Chapter 410 - 161: Reluctantly Stepping In to Help Out

Chapter 410: Chapter 161: Reluctantly Stepping In to Help Out

The World Culinary Competition!

The competition was named after the famous French chef Bocuse and has been held since ’87. It’s even known as the Oscars of the culinary world!

The preliminary rounds are first held in over a hundred countries around the world, with the final 24 countries advancing. The location of the grand finals changes every year, and this year’s competition is set to take place in Malaysia.

Su Chen continued reading the competition rules.

In the finals, the judging committee announces the theme and the ingredients they will provide to the contestants one week in advance.

Competitors must use the ingredients provided by the organizing committee to create dishes that fit the competition’s theme.

"These rules don’t seem that difficult..."

Hearing Su Chen’s muttering, Zhang Heping, who was sitting next to him, leaned over. "They’re not difficult, but at the same time, they’re extremely difficult."

"Oh?"

Zhang Heping explained, "It’s because this kind of Western-centric cooking competition is distinctly different from our country’s traditional dishes, which emphasize techniques like pan-frying, stir-frying, boiling, blasting, knife work, and a balance of color, aroma, and flavor. To place in a competition like this, you have to cater to the organizers."

After a pause, Zhang Heping felt his explanation wasn’t clear enough. "It’s like how movies from our country have to film some of our less-than-perfect aspects if they want to win awards abroad. It’s basically the same idea."

Su Chen nodded. He understood that analogy.

Globally speaking, Huaxia’s cuisine is in a league of its own.

Using different cooking methods on the same ingredient can produce dishes with completely different textures and flavors.

The pairing of ingredients is also a brilliant art form in Huaxia’s cuisine.

"Unfortunately, I don’t know much about Western food." Su Chen shook his head and closed his eyes, preparing to take a short nap.

Back when he was a streamer, the restaurants he reviewed were mainly domestic ones.

To quote one of his predecessors: Huaxia has so many delicacies that a person could spend their entire life trying them all and still not succeed. Where would they find the time to taste and study foreign cuisines?

Of course... Su Chen wasn’t that radically-minded.

He was willing to admit that there were some top-tier cuisines abroad, like the globally popular French and Italian food.

If something is accepted and loved by the majority, it must have its own unique merits. Blindly negating others while elevating oneself just comes off as arrogant.

Meanwhile, as the plane flew toward Malaysia, the chubby Liu Ahbao was wracked with anxiety.

"Master, this theme is just straight-up bullying us! I really can’t do it..."

The grizzled face of Lu Yongliang was on Ah Bao’s phone screen.

"What’s there to be afraid of! Just cook according to our Hubei Cuisine! This is Hubei Cuisine’s chance to go global! It’s fine. Losing isn’t scary. What’s scary is retreating without a fight!"

Liu Ahbao clutched his head. "That’s not it, Master. The first theme is ’Desserts and Creativity’! The ingredient they’ve given us is eggs. Does Hubei Cuisine even have any desserts?"

Lu Yongliang thought for a moment. "Crystal Balls, ’Rivaling Walnuts’, Honey-Glazed Sweet Lotus Root... those are all desserts! Just make them and you’ll be set!"

Ah Bao sighed. After a bit more small talk with his master, he ended the video call.

The dishes Lu Yongliang mentioned could be considered sweet dishes in Hubei Cuisine at best, but they were still a far cry from actual desserts.

The key was, there was nothing creative about making these things...

With the competition drawing near, Ah Bao’s mind went blank. He buried his head in his quilt.

’Damn it, making it to the finals was a fluke anyway. It’s not embarrassing if I don’t place, right?!’

’Shit!’

This was a fairly standard ingredient, and a fairly standard theme.

Ah Bao remembered that in last year’s grand finals, the organizing committee’s theme was "Platter," and the ingredient was cucumber.

A cucumber platter, you could have some fun with that. But desserts and eggs—and it had to be a *creative* dessert, at that!

Simply put, if a contestant presented a relatively common dessert, they wouldn’t get any points for creativity.

’Boss, please get here soon... Save me!’

Ah Bao took three admission tickets out of his backpack. "I hope the boss doesn’t chew me out when he finds out..."

In the preliminaries, the contestants competed by themselves.

But in the finals, due to the special nature of the competition, contestants could choose three assistants to help them cook.

After all, a single dish could often take seven or eight hours to prepare. Such a long time required immense energy from the chef, and it would be difficult to complete two consecutive rounds of competition by oneself.

Tossing and turning, Ah Bao couldn’t fall asleep.

He finally crawled out of bed, grabbed his tablet, and started browsing the internet, hoping to find some inspiration.

"Damn it, these judges are so biased toward Western food!"

After watching videos from several past grand finals, Ah Bao noticed a common theme.

Almost every year, a contestant from Huaxia made it to the grand finals. But during the competition, because the characteristics of Chinese cuisine were too distinct, the strengths of a dish in the eyes of their own people could even become weaknesses in the eyes of those judges!

Take the grand finals from five years ago, for example.

In the second round, the organizing committee’s theme was "Children’s Healthy Eating."

The ingredient they provided was pumpkin!

That year’s champion, a contestant from Denmark, incorporated Danish fairy tales into his creation. He used pumpkin paired with royal forest mushrooms to create props from a fairy tale, and its unique flavor, which balanced nutrition and health, earned him a very high score.