The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World-Chapter 104 - 103: Nitpicking for Nothing

The female streamer fixed her gaze on the whiteboard held by the director and immediately had an idea in mind.

Since the dish looks fine and tastes great, she had to think outside the box and find another topic.

Food pairing myths, great!

People nowadays are very health-conscious!

They pay extra attention to issues related to food safety!

She had previously done two live streams on similar topics, both of which received good feedback.

With this angle, once the live stream was over, she wouldn’t have to worry about editing a catchy topic in post-production.

The female streamer smiled broadly and said to the camera, "Overall, whether it’s the appearance or taste, all dishes at Qianlima Restaurant are quite authentic and delicious, so fans who are interested are welcome to come and try."

Then she changed her tone: "However, there’s one thing—though the food is delicious, each ingredient has its unique properties. So when inappropriate ingredients are paired together, the benefits might turn into adverse effects, which is what we call food pairing myths..."

The female streamer pointed to the lemon crab claws in front of her: "Take this dish for example, combining seafood with vitamin C might lead to poisoning..."

...

Fu Yu wasn’t aware of what was happening in the private room.

Zhao Meng had been in the restroom for a long time and wasn’t feeling well, making his temper even more irritable.

As soon as he returned, Sun Qingning rushed to report: "Chef Zhao! Chef Fu just took an order!"

Zhao Meng didn’t think much of it: "How many dishes?"

Fu Yu quickly intercepted the topic: "Four dishes, they’ve all been served."

Zhao Meng nodded, wanting to take advantage of the current slow period to go over to the pasta corner and get some authentic wild honey.

Sun Qingning got anxious and blocked Zhao Meng: "Chef Zhao, the customer who ordered is the same group that came to the store last time to discuss cooperation with the manager; they’re that influencer who does restaurant visits!"

Zhao Meng paused: "What?"

The most well-informed places in the restaurant are the finance office and the kitchen.

Zhao Meng had heard about the previous incident and had privately made some mocking comments before.

He didn’t expect this group to make a return visit.

Zhao Meng turned and asked Fu Yu: "What’s going on?"

Fu Yu truthfully recounted the situation.

The dishes had already been served.

The customers hadn’t made any moves yet.

As a chef, he had done everything he could and should do.

Even though Sun Qingning said the other party was there to find fault, and indeed they seemed like it, Fu Yu still accepted the order normally.

From a reasonable standpoint, there was nothing wrong with what he did!

However... 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Zhao Meng frowned: "What dishes did they order?"

Fu Yu listed the dishes.

Zhao Meng’s frown eased slightly.

They were all specialty dishes of the restaurant, and since Fu Yu had made them, there should be no issue.

Sun Qingning added: "This group specializes in real restaurant reviews. They go everywhere to eat and then rate the restaurants. I heard they always manage to find something wrong!"

Hearing this, Zhao Meng frowned more deeply, and after some thought, he said: "Let’s wait and see. If they’re not here to make trouble, we shouldn’t overreact. Maybe they’re just doing a regular review. If they’re really here to stir things up, we’ll deal with it then."

Zhao Meng had a lot of confidence in the restaurant’s ingredients.

There was no problem with the ingredients, the service was always attentive, and Fu Yu’s cooking techniques were stable now.

The four dishes weren’t difficult to prepare.

Even if someone wanted to nitpick, they’d probably find no point of entry.

Zhao Meng waved his hand: "Alright, get back to whatever you should be doing."

But having been interrupted like this, he didn’t dare to leave for now. The honey would have to wait until the evening.

A little later, Wang Yuxuan came running over hurriedly, and upon seeing Zhao Meng had also returned, quickly reported: "That group of reviewers is saying the food we cooked is ’poison like arsenic’!"

Zhao Meng was stunned: "What’s being shown off?"

Wang Yuxuan mimicked the female streamer’s talk about combining seafood with vitamin C.

Zhao Meng frowned: "That’s just nonsense to scare people! Who doesn’t use a bit of lemon juice to enhance the flavor of seafood? If that’s the case, every customer in the store would be poisoned already!"

Sun Qingning chimed in: "But that statement isn’t wrong; seafood really shouldn’t be eaten with vitamin C, those two do clash."

Wang Yuxuan agreed: "Right, I heard about this before; at home, my mom never lets me eat fruit after having seafood."

Zhao Meng was puzzled: "I know about that too, but that’s how the dish is made. If you don’t put lemon, can you still call it lemon crab claws?"

Listening to their discussion, Fu Yu felt somewhat relieved.

They were indeed aiming their criticisms at the words spoken, unable to find fault with the food itself, but choosing to bring up the topic of food pairing myths instead.

Now, Fu Yu was already confident that there was nothing wrong with the dishes he served.

As for food pairing myths, that’s just something people say without substantial evidence.

If it had been before, he would have also thought seafood shouldn’t be eaten with vitamin C, but now...

Ever since flipping through the food pairing myths guide.

He only believes in one saying: focusing too much on food pairing myths can affect dietary diversity, and the myths are baseless.

Sun Qingning still had some concern: "But if they spread it like that, won’t it affect our restaurant?"

Fu Yu replied: "It won’t. Once the truth about seafood being paired with lemon is known, it’s not just us. Besides, pairing seafood with vitamin C doesn’t cause poisoning; in fact, they’re a perfect match."

Sun Qingning rebutted: "A perfect match? Haven’t you heard that eating seafood with vitamin C is equivalent to eating arsenic?"

Fu Yu seriously explained: "I know, you say that eating seafood with lemon or other vitamin C-rich foods is equivalent to arsenic. The reason is that shellfish like shrimp contain high concentrations of arsenic compounds, which react with the reducing agent vitamin C to become the toxic trivalent arsenic, commonly known as arsenic."

"But in reality, the arsenic level in seafood is low, less than 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of seafood, and it takes tens of milligrams of arsenic to cause poisoning, meaning you’d have to eat several kilograms of seafood with a lot of fruits and vegetables, and a 100% reaction would have to occur in the body to produce arsenic."

"In fact, seafood coupled with vitamin C not only does not lead to poisoning but is actually a perfect match. When cooking seafood like fish, shrimp, and crab, incomplete sterilization can lead to food poisoning, while lemon contains citric acid and other organic acids, providing a certain antibacterial effect."

Sun Qingning: "..."

Zhao Meng: "..."

Whoa!

So many professional terms!

Didn’t understand a word he said!

He was unknowingly showing off!

Wang Yuxuan: "..."

Wow!

Is Chef Fu actually so knowledgeable and talented?

So cool!

[Ding! Favorability from NPC Chef Zhao Meng -5]

[Ding! Favorability from NPC Assistant Sun Qingning -5]

[Ding! Favorability from NPC Delivery Worker Wang Yuxuan +5]

Fu Yu: "!"

Perhaps in dealing with others, he’s still not low-key enough.

Oh well, better make a note for next time.