

“20年前，如果你在大厨圈谈论健康，你会被他们笑话死的，”他说。他说，现在大厨们开始明白，食物必须不只是美味。

After a bout¹⁹ of nutritional²⁷ consultations²⁸, he emerged clutching a list of forbidden foods longer than he’d imagined possible.

经过一轮营养咨询，他得到了一个禁食食物清单，这个单子比他能想到的还要长。

In some ways, the Paleo guidelines echo the rules of culinary-simplicity gurus like Alice Waters, René Redzepi and Mr. Canora: use the best raw ingredients — grass-fed meats, wild plants and fish, natural sweeteners, pristinely fresh fruits and vegetables — and do as little to them as possible. In others, like the ban on bread, whole grains, rice, butter, pasta, dried beans, fresh beans, cheese and cream, Paleo would seem to be the enemy of good food. Broth is one of the places where the two strands²⁹ meet.

从某些角度讲，旧石器饮食法的指导方针类似于爱丽丝·沃特斯(Alice Waters)、勒内·雷泽皮(René Redzepi)和卡诺拉等简朴烹饪宗师的原则：使用最好的原材料——草饲肉类、野生植物和鱼、天然甜味剂、天然新鲜的水果和蔬菜——尽量少加工。此外，旧石器饮食法还禁食面包、全麸谷物、大米、黄油、面食、干豆、鲜豆、奶酪和奶油，似乎是美食的对立面。而骨汤是旧石器饮食和美食的交汇点之一。

The broths that were already simmering on the stoves at Hearth, Mr. Canora said, helped him adjust to an entirely³⁰ new way of eating, described in his new cookbook, “A Good Food Day.”

骨汤在Hearth餐馆的炉子上慢慢煮炖着。卡诺拉在新烹饪书《一个美食日》(A Good Food Day)中说，骨汤帮他养成了一种全新的饮食习惯。

“Broth was always my comfort food,” he said. Growing up with a Tuscan mother, he recalls that there was always fresh meat and poultry³¹ broth in the house. “Instead of sipping³² coffee all day and wine all night,” he said, “I started walking around with cups of broth, and that’s where the idea for Brodo came from.”

“骨汤一直能给我带来慰藉，”他说。他的妈妈是托斯卡纳人。他回忆说，小时候家里总有鲜肉和鲜禽汤。“我不再整天喝咖啡，整晚喝葡萄酒，”他说，“而是走哪儿都端着骨汤。开设Brodo的想法就是这么来的。”

But most “broth-ers” are not chefs who happen to have homemade stocks sitting around. They are conscious eaters who have stumbled onto what generations of cooks in other cuisines³³ have long known: Broth made with plenty of bones contributes to well-being³⁴ in ways that other foods don’t.

不过，大部分“骨汤食用者”并不是本来手边就有自制高汤的大厨，而是偶然发现了其他烹饪法中历代厨师很久以前就知道的事情：用大量骨头炖出来的骨汤对健康的益处是其他食物无法提供的，所以他们开始有意食用骨汤。

“It’s been known through history and across cultures that broth settles your stomach and also your nerves,” said Sally Fallon Morell, an author of the new book “Nourishing Broth.” “When a recipe has that much tradition behind it, I believe the science is there too.”

“从古至今，在很多文化中，人们都知道骨汤能养胃、安神，”新书《营养丰富的骨汤》(Nourishing Broth)的作者萨莉·法伦·莫雷尔(Sally Fallon Morell)说，“如果一个食谱有漫长的历史，我相信它一定有科学道理。”

Ms. Fallon, whose first book, “Nourishing Traditions,” has sold more than half a million copies, is a farmer in Maryland and a leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a group dedicated³⁵ to promoting the benefits of preindustrial food and cooking. Dr. Price was an early-20th-century dentist who became preoccupied³⁶ by the effects of traditional diets and postindustrial diets on dental health, and later on health in general. With the advent³⁷ of low-tech diets like raw food, whole food and Paleo, the foundation has become increasingly visible, providing a central resource on topics like raw milk, biodynamic agriculture and the health benefits of animal fats. (On the website, a photo of a glowingly healthy family at the beach is captioned³⁸, “They are happy because they eat butter!”)

