1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 256 Re-engraving
Although he knew that the person who could manage such a large project of Mo Mo Bai Zha in just over half a year must be a decisive guy, Li Jun still didn't expect that Yang Mo called him over before the change of his shares was completed.

Therefore, when he stood at the entrance of Kowloon Hotel for the second time, he would be lying if he said he was not excited.

He has learned a lot of information in the past two days. No matter whether it is Qingfeng Food or the Fifth Farm, all the trusted units supported by Yang Mo have made great progress in a short period of time.

There is no need to say much about Qingfeng Food. The three major projects of Momo 100 Fried Food, Momo 100 Stir-fried Food and Momo 100 Stewed Food have a combined annual revenue of tens of millions. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that this is a super project with the potential to become a national chain. As long as the conditions are right, or the national economy recovers, it will be able to open up stores across the country in minutes through the open franchise model.

The Fifth Farm is also not to be underestimated. Although everyone can now see that this unit is a supporting unit of Momo Baizha and is mainly responsible for the task of building the supply chain system for 817 broilers, let alone the 817 Chicken Breeding Institute, whose shares are also somewhat mysterious, it is enough to become a real golden phoenix... I forgot to mention that with the lifting of the ban on Momo Baizha's raw materials and the very topical incident of delivering chickens on foot in the middle, coupled with the 817 Hope Primary Schools project full of gratitude, 2000 broilers have become completely popular in the Shandong region. The current cumulative chicken orders of the "Laoliu Chicken Breeding Institute" have officially exceeded million, which is terrifying in this era.

Ok……

What I said last time was so insightful. I guess I should be considered as Yang Mo's new direct descendant now, right?

I just don't know what kind of wealth and glory this young section chief, whose methods are always unexpected and whose luck is off the charts, wants to show me by calling me here this time?
With a somewhat uncertain excitement, Li Jun took a deep breath and stepped into the lobby of Kowloon Hotel.

........................

Unlike last time, Yang Mo was neither in the reception room on the fifth floor nor in the section chief's office on the second floor, but in a separate product showroom on the third floor.

When Li Jun saw Yang Mo in this huge showroom that occupied nearly half of the third floor, he was communicating with six or seven staff members in white coats over a pile of vegetables and several bottles and jars on the table.

"Mr. Li is here? Come on... come in quickly."

Awakened by Li Jun's polite knock on the door, Yang Mo did not get up, but waved casually.

Seeing Yang Mo's attitude, Li Jun immediately felt relieved and his mood became much happier. If Yang Mo was too polite today, it would be very bad news!
"Boss Li, come over here and take a look. Do you recognize these things?"

Yang Mo pointed to the slightly messy pile of things on the table, with a hint of curiosity in his tone.

Upon hearing this, Li Jun quickly took two steps over, took a closer look, and exclaimed, "Is this... Tusanka?"

Looking at those tin cans with fancy packaging and Russian words printed on them, Li Jun was a little surprised… For well-known reasons, China had no business dealings with the Bear Country as early as the 1960s. Therefore, this kind of canned meat produced in the Bear Country disappeared from the Chinese market. Except for a few special places, you can't see this stuff at all.

Looking at these dozen or so cans with either bull heads or deer antlers printed on them, Li Jun was a little puzzled. Are they planning to produce some canned meat in the same way as Tusanka?
This shouldn't be the case. This kind of filling mode with huge chunks of meat is definitely a representative of stupidity and arrogance. Not only can the cost of raw materials not be reduced, the price is also much more expensive than ordinary canned meat. It is simply not suitable for China's national conditions!

The key point is, as far as he knows, the supply of raw materials for Mo Mo Bai Zha is just barely enough at the moment. Where does Yang Mo get so much chicken to produce this kind of canned food?

Ok?
No, not just Tusanka, but lots of canned salads.

Danube brand canned tomato salad...31 kopecks.

Ukrainian brand canned tomato and bell pepper salad...20 kopecks.

Don brand canned vegetable salad...48 kopecks.

Kuban brand canned tomato and cabbage salad...30 kopecks.

