I went to a trade show this week in Stuttgart. The show itself was fine - I got some information, met some people, the typical things you do at a trade show.
But I couldn’t get anything decent to eat. The choices were hamburger patty (pork and beef mixed), sausage, french fries and ham sandwiches. I took hamburger and fries (for 12 Euros!) and spent the rest of the day burping.
As I sat in the bistro eating, I observed 2 business men from Iran walk in, look at the menu board and walk right back out. Every menu item had pork in it. The two guys from Malaysia ended up ordering just french fries and cola.
I asked the Malaysians if they were going to visit other places in Germany. No, they had come only for the trade show. They had stayed in the hotel next door, had visited the show all three days and were flying back to KL that night.
I hope they found more to eat than just french fries.
Now, I don’t expect fast food to be fine cuisine, but you need to offer people a few choices, especially at international trade shows. You don’t need to be an expert in intercultural relationships to realize that people in different countries have different diets.
译文:
国际美食?[跨国贸易| 全球化商业]
这星期我到斯图加特参加了一个贸易会展。这个会展本身是不错的——我获得了一些信息，遇到了一些友人。通常在一个会展上也就做这些事。
可我就是没吃到什么好的。会展上只有汉堡包（猪肉和牛肉馅的），香肠，炸薯条和火腿三明治可选。我买了汉堡包和炸薯条（花了我12欧元哪！），用它们塞满了我的胃，害得我之后一直打饱嗝。
坐在酒馆吃我的汉堡包和炸薯条的时候，我注意到两个伊朗商人进来看看菜单后，就转身径直离开了。菜单里每一样都含有猪肉。两个马来西亚人最后无奈点了炸薯条和可乐。
我问那两个马来西亚人是不是还要参观德国的其他地方。两人摇头说，他们就是来参加这个贸易会展的。他们住在隔壁的宾馆，来参观这个会展已经整整三天了，当晚就要飞回吉隆坡。
我希望他们能多找到点食物，不要再只吃炸薯条了。
我并不期待快餐有多美味，可主办方总该给我们这些参加者一些选择，特别是在这种国际性的贸易会展上。不同国家的人有不同的饮食要求习惯，当然了，主办方在跨文化这点上就无须面面俱到，考虑细致了。