Chapter 1919 - Being A Chef Is Simply My Interest

Chaos City was a complex city, one that was unique.

The people that came from all the various races constructed this free and equal city under the restraints and guidance of a peculiar set of rules.

The Roth Empire was still continuing to consolidate its feudal dynasty with centralized power. The Wind Forest had lost its free soul, and the elves began to live like humans. The goblins had dug deep caves to prepare for the next racial war. The orc tribes were still keeping to their nomadic traditions. The demons had endless fights for territory. The giant dragons soared in the sky, but they still had the most severe racial suppression.

However, the Chaos City continued to open up and innovate, and it changed from a piece of barren land and a war criminals’ prison to a prospering city within 100 years.

Mylo and Garlan got up shortly after dawn. They put on their little bags, and walked on the streets of Chaos City. They looked at the breakfast shops that gradually opened up for business as steam rose up into the air, and saw the blissful smiles on the faces of those people who woke up early.

This was a lively city.

Such liveliness wasn’t commonly seen in Rodu.

Those people who lived at the bottom rungs of society would never have any changes in their lives no matter how hard they strived. One would not see the passion and anticipation for life on their faces.

Meanwhile in Chaos City, you could see the smiles on people’s faces everywhere.

Even if they were just buying a pancake that cost one copper coin at the roadside, they could make eating it seem so delicious.

The sense of blissfulness was perhaps the most attractive and mesmerizing side of this city.

“I used to think that there was no nice food in this city, so the people here had to be miserable. However, looking at it now, my thinking was narrow-minded.” Mylo laughed embarrassedly.

“Yes, if I hadn’t come here myself, I would have never expected this city would be so blissful.” Garlan nodded in agreement. “Furthermore, there is also a restaurant that all the chowhounds in this world envy and look forward to in this city now.”

“I am very curious about Mamy Restaurant’s breakfast now,” Mylo said with a smile. Today could be a very memorable day in his career. This was the first time that he was going to interview a restaurateur about the stories behind his dishes.

In the past, he usually made up dirty 10,000-word stories for those bosses himself.

Mylo and Garlan were already very early, but they didn’t expect some customers were already lining up at the door.

Apart from them, there were also some cleaners who were congregating at the door. They seemed to be waiting for their meals too.

“Did Mamy Restaurant lower its price for breakfast?” Mylo asked the customers lining up in front curiously.

That customer seemed to know what Mylo was thinking, and smilingly explained, “The price on the menu doesn’t change. Boss Mag has been providing breakfast for the cleaners for some time. He let them have a piping hot breakfast after working for a few hours.”

“Oh, I see. Boss Mag is really a good person.” Mylo nodded thoughtfully.

Given Mamy Restaurant’s high prices, providing breakfast for so many cleaners was a big expenditure. What was even more precious was how the preparation work that he had to do before opening for business definitely compressed his rest time.

Soon after, the restaurant’s door opened, and a female staff member carried a huge iron bucket out single-handedly. She began to distribute the congee with pork and century egg to the cleaners orderly.

The heat, together with the aroma of the congee with pork and century egg, spread everywhere.

“It smells so good.” Mylo’s Adam’s apple moved. He looked at the cleaners carrying big bowls of congee with pork and century egg, and mumbled, “I suddenly feel like being a cleaner.”

Garlan gave him a side-glance, and said, “They might not want you.”

Mylo ordered a bowl of congee with pork and century egg for breakfast and one set of youtiao and soybean milk following the advice of a customer sharing the table with him.

The congee with pork and century egg refreshed his image of congee. The century egg—which he didn’t know came from what animal—matched with the pork was actually so delicious. He felt his body warm up after eating a whole bowl of congee.

Meanwhile, the youtiao with soybean milk had subverted all his imagination about breakfast.

The crispy youtiao was so crunchy and aromatic in his mouth. It was better than any fried snacks. It even had a tinge of sweetness, and the more he chewed, the better it tasted.

He then took a sip of the sweet and tasty soybean milk. Its texture was smoother than cow’s milk, and a fragrance lingered in his mouth after he swallowed it.

Of course, this wasn’t the extreme way of eating it.

After soaking the cut youtiao in the soybean milk, he picked up the slightly softened youtiao with the chopsticks, and took a bite.

The soft yet chewy youtiao together with the aromatic sweetness of the soybean milk, be it in terms of texture or taste, were both elevated many times. It became a completely new food.

After drinking the last drop of soybean milk in the bowl, Mylo put down his chopsticks, and praised, “Boss Mag is really a genius to come up with such an exquisite combination.”

