From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After the formal dinner portion of the return state banquet ended, Feng Zhengming and his entourage were received in the kitchen.

Everyone praised the chefs they selected from all over the country.

The new chief of the port city shook Feng Zhengming's hand and praised him for a long time.

Finally, he invited Feng Zhengming to visit Hong Kong City when he had time.

"Feng Zhuangyuan, we in Gangcheng sincerely welcome you. We hope you can go to Gangcheng and show your superb cooking skills to Gangcheng, and of course, have a good exchange with the famous chefs in Gangcheng."

Other people in Hong Kong also welcomed Feng Zhengming.

Of course, Hong Kong City also invited other chefs from all over the country to attend the state banquet.

We invite everyone to go to Gangcheng, where we will showcase culinary delicacies from all over the country.

This invitation also received support.

Feng Zhengming and the others naturally agreed.

"Okay, we will make good preparations in the second half of this year. We will contact each other and go to Hong Kong City together to show our cooking skills to Hong Kong City.

I also hope that I can have better exchanges with Hong Kong’s famous chefs by then.”

Feng Zhengming agreed, which made everyone in Gangcheng very happy. Other chefs from all over the country also expressed their willingness to go together.

This trip to participate in the state banquet has indeed enhanced the friendship among these chefs from all over the country.

Everyone also left contact information with each other, including correspondence addresses, as well as their respective work or home phone numbers.

Feng Zhengming said: "So, after I go back, I will arrange the time first, and then I will contact everyone and give everyone a specific time for us to go to Hong Kong City.

I think for convenience, we should all gather in Guangdong Province first, and then go to Hong Kong City together from Guangdong Province.

What do you think of this route design? "

This route is recognized by all chefs.

"Okay, I can go to Guangdong Province for some fun."

"Yes, yes. We will all wait for the order from the champion when we return."

"Hahaha, that's right, if the top scholar gives the order, we will go together."

Then the leaders present also expressed that they could contact the passport processing authorities in various places when the time comes, and the country would also provide certain conveniences to chefs like Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming and others also expressed their gratitude to the leaders.

Of course, Feng Zhengming knew that some chefs might want to take their families to the port city for some sightseeing.

After all, for many chefs, such opportunities are rare.

Feng Zhengming also pointed this out: "If you want to bring your family members, please inform me in advance so that I can make arrangements."

The chief of the port city said: "Yes, that's right. When everyone needs to bring their families to play, please tell our champion so that we can make arrangements for everyone."

Everyone became even more excited when they heard this and expressed their gratitude to Gangcheng again.

Finally, all the chefs from all over the country who participated in the state banquet gathered together and took photos with the leaders.

The part in which Feng Zhengming and his team participated ended here.

The subsequent catering services will naturally be handed over to the personnel specifically responsible for state banquets and receptions.

Feng Zhengming and his friends were still taken back to the temporary dormitory by car.

After returning here, Feng Zhengming and his friends were all very excited and had a lot to say.

Everyone simply left the room and went to the cafeteria to sit down and chat.

There are not many people in the cafeteria now, so Feng Zhengming and his friends can chat freely.

Everyone talked about their own experiences.

Especially during this period of time, everyone has been thinking about each other.

This trip to Beijing really allowed everyone to learn a lot.

Chefs from all over the country said that they would take time to reflect on what they had learned and try their best to integrate the new things they had learned.

But Feng Zhengming said something more practical.

"I am really proud to be able to participate in the state banquet during this trip to Beijing, but I am also aware of some problems. Perhaps our old skills, which have been passed down for so many years and accumulated by so many generations of chefs, will face great challenges in the future."

Hearing Feng Zhengming say this, the chefs present were stunned and everyone looked at him.

At this moment, the other chefs didn’t quite understand what Feng Zhengming meant.

Facing everyone's gaze, Feng Zhengming expressed his thoughts very calmly.

“Our craftsmanship can be said to have been passed down for many years, but now the times are changing faster and faster, and more and more foreign things are coming in, which has caused a great impact on our original market.

Have you noticed that many dishes at state banquets have started to incorporate Western elements, and many Western-style restaurants have appeared on the streets of Beijing.

