URS Cinncinnati’s Graeter’s ice cream is the best!
辛辛那提的桂氏（Graeter’s）冰淇淋是最好的！

Edison Lim 翻译.

Anyone who has lived in Cincinnati will know that Cincinnati’s Graeter’s ice cream is the best in the world. It’s “better even than Haagen Dazs” that many in Asia claim is supreme. Until they taste our ice cream! But even I was impressed by a scholar from Shanghai visiting Cincinnati, who lived a few minutes from a Graeter’s store, and who could not resist going three times a week to get her ice cream “fix.” What was most amazing was that she remained very thin and small, and friends could barely believe she really did that.

凡在辛辛那提住过的人都知道辛辛那提的桂氏Graeter’s 冰淇淋是世界上最好的。它甚至比被很多亚洲人称为极品的哈根达斯还要好，只要他们尝过我们的冰淇淋就知道了！即便如此，我还是很佩服一位从上海来辛辛那提住在桂氏冰淇淋店附近的访问学者。她每周总是忍不住要三顾茅庐到桂氏一享朵颐之乐. 很奇妙的是她的身形依旧清瘦，这令朋友们都难以置信。

The “secret for its excellence supposedly is that Graeter’s totally uses the original recipe, from German ancestors about 150 years ago, even duplicating its handmade features. In a day and age when everything is mechanized and computerized, that seems archaic, but it could indeed be the secret of its success: for example, the ice cream itself is tightly compacted by hand into individual containers for maximum customer satisfaction.

据说桂氏的秘密在于它是完全按照一百五十年前德国祖传食谱以及古法手工制法制作的。在这个机械化和电子化挂帅的时代里，这听起来仿佛老旧过时，但这正可能是桂氏成功的秘诀，例如它的冰淇淋是用手工压入每一个容器里来带给顾客们的最大的满足。

Another “secret” I suspect is the fat content. In recent years, people have become more health conscious, so modern ice cream companies started reducing the fat content in ice cream, and that unfortunately ruins the charm. Unquestionably, the higher the fat content in ice cream, the better it tastes. So California types of people who insist on lowering the fat of ice cream will pay a great price in ice-creamology.

此外，我猜它的另一个“秘密“是脂肪成分。近几年来，人们健康意识抬头，冰淇淋制造商纷纷减少冰淇淋里的脂肪成分。但这很不幸的损害了冰淇淋的魅力所在。冰淇淋的脂肪成分越高，它就越好吃。因此，那些像加州人一样坚持要求减低冰淇淋脂肪含量的人是要付出极大代价。

Studies have actually shown that if one increases the sugar content of something like ice cream, at some point the taste buds appear saturated, and any further increase actually is a turnoff to the ice cream lover. That is why you cannot make something too sweet, even ice cream. However, if one changes the study design by increasing the fat content, the funny result is that the higher and higher the fat content, the better and better the ice cream tastes, meaning that there is no real “upper limit!” Isn’t that amazing! So, California types, I’m sorry, you will not get the great ice cream experience of the Midwest, from West Coast ice creams. In fact, our own children who have moved from Cincinnati to the West Coast have always asked for special shipments of Graeter’s ice cream, either by air or personally brought over from Cincinnati.

研究指出我们的味蕾有一个饱和点，如果我们持续增加食物（如冰淇淋）里的糖分，超过饱和点的糖分是会倒人胃口的。这正是为何即使是冰淇淋我们也不可以做得太甜。但是很有趣的是如果我们增加的是脂肪，结果却是脂肪越多，冰淇淋越好吃。换句话说，脂肪含量并无上限。这不是很奇妙吗！因此，很遗憾的，加州派的朋友们，你们错过了中西部美妙的冰淇淋滋味。事实上，我自己的孩子门在移居西岸后总是叫我从辛辛那提寄桂氏冰淇淋或托人带给他们。

I’m a nutrition kind of a guy, so I really hesitate to go around telling people to eat more fat. But the fact is that fat can be good for you. For example, if you do not have any fat, and you fall, there is not much “buffer protection,” and you will easily fracture your bones, especially the critical hip bones. And more body fat, by increasing the weight load, actually over time creates stronger body bone, in order to sustain the load. So fat is really not totally bad. And a bit of fat in the right place will make you look better than a scrawny malnourished appearance. Plus, there are all these great fats called essential fatty acids (“essential” means essential), as exemplified by olive oil, vegetable oils, nut oils, and fish oils. Reminding us that all fat is not fat. And there is the new fat push, captured by the novel phrase, “eat fat, get thin,” which reminds us that it is really sugar and carbs that are making westerners fat and heart-diseased; our friend, the 3 Graeter’s ice cream a week, thin small scholar, might be on to something after all.

我是一个研究营养学的人，所以我及其不愿到处去鼓励人们多吃脂肪。但事实上脂肪也可以对你有益。例如在跌倒时如果你没有任何脂肪缓冲，你的骨头很容易摔断，特别是对我们十分紧要的臀骨。脂肪也通过增加我们的体重使我们有更能承重的强健的骨骼。因此脂肪并不是一无可取的。适当的脂肪使我们不会看起来瘦骨如柴。我们更有叫做必需脂肪酸（人体必需的）的好脂肪， 通常存在于橄榄油，植物油，堅果油和鱼油里。这提醒我们脂肪不等于肥胖。近来更有推广脂肪运动。它用新奇的标语“吃脂肪，变苗条eat fat, get thin”来提醒我们糖和醣才是西方人肥胖以及心脏疾病的主因。如此看来，我们那位三顾茅庐的苗条学者可能早就胸有成竹了。

So, to push this logic further, and to preserve the charm of great ice cream, let me suggest the best ice cream ever would be low sugar, but very fat ice cream but which even includes lots of essential fatty acids, an “EFA Ice Cream.” I am patenting this name right now, and you heard it right here. And if there is a commission for this, please let me know, so we can put the proceeds to good use. I don’t think “fish oil ice cream” or “fishy ice cream” will ever sell, but I suspect that EFA Ice Cream, or even Essential Ice Cream, might! Graeter’s EFA Ice Cream, anyone?

从以上逻辑类推，若想维护冰淇淋的美味，我提议最好的冰淇淋应该是低糖，高脂，含必需脂肪酸的“必需Graeter’s冰淇淋”。你听到了，我现在为这个名称注册。请让我知道如果这个名称受到权利金。我会把收入拿去做有益的事。我不觉得“鱼油冰淇淋”或“鱼味冰淇淋”会卖得好，但是我想“必须冰淇淋”应该不错！有人要吃桂氏必需冰淇淋吗？

I usually think that everything in the body is superbly designed by an extremely crafty designer; the ancients like to say there is definitely harmony in the body; indeed, we find that every component in the body serves some kind of a function, including the commonly maligned fat. We should learn to not forget that, especially if that component can come from a wonderfully enjoyable taste. What was the name of that ice cream, again?

我常常思想我们身体的每一个部分都是由一位及其精湛的设计家所精心设计出来的。古早人常说身体是协调，平衡，及有规律的。的确，我们身体的每一个部位都各司其职，连普遍被丑化的脂肪也不例外。所以我们不要忘记这个原则，特别是那个部分是可以从美味食物里摄取的脂肪。还记得那个冰淇淋的名称吗？