Daddy! Come Home for Dinner!-Chapter 627: Completely Insincere

Ye Fei blushed and nodded shyly.

After all, there were so many people present.

Besides, Zhao Gushen had a special identity; he was the top boss of this competition.

It was better to avoid any suspicion.

Since it was already public, Zhao Gushen had no intention to avoid anything.

What was the point of going public if they couldn’t openly show their affection?

Zhao Gushen had been holding back too much before, so now he was a bit wild after going public.

"Xiao Fei, Dad and I are leaving now." Xiao Mo waved to Ye Fei, "Good luck with the competition."

Ye Fei smiled and nodded.

After Zhao Gushen left, Lu Chenghong and the five judges also left.

The remaining contestants waited in the holding area.

When it was nearly time for the competition to begin, everyone went on stage.

Guo Wenbo first said, "Before the official start of the competition, there’s a message to announce to everyone."

"The International Cooking Competition, held once every four years, is about to begin. The competition is a rare opportunity."

"As everyone knows, the competition selects ten participants, all chosen from the Changping Cooking Competition."

The Changping Cooking Competition was not the same contest that Ye Fei was currently participating in.

Ye Fei was actually in the Changping Youth Cooking Competition, abbreviated as the Changping Cooking Competition.

In reality, the true Changping Cooking Competition had no age restriction.

The participating chefs had a wider range, meaning more advanced chefs, making the competition tougher.

"But this time, there’s a small change in the International Cooking Competition. To provide more opportunities for young chefs, this competition requires all participants to be under 30 years old."

"Thus, the champion of this competition will earn one spot directly, not needing to compete for a slot. The remaining nine spots will be contested within Changping Academy."

"Additionally, this time the International Cooking Competition has added a defending champion category. The venues in each country will have ten additional candidates. These ten candidates are considered alternates, remaining in their home country’s venues."

"In the first selection phase, the official contestants from each country will be randomly selected to face off against some other countries. The exact number is still undecided. Once selected, contestants will compete in these countries’ knockout rounds."

"Winning increases points, losing deducts points. The final ranking is based on total points for advancement and elimination. Among the ten defending contestants, five will be selected from our contestants this time."

"The first-place winner will automatically get a spot as an official contestant in the International Cooking Competition, while the second to sixth places will be given defending contestant spots. Moreover, a defending contestant can challenge an official contestant. Winning would move them to the official contestant group, while the losing official contestant moves to the defending group."

"In summary, the top six contestants from our competition can join the International Cooking Competition. So, please do your best."

"That concludes the announcements before the competition. Now I’ll announce the rules and topic for this match. Today’s topic is, ’Not Meat, But Meat-like.’

"As people’s living standards rise, more young people focus on nutrition and health. Many young folks choose vegetarian food to slim down, eat light meals for health, or choose vegetarianism because of faith."

"Nowadays, vegetarian restaurants are becoming more and more popular. Like the famous vegetarian restaurant under Changping’s umbrella, Xianzai Restaurant, which leads the vegetarian dining scene nationwide with its menu of meat-simulated dishes."

"The inspiration for this approach came from considering the many people new to vegetarianism who aren’t quite used to it and miss the taste of meat. Many diners are curious and want to try vegetarian cooking."

"Yet, pure vegetarian dishes can be too bland to satisfy most regular diners. Most curious diners are accustomed to eating meat, and when they first try vegetarian dishes, they find it tasteless."

"Therefore, the head chef of Xianzai Restaurant developed recipes using vegetarian ingredients to create flavors similar to meat, imitating and recreating the taste and aroma of meat as much as possible."

"That’s the task for today. Your dishes should make us feel like we’re eating meat upon seeing and tasting them."

"Today’s competition lasts for one and a half hours," Guo Wenbo said. "Let the competition officially begin."

There had been no prior notice.

No one knew what the competition topic would be.

Now hearing Guo Wenbo announce the topic, everyone’s mind went blank.

Even Tian Pengpo and the students from Changping Academy didn’t expect it.

Although Changping Academy taught comprehensive and broad cooking skills,

most of what they usually cooked was still meat dishes.

Some people did delve into vegetarian cooking, but that was more out of interest.

Even they rarely studied this.

Even Ye Fei seldom explored this.

Not even when she used to prepare fat-reducing meals for dieting girls.

Those meals weren’t entirely meat-free either.

The key issue was that this competition required not just making vegetarian dishes,

but making vegetarian dishes mimic the effect of meat dishes.

Ye Fei stood at her cooking station, closing her eyes to think.

She tried to ignore the distracting sounds from the arena and the audience.

"Why is this competition so hard?" an elderly lady protested, "If you want to eat vegetarian, eat vegetarian. Why must it taste like meat? It’s making things difficult!"

"If you want to eat meat, just eat meat. Why pretend to eat vegetarian? If you’re eating vegetarian, be sincere and enjoy the vegetarian taste, don’t demand a meat flavor."

"Wanting both vegetarian food and a meat flavor is not sincere!" the elderly lady said unhappily.

"Mom is right!" Chi Jingsi firmly supported all of the elderly lady’s opinions.

"Yes, your grandma and your mom are both correct!" Zhao Dinghuan added.

Zhao Gushen: "..."

"Dad, Dad, who came up with this topic?" Xiao Mo tugged on Zhao Gushen’s jacket and asked.

Isn’t this just being redundant?

Great-grandma makes a lot of sense.

If you want to eat meat, just eat meat!

Why awkwardly learn to eat vegetarian?

Across the aisle, in the competition organizer’s section, was Manager Zhu, responsible for planning.

"Achoo!" Manager Zhu suddenly sneezed.