From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

Some people from the Provincial Cooking Association saw Feng Zhengming mingling with representatives from cooking associations from all over the country.

Moreover, the representatives from culinary associations from various places were obviously having a very interesting chat with him.

This made several people from the Provincial Cooking Association look a little unhappy.

Especially now that Master Cui doesn’t care much about the affairs of the Provincial Cooking Association.

It was originally supposed to be managed by Vice President Li Zhifeng, and he should even have the opportunity to be promoted to president.

As a result, when Feng Zhengming was walking across Qi and Lu, a chef returned from the capital and was parachuted in as the acting president of the Provincial Cooking Association.

This person's name is Xu Deqing.

Before returning to Quancheng, Xu Deqing had been in Beijing and was the head chef of Qingyunlou, one of the eight famous restaurants in Beijing.

He was also a well-known Shandong cuisine chef in Beijing. At one time, he was almost always responsible for the grading examinations for Shandong cuisine chefs in Beijing.

The reason he came back to Quancheng this time was because the owner of Qingyunlou in Beijing had changed, so the head chef Xu Deqing was also replaced.

Xu Deqing was replaced as head chef, even though the new boss promised to continue to give him corresponding treatment.

He even got a salary increase.

But Xu Deqing still felt that he could not accept being inferior to others.

So he chose to leave Qingyun Tower.

Then he did not stay in the capital, but chose to return to Quancheng. He planned to take his savings of many years and return to Quancheng to open a big restaurant.

Xu Deqing has a great reputation in the capital, after all, he has been the head chef of Qingyunlou for many years.

He is also a very famous Shandong cuisine chef in Beijing.

Back in Quancheng, he was also quite high-profile.

I visited several master chefs in Quancheng, and also worked with the master chefs from several big restaurants such as Jufengde and Taifenglou.

Eventually, relying on his status as a Beijinger, he became the acting president of the Provincial Cooking Association.

Originally, there was no consensus within the Culinary Association on this matter.

The old masters were also somewhat worried about letting Xu Deqing be directly parachuted in as acting president.

I think Xu Deqing’s direct arrival might make chefs from Quancheng and Qilu feel somewhat dissatisfied.

But when Xu Deqing fought with several master chefs from Jufengde and Taifenglou, he almost always had the upper hand, which meant that no one dared to question his strength.

Li Zhifeng originally wanted to say that after Feng Zhengming came back, he would at least get Feng Zhengming's consent.

After all, Feng Zhengming is also one of the vice presidents of the Provincial Cooking Association.

However, Xu Deqing promoted himself very high-profile and opened his own Xu's Shandong cuisine restaurant.

As a result, he became quite famous in Quancheng.

Finally, he even used his connections in the capital to inform Quancheng.

This enabled him to successfully obtain the position of interim president of the Provincial Culinary Association.

If we talk about being dissatisfied, many people in the Quancheng chef industry are more or less dissatisfied.

After all, Xu Deqing had been in the capital for many years and had rarely returned to Qi and Lu.

Now that he is back, he is directly appointed as the president of the Provincial Cooking Association.

In the eyes of many people, this was clearly using the power of the capital to force everyone to nod and acknowledge him.

But even though he was unwilling to accept it, the master chefs in Quancheng were no match for him.

Moreover, Xu Deqing has mastered various Shandong cuisine techniques very well.

In addition, he has been communicating with various famous chefs in Beijing for a long time.

He incorporates elements from other cuisines, making his cooking very unique indeed.

So after his Xu's Shandong Cuisine Restaurant opened, it quickly became famous in Quancheng.

They have real skills, so even if they were parachuted in, it still took them two or three months to gain a foothold.

Originally, Xu Deqing planned to host the provincial young chef cooking exchange competition himself.

He wanted to use this major event in the province's culinary industry to once again demonstrate his strength.

In order to completely convince everyone and have the word "temporary" removed from his title of acting president.

But just when the province asked the Provincial Cooking Association to start preparing for the competition.

Feng Zhengming came back from outside.

As soon as he came back, he immediately became a favorite of provincial leaders.

Even if he did not visit the provincial leaders as soon as he returned.

The province still asked him to come up with a plan for the competition.

Xu Deqing suddenly realized that his position as acting president was really just acting.

As soon as Feng Zhengming came back, everyone immediately started to revolve around him.