It may not threaten our traditional crafts and restaurants for the time being, but if we cannot keep up with the pace in time, we may eventually be outshined by those Western-style restaurants.”

Feng Zhengming knew that if he said this now, the chefs from all over the place present might not care.

After all, being a chef is still a very good job nowadays.

And for the chefs participating in the state banquet, they don’t have to worry about the lack of market.

For most chefs, after this experience of participating in the state banquet, their value will increase dramatically when they return.

They will even be more popular and won't have to worry about having no customers in their restaurants.

Maybe if they put up their sign, the restaurant will attract quite a lot of people.

By then, even the thresholds of their homes will be broken down.

But Feng Zhengming felt that he still had to say something.

“I know that after attending this state banquet, your net worth will surely increase, and you may not worry about whether you have customers.

But I still want to say that we cannot stand still, we should keep moving forward.

We need to recognize our own shortcomings and learn new things.

Especially since we are participating in the state banquet, we should shoulder our responsibilities and supervise restaurants in various places to make traditional craftsmanship good and not fool around just because there is no shortage of customers. "

This time, the chefs from all over the country present understood.

Feng Zhengming’s meaning was very clear. He hoped that everyone could take on the responsibilities of chefs when they returned.

The skills of chefs from all regions must be standardized, and unqualified chefs must not be allowed to fool customers.

Everyone agrees with this point.

"It does need to be regulated. There have been too many people who have been filling in the gaps in recent years."

"Yeah, it ruined the reputation of some good chefs."

"The main reason is that many young people nowadays are unwilling to start from scratch and work hard. They just want to take shortcuts and think they can do whatever they want after learning one trick."

"That's right. How can one master the world with just one trick?"

"Ah, so what the champion said is right. We need to shoulder our responsibilities and supervise and correct them."

"Everyone who participates in the state banquet this time will gain prestige when they return. I believe we can do a lot with our prestige."

"Everyone, we should encourage each other to standardize the cooking industry in all regions."

Hearing that everyone recognized him, Feng Zhengming smiled and thanked everyone.

"Thank you for your support for my proposal. I hope we can work together to pass on our skills and make our Chinese cuisine truly famous around the world."

Feng Zhengming's words still gave everyone a sense of motivation. This time, participating in the state banquet allowed everyone to see many of Feng Zhengming's wonderful ideas.

I also witnessed Feng Zhengming's mastery of cooking techniques.

Many of these techniques may have only been heard of by chefs from all over the world, but have never been truly experienced.

This time, when they participated in the state banquet, they had seen what Feng Zhengming could do.

Feng Zhengming's analysis of many cooking techniques has benefited chefs from all over the world.

Especially some skills, which have been ignored by many chefs in the past.

In Feng Zhengming's hands, he was able to breathe new life into the old craft.

Everyone's trust in Feng Zhengming naturally shapes his prestige among chefs.

So the chefs are also willing to cooperate with Feng Zhengming.

In fact, no matter where they come from, having participated in this state banquet, the pride in the chefs' hearts will naturally be magnified.

I feel proud to be a chef who has participated in state banquets.

Every chef will not easily let others see his or her cooking skills.

Therefore, Feng Zhengming's words can be recognized by everyone.

Finally, Feng Zhengming suggested: "How about this, we will definitely gain a lot from participating in this state banquet, and we can try some things when we return.

Let’s see if we can find some dishes that are more suitable for promotion. Then we can open some small restaurants that are more affordable to the people.

It will make it easier for people from all over the country to taste local delicacies.”

Zhang Quande asked, "Does the champion mean to select some dishes that are more suitable for promotion?"

Feng Zhengming nodded: "Yes, Master Zhang, you are right. We need to find some dishes that are more suitable for promotion. They may not be complicated in technique and the seasoning is easy to replicate.

Of course, the most important thing is that it tastes good, is suitable for eating with rice, and is suitable for promotion in various places.”

Long Kunbao suddenly thought: "Is it the same as your pork belly?"

Feng Zhengming laughed: "Master Long, do you still remember the braised pork?"

Long Kunbao nodded: "Of course I remember, your braised pork is indeed very good, with a different flavor, and it seems to be suitable for promotion."

