You’ve already had dinner, and you’re fully aware that after-hours eating is probably not a smart choice. Yet you feel urged, even obliged, to say to your friend at 10pm-ish, “Let’s go get something to eat!”

虽然已经吃过晚饭，也明白过了饭点加餐不是个好主意，然而到了晚上十点多，你还是会迫切渴望，甚至觉得必须得叫上你的朋友：“走，咱们吃点儿什么去！”

In China, summer is the season of late-night snacks, or yexiao, with all kinds of barbecue – seafood, chicken wings and stinky tofu – and spicy *crayfish dominating the menu.

在中国，夏天的夜晚最适合吃小吃和夜宵了，各式各样的烧烤——海鲜、鸡翅、臭豆腐、麻辣小龙虾都成了夏日主打菜。

It’s not fine dining – most of the food is high in fat, and some of the restaurants have dubious hygiene, but that doesn’t stop customers from chowing down.

这样的夜宵算不上精致，多数夜宵都是含高脂肪的食物，有些餐馆还存在卫生问题，不过这些都阻挡不了食客们大快朵颐。

“When it’s late, you don’t want to think. You just want to *gorge,” Roy Choi, a Los Angeles-based chef, told Cosmopolitan. Choi is a passionate defender of *indulging late-night *cravings. “You feel terrible, you would never do it in your right mind, but you did it. That’s what’s awesome.”

“到了大半夜，你就啥也不想考虑了，只想狼吞虎咽大吃一顿。” 洛杉矶厨师罗伊•崔接受《时尚•COSMOPOLITAN》杂志采访时表示。罗伊是个支持“享受夜生活”的激进派。“你觉得糟透了，因为如果你用正常的思维想想，就绝不会这样纵容自己。但这正是让你觉得最棒的地方。”

A social experience

一次社交体验

Apart from *sating your appetite for food, late-night snacks in China are also about socializing and relaxing.

除了用食物来满足自己，中国人吃夜宵也是一种社交和放松方式。

“Yexiao should be eaten outside rather than cooked at home,” Qian Maojia, a 31-year-old white-collar worker, told Shanghai Daily. “I feel so relaxed going outside late at night in the summer, in a casual T-shirt, shorts and slippers. It has become a habit of mine, and I believe many people around me in this city spend great summer nights this way.”

“夜宵一定要在外面吃，而不是在家里做。” 31岁的白领钱毛佳（音译）告诉《上海日报》，“我觉得夏天晚上穿着普通T恤、短裤、凉拖出去，简直太放松了。这已经成了我的一种习惯，而且我相信身边的很多人都用这种方式来消暑。”

This *impulse is shared by other places around the world. Night markets are popular in many Asian countries such as South Korea and Thailand. In Western countries, shopping malls close early, often before 6 pm, but restaurants and bars stay open until late to serve those who want to have some midnight *munchies or simply hang out with friends.

其实，世界其他地方的人们也有这样的冲动。夜市在韩国、泰国等很多亚洲国家都很流行。在西方国家，商场很早（一般6点前）就关门了。而餐厅和酒吧通常会营业到很晚，为那些想要吃点夜宵、或者单纯想跟朋友小聚的人提供服务。

Take Spain as an example: People there don’t have yexiao, but they traditionally have a very late dinner, usually between 9 pm and midnight, which can be interpreted as a combination of dinner and yexiao. Instead of having a big *feast like Chinese people do, Spanish people like to have a lighter dinner. It often includes a small portion of fish, roast chicken or lamb, a salad and white rice.

以西班牙为例：在那里人们通常不吃夜宵，不过他们的传统就是非常晚才会吃晚餐，一般在晚九点到午夜之间，类似晚餐与夜宵的结合。不像中国人晚上吃大餐，西班牙人则喜欢吃得比较简单。通常包括一小块鱼肉、烤鸡或烤羊肉，一份沙拉和一份白米饭。

But no matter where you’re from and what you eat, night-owl cravings are real. “You have a different appetite,” Roy said in his interview with Cosmopolitan. “It’s a more *animalistic, *instinctive appetite.”

不过，无论你来自哪里，吃什么，夜猫子的热忱是真实存在的。“你的胃口和别人不同，”罗伊在《时尚•COSMOPOLITAN》杂志的采访中说，“这更像是一种动物似的、本能的食欲。”