This made Xu Deqing very unhappy.

Originally, he came to attend the seminar on the competition plan today, and wanted to take the opportunity to point out some shortcomings of Feng Zhengming's plan at the meeting to give Feng Zhengming a warning.

Unexpectedly, before the meeting even started, Feng Zhengming had already mingled with representatives from cooking associations from all over the country.

It seems that they are having quite a good conversation together.

Xu Deqing couldn't help but think: Feng Zhengming, relying on his status as the national number one scholar, is forming cliques and factions here. If he can't win over the people of Quancheng, he will try to win over the cooking associations in other places. His methods are really not smart at all.

Xu Deqing judged Feng Zhengming by his own experience and felt that Feng Zhengming was just like himself in the beginning, trying to win over some people.

What he didn't know was that Feng Zhengming had not taken the initiative to win over representatives from cooking associations from various places.

He just chatted with representatives of local cooking associations about their local specialties, unique delicacies and snacks, as well as their local cooking techniques.

Feng Zhengming had just walked across the entire Qi and Lu regions, so he had a basic understanding of each place.

He talked with representatives from culinary associations in various places, and even understood some things better than the representatives did.

As a result, representatives from cooking associations from all over the country suddenly felt that they really had a lot to talk about with Feng Zhengming.

I also felt that Feng Zhengming knew their different places very well.

There is no situation where some chefs from Quancheng look down on chefs from other places.

Therefore, the representatives of these local cooking associations naturally regarded Feng Zhengming as a close friend.

Considering that Feng Zhengming was the national top scholar, he is now also the vice president of the provincial cooking association.

Everyone naturally regards him as their superior and follows his lead.

Finally, after chatting for a while, the leaders arrived at the scene one after another.

As a result, even though the leader came in, Feng Zhengming and the others were still chatting happily and did not notice the leader coming in.

Seeing this, Xu Deqing thought this was a very good opportunity.

He immediately stood up and shouted, "What are you all doing there? Can't you see the leaders are here? Why don't you go back to your seats? What do you look like?" When the people surrounding Feng Zhengming heard Xu Deqing's words, they had no choice but to disperse.

At the same time, Feng Zhengming also saw Xu Deqing standing up and shouting.

He first stood up and apologized to the leaders who came in.

"I'm sorry, we were so engrossed in our conversation that we didn't notice the leaders coming in."

After apologizing, Feng Zhengming took the responsibility on himself.

"The responsibility is mine. I should have arranged with everyone to talk at another time, and should not have gathered them together for such a large-scale chat during the meeting."

The leaders looked at each other in confusion at first, and then all started laughing.

The leader who had been chatting with Feng Zhengming in Chen Zhiheng's office spoke first.

"What is our top scholar talking about with everyone? Can you tell us about it?"

Feng Zhengming did not hide anything and directly talked about the topic he had just discussed with representatives of cooking associations from various places.

"We were just talking about some local specialties. I think all places should retain their specialties' techniques and not change the cooking methods of some local dishes simply to cater to tourists from other places.

However, they should also make some adjustments in taste to make the taste more acceptable to more people, so as to attract some tourists from other places. "

After a pause, Feng Zhengming continued, "We also talked about the training of Shandong cuisine chefs. The local cooking associations are too loose in training now, and there is no very good unified training standard.

I told them that our provincial cooking association is not doing enough in this regard and should organize some opportunities for learning and exchange.

Allow personnel from cooking associations in various places, as well as some chefs who already have some skills, to come to Quancheng for some training and advanced learning as chefs.

Since the provincial cooking association is able to concentrate resources, it should also shoulder the responsibility of promoting the development of cooking associations in various places.”

Feng Zhengming shared what he talked about with representatives from cooking associations from various places.

Several leaders at the scene, including people from the Provincial Cooking Association and the Quancheng Cooking Association, nodded their heads frequently, thinking it made sense.

Even Xu Deqing wanted to argue a little, but he couldn't find any points to refute.

Feng Zhengming not only listens to questions raised by representatives of cooking associations from all over the country, he actually thinks about and solves some problems.

And some of his plans are obviously feasible.

The leaders looked at each other again.

Many people at the scene had already started whispering to each other, and everyone was discussing what Feng Zhengming said.

It really makes everyone feel that Feng Zhengming's plans are indeed worth promoting.

