flstandardbreds Chapter 139 A Culinary Contest Among Acquaintances – This Round is a Sure Win!
Chapter 139 A Culinary Contest Among Acquaintances – This Round is a Sure Win!
The theme of this culinary competition is—
"Complete as many meals as possible within half an hour, and the winners of this competition will be selected by a joint vote of authoritative figures and the public present."
"Furthermore, the prizes for this culinary competition are very generous. The top three winners will receive a prize from the organizer, and the other participants will also receive a piece of kitchenware funded by the organizer as a bonus."
Upon hearing that there was a reward to be won, the money-grubbing Bai Mengran immediately perked up her ears. Although she was relatively far back in the queue, she still stood on tiptoe and listened intently!
"The winners of this competition will receive a prize of ten taels of silver for the first prize, five taels for the second prize, and one tael for the third prize, and will be awarded the title of 'Master of Gourmet Food' and a certificate."
Upon hearing the amount of the prize money, Bai Mengran became even more enthusiastic.
Ten taels of silver, that's a very high reward!
Finally, it was her turn. The registration book required writing down the participant's name, as well as whether they represented a shop or were participating as an individual.
Bai Mengran knew calligraphy, so she borrowed a brush from the old man who wrote for her and wrote the words "Bai Mengran" and "Fairyland" herself. After paying one hundred coins, she was considered to have registered.
The central space of the archway square is extremely large, so each contestant's booth is divided into sufficiently large areas.
There is a space of about three meters square where each participant can play freely, and there is no interference between them.
The competition doesn't have strict requirements for ingredients and cooking utensils. Any non-finished ingredients and cooking utensils can be prepared in advance and brought into the venue...
Since Bai Mengran brought a food cart, she naturally intended to make a name for herself with instant noodles.
But her food cart is really too big, how is she going to get in...?
She glanced at the seating arrangement and noticed that the back of the last row was empty, but no one was paying attention to it because it was far from the front row of judges' seats.
After all, everyone wants to make a good impression on the judges, and the aroma wafting out during cooking might even earn them points, so contestants try their best to get a good spot early on.
Only Bai Mengran walked straight to the back. She surveyed the space and deliberately chose a spot on the side of the back.
At this point, she tagged Xiao Wu in the employee backend, asking him to sign up and participate as well, and then drove the food truck to the very back of the square where she was.
Xiao Wu readily complied and quickly registered. He then drove the food cart around to the empty seat behind Bai Mengran.
Following her instructions, the food cart was parked between the two contestant seats on the left side of the last row, with the entire length of the cart just covering the seats for two people.
Bai Mengran explained the situation to the supervisors on site, stating that her own kitchen utensils, tableware, and ingredients were all on the food truck, and she did not need to use the tools provided on site.
Xiao Wu also said that she was her kitchen helper and was willing to give up her seat to share.
The junior inspector in charge of patrolling the area was completely bewildered by this situation; he had never encountered such a bizarre competition method before…
But then he thought about it again. The county magistrate had said earlier that there weren't enough participants this time, and it was unlikely that the expected number of one hundred would be reached. He had told him to relax the requirements as much as possible and accept as many as possible...
So, he agreed to Bai Mengran's strange request.
After checking that there were no problems with the ingredients in the food truck, except for the buckets of unopened... uh, I don't know what they are... which is what the contestants said the ingredients were, the official let them pass.
However, he couldn't help but look back every few steps, thinking to himself, "What's with this food truck? It's really beyond my comprehension, but it looks incredibly beautiful..."
In this competition, everyone learned that several big restaurants had invited their top chefs to compete, hoping to crush their peers and make their restaurants famous.
This resulted in relatively low participation from the general public in this culinary competition...
Everyone knows their own limitations. No matter how good your cooking skills are, you can't compare to a professional chef in a restaurant.
Wouldn't that mean the 100-coin registration fee would be wasted? So only a small number of amateur chefs participated, hoping to hone their culinary skills and focusing on participation.
The contestants were almost all men, with only a handful of female cooks, which shows that men are still the majority of chefs in restaurants and similar establishments.
Just before the competition began, the judging panel members entered the venue and took their seats in the front row.
At this point, only about 70% of the seats were filled, with the back rows almost entirely empty.
The moment they took their seats, almost every professional on the judging panel immediately noticed the rather eye-catching double-decker dining car standing at the very back.
Bai Mengran was also standing in front of the food cart when she immediately spotted some familiar faces on the judging panel...
Wow, there's more than one person...
Looks like this is a gathering of acquaintances!
Among the ten professionals on the food tasting panel, Bai Mengran recognized County Magistrate Shen and Master He.
One of them represented the government, and the other was the richest man in the area; both were invited to be judges at the event.
Besides them, the invitation also included local gentry who had resigned from their official posts, such as Liu Shangshan and Qiu Deguang, as well as wealthy merchants, food officials, and famous chefs with considerable culinary expertise.
Bai Mengran recognized two of the ten judges.
Three of them had tasted the delicacies of [Fairyland], but Bai Mengran did not know them and was unaware that one of them was a regular customer of [Fairyland].
So Bai Mengran smiled and nodded to the two judges she knew to say hello.
However, Liu Songyuan, Qiu Deguang, and others, who were also sitting on the judging panel, saw the sign for "Fairyland" and then noticed that the head chef representing Fairyland was nodding and greeting them. They then nodded back in a friendly manner...
This led to Bai Mengran's polite nod unexpectedly being met with a chorus of nods from half of the judges...
Especially Liu Songyuan, who can now be considered a long-time fan of [Fairyland].
He went there at least twice a day, curious about which master chef had created the food that surpassed even the imperial chefs in the palace…
He was incredibly excited to finally see her!
There was even a feeling of an old fan finally getting to see their beloved young idol, an urge to scream out loud...
At this point, all participants in this culinary competition are ready, and all the necessary ingredients have been prepared in advance.
The crowd of onlookers almost filled the entire perimeter of the venue.
The main thing is that this time, not only can we watch the excitement, but we can also participate!
You can not only taste the delicious food made by these chefs, but also cast your own vote to determine their final ranking.
So, although the number of participants in this competition did not meet expectations, the number of onlookers was unprecedented.
Finally, after the master of ceremonies briefly read out the theme and rules of the competition once again, the drums and gongs sounded, and the food competition officially began!