From selling box lunches to becoming a famous Chinese chef

After leaving Hangzhou, Feng Zhengming and his companions did not go to other cities in Zhejiang Province. After all, the time they had for this trip was limited.

The group took a plane directly from Hangzhou and headed south to Xiamen.

Feng Zhengming and his entire family had a great time at the seaside attractions in Xiamen.

The two grandfathers looked at their family members having fun and their faces were filled with smiles.

They feel that this is what they have always wanted to see and what home should look like.

Feng Zhengming and his wife Luo Qing also took their daughter to play at the beach.

Although the little girl is still very young, she also finds it very interesting to see the lively crowd at the beach.

He would also grab sand from the beach and play with it.

Of course, the ones who had the craziest fun here were Zhang Hongwei and Feng Shengnan.

Especially Feng Shengnan really let go of all kinds of play.

Feng Zhengming later took a camera and took a lot of photos of his family.

After touring around Xiamen, Feng Zhengming and his friends went to the food street here for a stroll.

This time Feng Zhengming did not choose to go to some local restaurants and hotels.

Instead, he took his family to eat street snacks.

"I think snacks are still very representative in Xiamen, and may be more impressive than some formal Fujian cuisine in restaurants."

On the streets, people can eat some special snacks from Xiamen, or Fujian Province.

They all felt that what Feng Zhengming said was correct.

Like some fried noodles and fried rice noodles sold on the street, they taste quite homely.

There were also snacks made from a variety of fresh seafood, which made Luo Qing and her younger brothers and sisters very happy.

Luo Qing obviously liked eating street seafood, so she took her three younger brothers and sisters to eat, and left her daughter to Feng Zhengming.

Feng Zhengming was laughed at for a long time by his aunt, second aunt and third aunt.

"Look, it's clear that you've become a dad who takes care of the baby."

"It's true. Zhengming knows how to love his wife. He lets her go out to play and eat, and he takes care of the children himself."

"In this regard, Zhengming is better than your third uncle. Your third uncle didn't know how to take care of his daughter in the first place."

Aunt San's words reminded Uncle San of what he said and she quickly defended herself.

"Wasn't I busy with business at that time? Besides, I made a lot of money, didn't I buy a lot of things for you and your daughter?"

Third Aunt curled her lips and said, "You are the one who talks. For so many years, you have been saying that you will take my daughter and I out to play, but what happened? It's still Zhengming who takes us out to play."

Feng Zhengming took the opportunity to say, "Third Aunt came out this time because of Third Uncle's suggestion and also paid for it."

Aunt San immediately said, "He should pay. How can we let you, Zhengming, pay for our trip?"

Uncle San nodded quickly: "That's right, we should pay, we can't let you pay, Zhengming."

At this time, my uncle also came over and said that Feng Zhengming couldn't be the only one to pay.

Seeing everyone say this, Feng Zhengming could only smile and respond: "We are all family, there is no need to be so clear, we will slowly settle the accounts after we return."

After playing in Xiamen for a day, Feng Zhengming and his friends continued to fly to their next stop, Guangzhou.

After arriving in Yangcheng, Feng Zhengming and his team quickly completed the formalities.

Without staying in Guangzhou for long, Feng Zhengming took his family to Shenzhen, and then to Hong Kong.

In Gangcheng, Jiang Chengzhe has been waiting.

After Feng Zhengming and his group arrived, Jiang Chengzhe came to pick them up immediately.

This time when he came to Hong Kong, Feng Zhengming also met Jiang Chengzhe's parents.

Jiang Chengzhe's parents are an ordinary couple, and are considered ordinary wage earners in Hong Kong.

In the past, Jiang Chengzhe's mother helped in the kitchen of a large restaurant in Hong Kong City.

So when he was a child, Jiang Chengzhe often played in the kitchen with his mother.

It was also because of what he had witnessed since childhood about the skills of the chefs in the kitchen that Jiang Chengzhe began to think about becoming a chef.

Later, Jiang Chengzhe made a name for himself in the cooking industry in Hong Kong through his own efforts.

And with his own efforts, he won prizes in some competitions in the Asia-Pacific region.

This enabled him to finally run his own restaurant in Hong Kong.

However, Jiang Chengzhe seems to be the representative of the younger generation of chefs in Hong Kong.

But he will actually be ostracized by some traditional chefs in Hong Kong.

The reason is simple: Jiang Chengzhe is not good at dealing with some of the social conventions in Hong Kong.

Maybe if he had not been spotted by Li Guansheng later, he would have become his apprentice.