Finally, it was the provincial leader who spoke up: "It seems that our top scholar has indeed been trying to find ways to pass on and promote our Shandong cuisine. That's really great."

After praising him, the leader looked at Master Cui and asked, "Master Cui, do you think our top student is qualified to take over your position?"

Master Cui smiled and nodded: "Of course, he has already been qualified to be the president."

When Feng Zhengming heard this, he quickly refused.

"No, no, leader, I still think it's good for Master Cui to continue to be the president. I'm so young, it's still a little hard for me to convince everyone to be the president. Master Cui has been the president, and it's better for us, the vice presidents, to help him handle specific matters."

Master Cui stood up with a smile and said, "Zhengming, you don't have to be modest. The things you just said are things I haven't thought about in all these years. You have indeed opened up a new world for us.

Perhaps in the future, when your plan is implemented, our Shandong cuisine will be inherited and developed better.

All of this needs someone to push it forward, and only when you become the president can you push it forward better."

When Xu Deqing heard this, he felt really uncomfortable.

He never thought that Feng Zhengming only proposed some plans.

He is surprisingly considered by everyone to be the best candidate to be the president of the Provincial Cooking Association.

This was simply unacceptable to Xu Deqing.

He came back from the capital and brought some better things back to Quancheng. Shouldn't I be the one with the qualifications to become the president of the Cooking Association?

Feng Zhengming is the top scholar in the country, but he is so young, can he really understand many things?
Why can he directly become the president of the Culinary Association?

Xu Deqing really wanted to stand up and question.

But thinking about the leaders being there, and Master Cui personally nominating Feng Zhengming.

Xu Deqing suddenly became timid again.

After Feng Zhengming repeatedly declined, he was finally announced as the president of the Provincial Cooking Association.

Of course, to be officially appointed, one needs to be elected by the Culinary Association.

In particular, it also requires internal discussions within the Culinary Association and the approval of the majority of the Culinary Association members.

This made Xu Deqing feel that perhaps he should still have a chance to make some plans.

But then, Xu Deqing saw representatives from cooking associations from all over the country congratulating Feng Zhengming.

People from the Provincial Cooking Association and the Quancheng Cooking Association also congratulated Feng Zhengming.

Xu Deqing knew that he probably had no chance.

After all, it was the provincial leader who personally named him.

Xu Deqing felt that even if he could contact his friends in Beijing.

Maybe in the end, nothing will change.

After all the congratulations, everyone finally sat down and began to discuss the provincial youth chef cooking exchange competition.

Everyone still agreed with Feng Zhengming's plan, but everyone had different opinions on the specific details.

At this time, Xu Deqing finally got the chance to speak.

He asked directly: "Mr. Feng, your plan calls for a three-dish audition. Don't you think three dishes is a bit too much? Generally speaking, one dish is enough to show how good a chef is."

Feng Zhengming already knew who the other party was and had also heard some people introduce Xu Deqing.

So Feng Zhengming gave his answer very calmly.

"President Xu, one dish is indeed enough to show a chef's skills, but are the young chefs participating in the provincial cooking exchange competition the kind of beginners who only know the basics of cooking?"

Without waiting for the other party to answer, Feng Zhengming continued speaking by asking and answering his own questions.

"I don't think so, right? Since they are not beginners, the young chefs should have good skills, so they have the confidence to participate in the competition.

At this time, wouldn’t it be unfair to everyone if we only use one dish to test it?
After all, every chef may be good at one or two dishes. If they only cook their specialties, how can we tell the good from the bad? "

Feng Zhengming first asked a question in the opposite direction, which stumped Xu Deqing.

He gave his answer: “So I think that giving each young chef the opportunity to prepare three dishes can also test their knife skills, fire skills and overall cooking skills.

Perhaps it does make the review more difficult for the judges, but shouldn’t we try our best to ensure fairness?
We would rather have to work harder as judges, but we must make the competition as fair as possible to every young chef.”

Feng Zhengming's words were recognized by almost everyone present.

Everyone also feels that the provincial youth chef cooking exchange competition is designed to allow young chefs to showcase themselves, so young chefs should be given enough opportunities to showcase themselves.

This issue was raised, but was resolved by Feng Zhengming.

Xu Deqing could only keep silent. (End of this chapter)