Nezhinsky cucumber and onion salad... 31 kopecks.

Looking at these flat cans with prices specially labeled on them, Li Jun was really confused. In the eyes of an industry insider like him, Tusanka and these canned salads were completely different in terms of raw material selection and production technology. He really didn't know why Yang Mo called him here today.

Yang Mo looked at him with a little surprise: "Huh? Mr. Li, do you know these things?"

Glancing at the men in white coats next to him, Li Jun smiled sheepishly: "I've come across this before."

Thinking of the Shang River, which is not far from Qihe County, and the traders who have become more and more active in the past two years, Yang Mo immediately nodded in understanding: "It's good that we have met before."

Then he pointed to another pile of cans of various shapes placed together and said, "What about these?"

Li Jun looked sideways with a look of surprise in his eyes: "Is this... the Tiantan brand canned pork that Shantou used to export?"

"And... the Peace Brand canned beans produced by the Liaoxi Canned Food Factory?"

"Fuzhou Narcissus brand canned green beans?"

"And... Great Wall brand canned pickles?"

"This, this, this..."

Seeing Li Jun with a somewhat messy expression, Yang Mo smiled and said, "Mr. Li actually knows the origin and purpose of these cans?"

Li Jun smiled shyly: "I'm sorry to make Section Chief Yang laugh. The main reason is that some of the brands here are no longer used, and many products have been discontinued for nearly 20 years... At first glance, I saw so many things that have disappeared from the market, and I was shocked."

After explaining his previous gaffe, Li Jun began to answer the question in a proper manner: "Chief Yang, to be honest, I used to work in a cannery, and I worked at the Tianjin Great Wall Cannery... As you know, at that time each port had one or two special export brands, and Great Wall was one of them, so I naturally knew the purpose of these cans."

At this point, Li Jun, who was vaguely guessing, added, "Chief Yang, I forgot to mention that when we exported canned food to the Bear Country and Eastern Europe, we used the Great Wall brand. It was just that COFCO signed the supply contracts and issued them to various places for execution."

Yang Mo looked at him in surprise. He didn't expect that the pillow would be brought to him just as he was dozing off.

Glancing at the research team members who had been arguing for nearly an hour, Yang Mo reached for a cigarette and handed it over: "Oh? It seems that Mr. Li has done some research on the taste preferences of the Bear Country? Tell us about it."

Glancing at the ashtray with only a cigarette butt in it, Li Jun took the cigarette but did not light it. Instead, he put the cigarette in his ear and said, "I can't say I have done any research, but I do know a little bit about it."

After a pause, Li Jun organized his words: "Chief Yang, let me put it this way. Although our country and the Bear Country are neighbors, the difference in taste between the two countries is actually far beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Many of the delicacies that our country is proud of are simply not accustomed to them... Even many delicacies in the Northeast are not very acceptable to people there."

At this point, Li Jun gave an example: "I remember my master once told me an incident. It was around 1954 when my country first exported canned pork to the Bear Country. It was braised pork produced according to my country's traditional taste.

"As a result, at the end of the year, when COFCO's Deputy Manager Li Ruizheng went to the Bear Country for exchanges, the Bear Country protested, saying that braised pork was not suitable for their country's taste and they were unwilling to import it anymore. Later, we promised to improve the process according to their requirements, and this did not close the loophole;"

"Not long after, the Bear Country sent canning experts to try to make steamed pork. It is said that the Czech Republic sent canning experts to try to make original pork and luncheon meat. The Democratic Republic of Germany sent canning experts to try to make thick pork (also known as gulash). These varieties are basically raw pork canned without soy sauce, sugar or other condiments. They are original... I have tasted that stuff, it is terrible, such a waste of precious pork, but the other party thinks it tastes very good."

"In short, perhaps because the previous canned braised pork was too unacceptable to those bear countries, after that, any canning factory that produces and exports to bear countries must have bear countries' canning experts stationed in the factory or conduct inspections before shipment... You can imagine how big the difference in taste between the two countries is."