Jiang Chengzhe's restaurant in Hong Kong has long been out of business.

So Jiang Chengzhe chose to follow Feng Zhengming to Shanghai.

It is also a helpless act.

At the same time, he also saw the larger domestic market as a potential development opportunity rather than staying in Hong Kong.

Jiang Chengzhe's parents were very excited to see Feng Zhengming.

"Welcome, welcome. I didn't expect you to come. I've been in Shanghai for the past two years, and I really appreciate your care."

Feng Zhengming responded to Jiang Chengzhe's parents with a smile.

"Uncle, aunt, you don't have to be polite to me. Ah Zhe helped me a lot when he went to Shanghai. You don't have to call me Feng Zhuangyuan, just call me Zhengming."

Then Feng Zhengming introduced his two grandfathers and his own family to Jiang Chengzhe's parents.

Seeing Feng Zhengming and his whole family coming to Hong Kong City, Jiang Chengzhe's parents greeted them with a smile.

Afterwards, the parents whispered something to Jiang Chengzhe.

I think Feng Zhengming comes from a big family, no wonder he can become the top scholar in the country.

Jiang Chengzhe told his parents some of Feng Zhengming's experiences.

"Actually, Grandpa Feng and his family are not Zhengming's real relatives. Of course, they are Zhengming's relatives now. Zhengming himself is an orphan. Later, he met Grandpa Feng and got along very well with Grandpa Feng's family. Everyone also accepted him as a family member."

After hearing this, Jiang Chengzhe's parents suddenly realized that they had misunderstood Feng Zhengming.

Understand that Feng Zhengming's success is entirely due to his own efforts.

This is the same as Jiang Chengzhe.

Jiang's father and mother also understood why Feng Zhengming and Jiang Chengzhe could get along so well.

It is indeed easier for two young people who both rely on their own skills to sympathize with each other.

Led by Jiang Chengzhe, Feng Zhengming and his friends spent a day in Gangcheng.

Then, I went from Hong Kong to Macau with Jiang Chengzhe's family.

The group arrived in Australia and were welcomed by the famous chefs there.

Compared to the busy and tense Hong Kong, Macau is obviously very relaxed. Walking in the streets and alleys of Macau, you will always feel very relaxed and comfortable.

And the people in Australia are very peaceful.

Introduced by a famous chef from Macau, Feng Zhengming and his friends went to a food stall for dinner.

The food here is a fusion of cuisines from many places.

There are Cantonese cuisine, local Macau cuisine, some Hong Kong cuisine, and also some Western cuisine.

The interweaving of various flavors made Feng Zhengming and his friends feel quite interesting.

Jiang Chengzhe told Feng Zhengming that he really liked the relaxed atmosphere of Macau.

"Look at the dishes here. You can cook them very freely without having to consider many details. I think this is how gourmet food should be cooked."

Feng Zhengming smiled and asked, "Are you trying to tell me that my Shanghai store is exploiting you too much?"

Jiang Chengzhe quickly said, "No, no, that's not what I meant."

After the explanation, Jiang Chengzhe saw Feng Zhengming’s smiling face and immediately realized that he had been cheated.

"To be honest, Zhengming, we now have four stores in Shanghai. I think this is the limit. It will be difficult to open more stores."

Feng Zhengming nodded: "I know that although four stores are not the limit for Shanghai, we don't need to open more stores in Shanghai. It is enough to run the current four stores well.

My next idea is to expand to the surrounding areas of Shanghai, especially to open a store in Hangzhou."

Jiang Chengzhe was curious: "Why did you have to choose Hangzhou? Is it because you were framed by them in Hangzhou before?"

Feng Zhengming smiled: "So you also know about the incident in Hangzhou?"

Jiang Chengzhe nodded: "It is indeed widely circulated. You know some media in Hong Kong. They like this kind of gossip."

Feng Zhengming didn't care: "Hangcheng's incident is over, and I didn't go to Hangzhou because of that incident."

Jiang Chengzhe asked: "What is that?"

"It's because of Hangzhou's sincerity. I can see that Hangzhou is really sincere in inviting me. If I go, Hangzhou should be able to give me good support, which may not be given by other regions."

Jiang Chengzhe nodded after listening: "I also heard that Hangzhou can indeed provide great support in many aspects."

Feng Zhengming went on to say: "And through Hangzhou, we can go further south to Fujian and Guangdong provinces, and most importantly, we can promote our recommended guidelines."

Jiang Chengzhe couldn't help but be curious: "What are you going to do?"