法伦的第一本书《营养丰富的传统》(Nourishing Traditions)销售了50多万册。她是马里兰州的农民，也是韦斯顿·A·普里斯基金会(Weston A. Price Foundation)的主管。该机构致力于宣传前工业化的食物和烹饪法的益处。普里斯是20世纪初的一位牙医，他痴迷于研究传统饮食和后工业饮食对牙齿健康的影响，后来发展为研究这两种饮食法对身体健康的整体影响。随着生食、天然食物和旧石器饮食等低科技饮食的出现，该基金会越来越引人注目，成为生牛奶、生物动力农业和动物脂肪健康益处等话题的主要来源（该机构的网站上有一张照片，照片上是面色红润、健康的一家人在海滩上，图注是“他们很开心，因为他们吃黄油！”）。

Although there are few reliable studies on the medicinal effects of broth, the foundation has done analysis that shows it may provide benefits for inflammatory diseases, digestive problems and even dopamine levels.

虽然关于骨汤的药用效果几乎没有可靠的研究，但是该基金会的分析表明，骨汤可能有助于缓解炎症和消化不良，甚至能帮助提高多巴胺水平。

Many Asian cuisines have a version of Long Life Broth, often a combination of whole birds and fresh or dried shellfish, with bones, feet and shells contributing their nutrients to the pot. In the 12th century, the “Jewish penicillin³⁹” cliché was born when the physician Maimonides wrote that chicken soup “is recommended as an excellent food as well as medication.” In the Caribbean, “cow foot soup,” rich with collagen, is eaten as a strengthening breakfast and for all sorts of ailments⁴¹.

亚洲的很多菜系中都有长寿肉汤，通常包括整只肉禽、鲜贝或干贝，再加入骨头、蹄和壳来增加营养素。12世纪，人们经常谈论的“犹太青霉素”诞生了，它指的是鸡汤。当时，医生迈蒙尼德(Maimonides)写道，鸡汤“被奉为优良食物，也被视为药物”。在加勒比地区，人们早餐常喝含有丰富骨胶原的“牛蹄汤”，认为它能强身健体，治愈各种小病。

Korean seolleongtang and Japanese tonkotsu are broths that are thick and creamy with fats and myoglobin from bone marrow. In France, there are strict separations among stocks — light veal⁴², dark veal, raw chicken, roasted chicken — but all of them are ideally of a perfect clarity, clear enough to read the date on a coin at the bottom of the pot, according to French tradition.

韩国的牛骨汤和日本的猪骨汤都浓郁柔滑，富含脂肪和肌红蛋白，它们来自骨髓。在法国，高汤有严格的分类——清淡小牛肉汤、浓郁小牛肉汤、生鸡汤和烤鸡汤——但是依照法国传统，完美的肉汤必须十分清澈，清澈得足以看清锅底硬币上的日期。

But there is no need to be that picky, or to be on the Paleo diet, to appreciate a good broth. Making one is as easy as getting your hands on fresh, meaty bones — preferably including some knuckles⁴³ or necks or another cartilaginous part — then covering them with water and simmering them patiently until the broth tastes good to you. Meat and poultry can go in the same pot (delicious batches of the stuff arise from such combinations). Aromatics⁴⁴ are optional.

品尝美味的骨汤不需要那么挑剔，也不必采取旧石器饮食法。煲汤很容易，弄些新鲜、多肉的骨头——最好含有关节、脖子或其他软骨——然后加水没过骨头，耐心地用小火炖，直至你觉得汤尝起来很美味。把畜肉和禽肉放在一起炖（这样的组合能炖出好几轮美味的汤）。可以加些香料。

Last month, a steady stream of customers lined up at the Brodo window on a raw, wet afternoon, sipping and tasting, and somewhat dumbfounded that such a basic food could taste so good.

上个月一个阴冷、潮湿的下午，Brodo的窗口前一直排着长队，顾客们品尝骨汤，为如此基本的食物能如此美味而感到有些惊叹。

“My grandmother used to drink a jelly glass of chicken broth every day, even when it was broiling⁴⁵ hot outside,” said Carl Hoffman, who stopped in on his way home from work at Beth Israel Hospital nearby. Estelle Hoffman lived to be 106, he said: “She called it her fountain of youth.”

“我祖母在世时每天喝一杯鸡汤，甚至在滚烫的时候就开始喝，”卡尔·霍夫曼(Carl Hoffman)说。他在附近的以色列堂医院(Beth Israel Hospital)工作，在回家的路上顺便到这里买汤。他说，他祖母埃斯特尔·霍夫曼(Estelle Hoffman)活到了106岁，“她常说鸡汤是她的青春之源”。