Yang Mo nodded: "Mr. Li, what you said makes sense. A thousand tongues have a thousand different taste preferences. Just because we think something is delicious, it doesn't necessarily mean that people in other countries will think it is delicious... Words without evidence may not be enough to convince people, but what others have personally experienced can't be false, right?"

The last sentence was directed to the men in white coats.

Hearing Yang Mo pointing at them, the men in white coats smiled slightly awkwardly, then nodded in unison.

Perhaps it is because the exchanges between China and the Bear Country have been cut off for too long. Even though many traders have been active in the North in the past two years, the domestic food industry is generally unfamiliar with the taste of the Bear Country.

Although the Moscow Restaurant in the imperial capital is still popular, objectively speaking, in this era, one would not have the courage to enter that place without a certain amount of wealth and status. The taste of many dishes there cannot truly represent the taste of the general public in the Bear Country, so naturally it provides valuable reference opinions on the taste of such a popular food as canned food.

However, since the 60s, the demand for canned vegetables among the people of the Bear Country has been increasing year by year, and now it has approached the level of 8 kilograms per person per year. Yang Mo cannot help but pay attention to such a large market... Don't think that one person only eats 8 kilograms of canned food per year. In the cold Bear Country, the value of vegetables is not much lower than that of meat. Moreover, since people in the Bear Country buy canned vegetables in the freezing season, you can completely understand that this is their consumption of canned vegetables within 5 months.

Logically speaking, since we have collected canned food from the Bear Country and canned food that China used to export to the Bear Country, it should not be difficult to determine the taste of canned vegetables with reference.

But the problem is that, firstly, the canned foods that were previously exported from China have long passed their expiration date and are completely inedible, so naturally they cannot be used as reference... Besides, Yang Mo is very sure that the taste of those canned foods was just barely acceptable to the people of the Bear Country, and could not achieve the effect he wanted at all.

Secondly, it’s the old problem…the difference in raw materials.

Although there were quite a few canned foods from the Bear Country on the table, the Tusanka made from beef and venison was fine, but the varieties of raw materials used in those canned vegetable salads were very different from those of Chinese vegetables... whether it was cucumbers, onions, tomatoes, beans, or spices.

The food industry is quite interesting. Whether it's a slight difference in saltiness, or a slight difference in aroma and taste, or even a difference in crispness and stickiness, the taste buds will be magnified tenfold or even a hundredfold. Therefore, if you want to use a bunch of vegetable ingredients that the Bear Country doesn't have to create a taste that they can accept, the techniques involved can't be said to be difficult, but they are definitely not simple... Fortunately, we are facing the Bear Country, which is famous for its rough diet. If similar operations were performed in countries with a deep food culture such as France and Italy, Yang Mo would be completely at a loss.

and so……

The white coats were arguing about how to create a similar taste and texture based on the taste of the Bear Country. Of course, since they are a research team in white coats and an external organization of the oil unit, they naturally have made some achievements in science and technology.

In fact, one of the most heatedly debated topics just now was what kind of technological processing methods could be used to transform the existing vegetable ingredients into a texture and taste that the Chinese people might accept.

………………

After understanding the main point of the argument, Li Jun was delighted, but his face was horrified: "Chief Yang, it's a good thing that the flavor plan has not been decided yet, otherwise the food will be ruined... Even if there is no need to go through the customs clearance process, these cans must not take the high-tech route!"

Upon hearing this, the faces of several people in white coats suddenly turned ugly.

Yang Mo also looked at him strangely, not understanding why this guy was acting so exaggerated.

Yang Mo was not very familiar with the Bear Country and seldom ate canned food. He had become accustomed to life in the future, so whenever he saw bottles and jars, he would subconsciously assume that preservatives and various technological substances must have been added to them. Therefore, he really didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

Upon hearing this, Li Jun looked at him strangely and said, "Chief Yang, canned food is one of the few foods in the world that can be preserved for a long time without adding preservatives... Although pasteurization is old, it has always been proven to be the most effective method."

"Of course, this method may not be 100% effective, so America and the island countries have invented many chemical preservatives...but this is not important."

