Having never lunched with a Nobel laureate before, I land early and prepared in the parking lot outside Mistral. The sleek Princeton eatery, whose chefs playfully blend local produce and global inspiration and describe themselves as “food activists”, is Angus Deaton’s favourite place to eat in town. Yet things quickly start to go awry when I find myself standing in the cold rain trying to wrestle my credit card out of a parking meter that is not just refusing to recognise it but seems to want to confiscate it. Getting increasingly wet, I am also caught in a logistical bind. The clock is ticking. Do I keep the laureate waiting or risk having to explain a parking ticket to the editor? I finally extract the card and decide to risk the fine. My boss will understand. My guest might not.
我從來沒有跟諾貝爾獎(Nobel)得主一起吃過午飯，于是早早到了Mistral外面的停車場做準備。Mistral是普林斯頓一家新潮餐館，這兒的大廚們像做游戲一樣將本地食材和全球靈感融合到一起，他們自詡“食品積極分子”——Mistral是安格斯?迪頓(Angus Deaton)在城里最喜歡的餐館。但是情況很快就出了岔子，咪表不僅拒絕識別我的信用卡，似乎還想吞掉它，我站在寒雨中，奮力從咪表里扯我的信用卡。我身上漸漸淋濕了，而且陷入了一個邏輯困境。時間一分一秒過去，我是讓這位諾貝爾獎得主等著，還是冒要向編輯解釋停車罰單的風險？最后我抽出信用卡，決定冒險挨罰。我的老板會理解的，我的客人可未必。