For the Taiwanese chef Lanshu Chen, cooking is only part of the job. The chef, who worked at high-profile restaurants like the French Laundry in Napa Valley, owns Le Moût Restaurant in Taichung City, Taiwan, a member of the Relais & Châteaux group. In early March, Ms. Chen, 34, was in Carmel-by-the Sea, Calif., for Relais & Châteaux’s GourmetFest, featuring more than 20 well-known chefs.
对台湾大厨陈岚舒来说，烹饪只是工作的一部分。她曾在纳帕谷的French Laundry等著名餐馆工作，如今她在台湾台中市拥有自己的餐厅——Le Moût，它是罗兰夏朵酒店集团(Relais & Châteaux)的成员。3月初，34岁的陈岚淑来到加利福尼亚州卡梅尔，参加罗兰夏朵美食节(Relais & Châteaux’s GourmetFest)，有20多位知名大厨参与这次盛会。
Following are edited excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Chen.
下面的对话经过编辑和浓缩。

Q. How much are you on the road for work?
问：你经常出差吗？
A. I take a dozen or so trips a year, but they’re usually short — between two and three days — because I’m always in a rush to get back to cooking at Le Moût.
答：我一年旅行十几次，不过通常都很短，大概两三天，因为我总是急忙赶回Le Moût烹饪。
GourmetFest is one of many annual global food festivals. What do you think these festivals mean for both the participating chefs and attendees?
问：罗兰夏朵美食节是很多年度全球美食节之一。你觉得这些美食节对大厨和观众们来说有什么意义？
As a chef, it is truly enjoyable and inspiring to have a chance to exchange ideas and to celebrate with other chefs. And for the people who come to the festivals, you’re not limited to trying one style of cooking, and you get a sense of different chefs’ perceptions of foods and their personal cultures.
答：作为大厨，有机会和其他大厨交流、欢聚，真的让人感到愉快和振奋。参加美食节的观众不是只限于体验某种风格的食物，还可以感受到不同大厨对美食的理解和个体文化。
While female chefs like yourself have certainly become more visible in the food world in recent years, they still seem to lag behind their male counterparts. Why do you think that is?
问：近些年，像你这样的女大厨无疑在美食界变得越来越出名，不过，出名的女大厨似乎还是没有男大厨多。你觉得原因是什么？
I think it is simply because there haven’t been enough female chefs, which dates back to old societal norms of what roles are acceptable for women. But I do think that is slowly changing, and there are more of us committing ourselves professionally to this field.
答：我觉得这只是因为女大厨还不够多，这要追溯到社会对女性角色的传统规范。但我的确认为，情况在慢慢变化，越来越多的女人专心投身到这个职业领域。
You have international training, but you chose to go home to open your own restaurant in 2008. Why?
问：你接受过国际培训，但2008年你选择回故乡开设自己的餐馆。这是为什么？
I had been thinking about having my own place for a while and thought that Taiwan is where it should be because the concept of what I wanted to do — a fine-dining contemporary French spot with subtle Taiwanese influences — didn’t really exist in the country.
答：开餐馆之前，我有这个想法已经一段时间了。我觉得应该回台湾开餐馆，因为当时台湾没有我想开设的这种概念的餐馆——一个略受台湾影响的高档当代法式餐馆。
Is that how you would describe the food at Le Moût?
问：这是你对Le Moût餐馆的食物的概括吗？
Yes. It’s a balance of my roots and my training abroad, and I use a lot of local fruits and vegetables that are harder to find elsewhere. One example is turnips. I use preserved turnips, which are very salty, to add in a touch of saltiness into sauces, or I’ll make turnip carpaccio and serve it with an egg yolk.
答：是的。它是我的根源和我在国外接受的训练的结合。我选用很多本地果蔬，这些东西在别的地方比较难找。比如萝卜。我使用腌制芜菁，它非常咸，可以用来给酱增加一点点咸味，或者用它来做萝卜牛肉片，和蛋黄一起上桌。
When you travel, what kinds of culinary experiences do you look for, and what advice do you have for travelers who want to stay away from generic and touristy places on the road?
问：你旅行时想获得什么样的美食体验？对那些想远离拥挤的普通景点的游客，你有什么建议？
I like a mix of food experiences and encourage the same for anyone else. Visiting a new place is not just about dining at the big-name restaurants. I do that, of course, but I like to let the chefs of these fancier places show me their favorites in town. And I’m a fan of street food, especially in Asia where there is such a strong tradition of it, so I definitely get a taste of this side of a city as well.
答：我喜欢丰富多样的美食体验，也鼓励其他人这样做。到一个新地方，不只是要去著名餐馆用餐。我去著名餐馆用餐时，喜欢让那里的大厨们告诉我，他们最喜欢城里的哪些餐馆。我也很喜欢路边摊，特别是在亚洲，那里的路边摊传统悠久深厚，所以我肯定也会品尝一下城市的这一面。
What has been your most memorable meal so far?
问：到目前为止，你印象最深刻的大餐是什么？
The four-hour dinner I had three years ago at Ultraviolet in Shanghai, which is run by the French chef Paul Pairet. The restaurant hosts only 10 diners a night, and the meal engages all the senses. When I was served a dish with mushrooms and truffles, it came covered in a black lid and was emanating smoke, and the air smelled of soil and fog. Also, there are projectors which display images on the wall to correspond with the dishes you’re eating, and this one was of the forest. You literally felt like you were in the forest.
答：三年前在上海Ultraviolet餐馆的四小时长晚餐。那家餐厅是法国大厨保罗·派雷特(Paul Pairet)经营的，每晚只服务十位客人，那里的食物能刺激你的所有感官。有一道菜是蘑菇与松露，盖着黑色盖子，冒着烟，有点泥土和烟雾的味道。墙上有投影仪，展示的图片与你正在食用的食物相配。这道菜上来时，展示的图片是森林。你真的感觉瞬间置身森林。
As a chef, eating well must be a priority for you. Is there any food from home you make sure to take with you when you’re on the road?
问：作为大厨，对你来说，吃得好肯定是最重要的。有没有什么家乡食物是你出门在外一定要带的？
Tea is very important to me because it brings me calm and relaxation, so I always travel with loose black and oolong tea and enjoy it in my hotel room. If I have space, I even bring a teapot and cups.
答：茶对我来说非常重要，因为它能让我平静、放松，所以旅行时我总是带着散装红茶和乌龙茶，在酒店房间里享用。如果旅行箱里有地方，我甚至会带上茶壶和茶杯。