"The important thing is, as far as I know, when it comes to canned food, the Bear Country is a staunch supporter of traditional preservation methods and has a strong aversion to chemical preservatives... and by the way, they also have a strong aversion to chemical additives."

At this point, Li Jun explained: "In fact, the reasons behind this are somewhat complicated. It's not that people in the Bear Country really refused to accept chemical additives and preservatives from the beginning. It's more about public opinion."

? ?
Public opinion awareness?

Yang Mo touched his chin, his heart full of surprise. Could it be that the Bear Country is just like China in later generations, with all kinds of marketing accounts flying around that are eager to create chaos in the world, and they also demonized preservatives?
Seeing this, Li Jun carefully explained: "This matter actually started more than ten years ago."

"In 1973, the island nation invented a crab meat-flavored surimi, also known as crab sticks, and began exporting it to the world."

"But the crab sticks from the island country were too expensive, so the Americans and the bears jointly built a Surimi factory in Murmansk in 1984... Although this story sounds like a fantasy, it is true. And although this joint venture Surimi factory was built, the crab sticks produced were sold separately."

"Not long after that, Americans invented a cheap crab-flavored seasoning, and Americans began mass-producing cheap crab sticks with the seasoning and selling them domestically and around the world."

"As time went by, although the bears were also overwhelmed by the new trend of crab meat sticks, the bears used real crab meat to make and season them, rather than cheap stuff made from fish scraps. Therefore, after learning about this, some domestic media in the United States and Japan praised the bears for being able to eat real crab meat, but also ridiculed their conservatism and expanded the scope of the crackdown to all canned food areas (some of the crab meat sticks supplied by bear country stores in later generations are still made of real crab meat);"

"When this news reached the Bear Country, the Bear Country began its own propaganda offensive, which basically said something like [Those XXXX will stuff you with some preservatives, eat the same food as him, and praise his advanced technology. But the Bear People's products don't have preservatives, and they can't help the Bear Country invent new preservatives, so they can only laugh at the Bear People for using medieval-level preservative methods];"

"Later, the mainstream view in the Bear Country evolved into [So do the canned foods consumed by the Bear people contain preservatives? Yes, but they are definitely not the shitty preservatives invented by XXXX, but vinegar, salt, smoking, and boiling. Only in the Bear Country would people use these primitive medieval preservative systems for health and happiness]."

After briefly explaining the whole story, Li Jun concluded: "Director Yang, you also know the current relationship between Mao Bear Country and America, and you also know Mao Bear Country's current situation. So under the current circumstances, if the canned vegetables shipped to Mao Bear Country are found to contain additives, it would be a big trouble... And, you know, some things may become an unsolvable deadlock during this period, and even if you have friends there, it may not be useful."

After grasping the key point, Yang Mo was suddenly shocked... After all, he had lived in the afterlife for too long and had ignored these issues beyond business.

The men in white coats nearby were also frightened and broke out in cold sweats. There was even a hint of gratitude in their eyes as they looked at Li Jun... Unlike Yang Mo, they were not reborn, but precisely because of this, they understood the critical point of this even more.

Li Jun smiled when he saw this and said, "Chief Yang, in fact, in the past few years, our Xi Xiang Feng Canning Factory has had some indirect contact with the Mao Bear Country, so we have a little understanding of their taste preferences."

"To put it simply, the overall eating style of the grassroots people in the Bear Country is relatively rough and simple. It is not necessary and appropriate to make too many articles. In terms of taste style, you only need to grasp the four key points of [sour], [oily], [sweet], and [salty].

Sour, oily, sweet, salty?

Yang Mo looked at Li Jun in confusion.

Li Jun scratched his head. "I don't think the relationship here is that difficult to understand. I think it's mainly due to climate reasons. Let me start with the oil."

"According to the feedback from previous contacts with those dealers, the best time for various canned foods in the Bear Country is around the period from late October to April of the following year, which is the winter there;"

"It is said that the winter there can be as cold as 40 or 50 degrees below zero. In such cold weather, they naturally need more calories. So even though they are said to eat lighter food in the summer, in the winter, the more oil and water, the better... My master also said that when the experts from the Bear Country came to supervise us, they kept asking us to put more oil in the canned pork, and their Tusanka must have a thick layer of oil floating in it. This must be the reason."