“I agree with you on that.” Garlan also put down his bowl while still longing for more.

“No wonder Randy and the others don’t want to leave here. It isn’t because they don’t have any pursuits or ambitions, but because they don’t want to leave after they come. It’s a paradise here.”

***

After the breakfast ended, Mylo and Garlan were received by Mag.

Mag poured a cup of tea for Mylo and Garlan each before he smilingly said, “Can this be considered as an interview?”

“Speaking of this, this is the first time that we are conducting an interview with a chef. If you have read our magazine before, you should know that our style concerning food is always a little severe and judgmental,” Garlan also said with a smile.

“So in this case, I should feel honored.”

“No, it’s our honor to be able to get Boss Mag to talk about the stories behind the scrumptious dishes. We’re bowled over by your exquisite culinary skills and innovative and unique thinking,” Garlan quickly added. He didn’t want to give Mag an arrogant impression.

Mag looked at Garlan and smiled. “Before we begin the interview today, can I presumptuously ask about your Perfect Food‘s influence? For example, the number of subscribers for the new edition?”

Garlan was a little surprised by Mag’s question, but he still quickly smiled, and replied, “Perfect Food is the leader of the gourmet magazines. After decades of development, it has become one of the most influential gourmet magazines on the Norland Continent. There are tens of thousands of copies issued every month, and hundreds of thousands of people were affected. It was approximately equal to 1,000,000 readers.

“Even Princess Vanessa of the Roth Empire is our magazine’s faithful reader. She even wrote me a letter before,” Mylo added with a smile.

Mag flicked a glance at Mylo, and mildly said, “She seems to read every gourmet magazine, and she will write to columnists, whom she deems to have a bread and butter issue, to encourage them to persevere.”

“…” Mylo.

Garlan’s gaze shifted all around as he tried very hard not to laugh out loud.

Vanessa said that herself. She had been doing that very frequently in the past few years. She would sometimes give these food critics some money to tide them over through difficult times.

In this world where there was a lack of entertainment, and information couldn’t be shared readily, it was already very good for a gourmet magazine to achieve this standard.

Mag knew that Garlan’s so-called 1,000,000 readers were an exaggeration. However, the sales of tens of thousands copies of magazines were true. This meant that as long as he accepted the interview, this interview would appear in the latest edition bought by those readers.

“What would you like to ask?” Mag poured himself a cup of tea too before leaning back against the chair comfortably.

“Then, can we begin from Mr. Mag’s learning journey? Mr. Mag, you have such extraordinary culinary skills at such a young age, and you continue to create so many delicious dishes. You must have come from a culinary family, and begun learning cooking when you were very young, right?” Garlan asked with a smile.

“No, it isn’t like that.” Mag shook his head, and mildly said, “Being a chef is simply my interest. I didn’t learn culinary skills from anybody, nor was I born in a culinary household. I felt that there was a need to elevate the culinary standard of this world a few months ago, so I opened this restaurant.”

“???” Garlan.

“???” Mylo.

The two of them looked at Mag with a meaningful gaze.

Wow, bro. You showed off so much that we don’t know how to continue with the conversation.

They thought that Boss Mag looked very easy-going, so the interview would be conducted in a very relaxed ambiance. They didn’t expect Boss Mag to show all his cards as soon as they sat down.

Mag looked at their expressions, and wondered a little. Did he make things sound too simple?

At the end of the day, Garlan was a professional chief editor. He swiftly realized the way that Mag talked would easily lead to explosive topics, so he continued by asking, “You said you wanted to elevate this world’s culinary standard. What do you mean by that?”

“By letting more people eat real delicious food, and not just make do with ordinary, normal food. By exposing those fake delicious foods and elevating the people’s connoisseurship towards good food. Perhaps, even letting everyone learn one or two dishes that they could cook by themselves.” Mag smiled. “That is my vision and my so-called elevating the culinary standard.”

Mylo’s mouth was slightly agape as he stared at Mag with shock and admiration. This was also what he was hoping for.

“This is really a great and beautiful vision,” Garlan praised sincerely. As a gourmand, he, too, hoped to see that happen one day.

“You have created so many special and delicious foods. Can we ask where you get your inspiration from? We have never heard of most of these foods before, and cannot even imagine they can be cooked in that manner. For example, the beggar’s chicken that is covered in the mud casing and the tofu pudding made from soya beans.”

Mag smiled, and said, “I am simply borrowing from my predecessors, and life is the source of all inspiration. What you don’t know or deem to be nonexistent is simply the limitations of your knowledge.”