Feng Zhengming smiled and said: "My idea is that each place should make a local recommendation guide, just like the two we have now, one for the entire province of Qilu, my hometown, and one for Shanghai.

Next, after we enter Hangzhou, we can make a recommendation guide for Zhejiang Province, and then go south to Fujian Province and Guangdong Province through Zhejiang Province.

We also make recommendation guides for each province, simply recommending local specialty shops.

Especially some street snacks. This time I took my family through Fucheng and Xiacheng, and later to Yangcheng. I think many street snacks and small shops are more worthy of recommendation. "

Jiang Chengzhe thought about it carefully and nodded in agreement with Feng Zhengming's approach.

If we were to do it uniformly across the country, it would be difficult to have a unified standard as people in different places have different tastes.

However, if each province makes a recommendation guide, it will be easier to gain recognition.

Moreover, Feng Zhengming mainly promotes various small shops and street snacks.

It has more local characteristics and is more easily accepted by both locals and outsiders.

Even Feng Zhengming's approach will make some small shops and street snacks known to more people, thus helping them to be better preserved.

Feng Zhengming created a recommended guide to these small shops and street food.

It certainly won't get more attention than recommending those high-end restaurants and big hotels.

Especially recommend those, maybe you can get some investment.

But Feng Zhengming no longer cared about those things.

With his current status and resources, he no longer needs to consider investing.

As long as he is willing, he can attract many people to invest in him with money at any time.

And his stores are profitable enough.

Feng Zhengming shares most of the profits with the most important chefs in the kitchen of each store.

This also ensures high income for the chefs in the kitchen.

So no matter from which level, Feng Zhengming can completely get rid of all kinds of constraints.

Without those constraints, he can be free to do many things.

"Azhe, maybe what we do may not really have a big impact in the end, but even if it's just a small impact, I think it's worth it."

Jiang Chengzhe smiled: "How can it not have an impact? At least I and many young chefs feel that having a top chef like you in our era has a great impact on us."

Feng Zhengming laughed along, "It shouldn't have much of an impact, right? At least apart from you guys, I haven't seen any young chefs pop up anywhere else."

Jiang Chengzhe felt a little helpless when he heard this.

"You're right. Even a top scholar like you is almost forced to learn the ways of the world, let alone the other young chefs like us?"

Feng Zhengming naturally understood what Jiang Chengzhe meant.

He has issues with seniority-related issues.

Feng Zhengming thought about it and expressed his own opinions.

"I think respecting teachers is a traditional virtue that should be followed. There was a saying in the past: 'A teacher is someone who imparts knowledge, imparts knowledge, and resolves doubts.' Our craftsmanship is also mostly passed down from generation to generation.

Without the old masters who passed down their skills from generation to generation, we would not be able to create many things out of thin air.”

Jiang Chengzhe nodded: "That's right, many masters are indeed worthy of respect.

It’s just that some of them are taking advantage of their seniority and may not have very good skills, but they have gained some status by chance, which allows them to have certain say.”

Feng Zhengming smiled: "There are indeed people like that, but if we have enough strength, we don't have to be afraid of them."

Jiang Chengzhe was so amused that he said, "Not all young chefs can be like you, right?"

Before Feng Zhengming could speak, Jiang Chengzhe continued, "Think about it, this year's national competition encouraged more team competitions and public banquet competitions, but the only ones who could participate were those big restaurants and hotels from all over the country.

Although more individual chefs are allowed to sign up for the competition, the influence of individual chef competitions has been significantly reduced.

Even the final ranking was cancelled, no personal honors were given to individual chefs, and only the dishes were judged.”

Feng Zhengming was very clear about these aspects without Jiang Chengzhe explaining them.

Since he was invited to Hangzhou, he found that there were no specific rules or requirements for the chefs' personal abilities in individual competitions.

Feng Zhengming knew that the personal abilities of chefs were deliberately ignored in the national competition.

This approach seems to give more folk chefs fair opportunities.

The chef’s personal ability can be ignored, as this is a hard indicator that cannot be faked.

What advantages do private chefs have over those chefs who are apprenticed to prestigious chefs and have the support of owners of large restaurants and hotels?
Feng Zhengming could feel that he was also being excluded from certain circles.

"It doesn't matter. If they don't want to play with us, we don't want to play with them either. We stick to what we do and just make food that everyone likes and recommend various high-quality and low-priced foods to everyone.

We will gain more support from the public. After all, the lower classes are the majority. With the support of the public, we don’t have to be afraid of those who always want to look down on us. ” (End of this chapter)