Feng Zhengming added: "In fact, there are many dishes that are suitable for promotion, such as our Qilu fried chicken. There is also a simpler one, which is the braised chestnut chicken. I think it will also be suitable for promotion."

Hearing this, the Sichuan chefs laughed: "Hahaha, then many of our Sichuan dishes can be promoted."

"That's right, there are quite a few Sichuan dishes that can be promoted."

This made most of the chefs present laugh.

"Sichuan cuisine does have a big advantage. Gradually, people's tastes may tend to be heavier. Sichuan cuisine, which is heavy in oil and spicy, is the best dish to eat with rice, so it is really suitable for promotion across the country."

The Sichuan chefs were so proud when they heard this.

Next, chefs from various places also mentioned some dishes that are popular and promoted in each place.

Feng Zhengming carefully wrote them all down in his mind.

He had a rather special plan in mind.

That is to gather together dishes that are suitable for eating with rice from all over the country, and then open a small restaurant that sells these dishes. If it is feasible, maybe it can be promoted nationwide, and a number of branches can be opened all over the country.

Of course, this idea still needs to be discussed and cooperated with chefs from all over the country.

It would be great if chefs from all over the world could join us.

It will be convenient for Feng Zhengming to mobilize chefs from all over the country, which should make it easier to open chain restaurants.

After all, as the times change in the future, everyone will hope to eat better.

In the future, there will be stores all over the country that don’t even need chefs, but instead deliver the food from various central kitchens, heat it in the microwave in the back kitchen, and then assemble and serve it.

Feng Zhengming thought that it would be better to organize chefs from all over the country.

Continue to open chain restaurants in various places in the form of branches of your own dry rice shop.

All of them require serious chefs to cook them on an open stove over an open flame.

On the one hand, solve the employment problem of chefs.

On the other hand, they want to seize the market and make people accustomed to eating dishes cooked with open flames and stoves, thus leaving no market for those shops that don't have flames or stoves.

Of course, Feng Zhengming also knew that it was impossible to completely prevent the catering industry from developing those stores.

After all, there are always people who might not care about how the food tastes?

Just want to eat cheaply enough.

Feng Zhengming didn't dare to say that he could definitely control costs and let everyone eat delicious food at very low prices.

But he still hopes that something can be done, at least to regulate the chef industry now.

It would be great if the chef industry could be regulated before all the mess happens in the future.

Perhaps in the future, some restaurants will be able to maintain more bottom lines.

The topic then returned to the discussion of specific dishes, with chefs from all over the country sharing their specialties, making for a truly frank exchange.

The group of people chatted until very late, and everyone was still excited.

It was not until late at night that people from the temporary dormitory came to urge everyone to go back and rest reluctantly.

After the state banquet, Feng Zhengming and his friends spent another two days in Beijing.

Chefs from all over the country bought some things to take back home.

Before leaving, the chefs received an award.

The chefs participating in the state banquet can also take their uniforms back home.

There are also some gifts from departments responsible for state banquets.

Of course, the most important thing is a summary menu of dishes prepared by chefs from all over the country for this state banquet.

This menu is a formal state banquet menu.

At the request of Feng Zhengming and the chefs, it was approved that each of Feng Zhengming and his team could collect a copy.

It can be said that this menu is an honor that all chefs can be proud of for a lifetime.

Before leaving Beijing, Feng Zhengming and chefs from all over the country also said goodbye to each other.

He and several of his fellow students boarded the return train, carrying a lot of things they had bought.

The mood when I returned was completely different from when I came to Beijing.

When we came here, everyone felt somewhat nervous, wondering if they were qualified to attend this state banquet.

After returning, Feng Zhengming and his fellow brothers proved themselves, and everyone gained a lot.

Everyone's face was filled with a more confident smile.

Feng Zhengming and his team did not return directly to Quancheng.

Since they had to go south from the capital anyway, Feng Zhengming and his team might as well go to Dezhou first.

Are you planning to take a look at the preparations for the branch in Texas?

Feng Zhengming and his team even planned to return to Quancheng together after the branch store opened in Dezhou. (End of this chapter)