At this point, Li Jun smiled and said, "If my inference is correct, then it is easy to understand why they like to eat sweet food. It is also for the purpose of supplementing calories... When I first followed my master, it was the peak period for domestic canned food exports to the Bear Country. It is said that domestic canned syrup and canned fruit are very popular in the Bear Country. Varieties such as canned apricot syrup and canned apples in sugar sauce are snapped up... On the one hand, this is because the Bear Country does not produce much fruit, and on the other hand, it is because there is a lot of sugar in those cans."

"As for eating sour food, I think it's actually to relieve the greasiness."

"I have a trader friend who once said an interesting point during a casual chat... Isn't borscht one of the national dishes of the Bear Country? In folk cooking, the sourer and oilier the borscht is, the better. Some places even require it to be as salty as possible."

"He believes that this national dish fully demonstrates the dietary characteristics of the bear country... The weather is cold, so you need to consume a lot of oil and water to ensure calories; but eating too much oil will easily make you feel greasy and cause stomach upset; so you need acid to relieve the greasiness."

"The pickles, sauerkraut, and sour cream that they have for every meal are probably because of this... After all, in the Bear Country, it is much easier to get meat and fish than vegetables."

"As for Xian, it's also easy to understand. The people there are just like us in Qi and Lu. It is said that there are more people doing manual labor, regardless of gender. I even heard that many miners are women. "

"The more work you do, the more you like salty food... Just like in Qilu, many of my friends from other places think the food here is salty and bitter, but I don't think so. Moreover, if you put less salt or soy sauce, it will taste bland. It's the same principle."

"As for the rest, it's actually nothing. The main thing is to pay attention to the seasoning. Most people there don't seem to like peppers, peppercorns, ginger, and onions. They can't stand spices like coriander, tsaoko, and star anise. If you don't pay attention and put a little bit in, they won't be able to accept it even if the food is good. On the contrary, they particularly like bay leaves, onions, and fennel, which is not very popular in our country... Other than that, there's nothing special to pay attention to."

Seeing that Yang Mo was listening quietly and nodding in approval from time to time, Li Jun became more and more confident and immediately introduced the main topic.

"Chief Yang, if I'm right, you called me here today mainly to use the winter vegetables in Linyi County to reproduce the canned vegetables of the 1960s and then export them to the north, right?"

Yang Mo smiled and nodded: "Boss Li is indeed very discerning, that's right... In fact, Deputy Section Chief Mu had also thought of this idea at the beginning of the year, but the people were not satisfied with the samples he sent out, so he kept delaying it."

Li Jun quickly humbled himself, then looked embarrassed: "Chief Yang, to be honest, we at Xi Xiang Feng also have a pretty good technical team. Plus, I've been involved in business in the north before, so as long as the raw materials are suitable, I'm confident that I can prepare canned vegetables and canned vegetable salads that are basically acceptable to them."

"But the problem... lies in the raw materials!"

As he spoke, Li Jun scanned the large pile of vegetables on the table and looked at Yang Mo with some embarrassment: "To be honest, from my experience, among the winter vegetables currently produced in Linyi County, only tomatoes can be used to make independent canned pickled tomatoes... and as far as I know, this kind of canned pickled tomatoes is very expensive in the winter there. Even if the variety and size are different, it will definitely be very popular;"

"Carrots, green beans, peppers, and cabbage can be combined with tomatoes to produce canned vegetable salad;"

"If you don't pursue sales, cucumbers and zucchini can also be made into canned vegetable salads... Um, I forgot to mention that the raw material for making pickles in the Bear Country is small cucumbers, which are not the same as our prickly cucumbers. In fact, if you really want to make pickles, you can, but you have to wait until the next crop. When the prickly cucumbers just have small fruits, pick them up in advance and pickle and semi-dry them in the shade. This way, the taste can be 70% to 80% imitated, but I'm afraid the vegetable farmers won't be happy with that."

Yang Mo was curious and asked about it for the first time when he learned that people in the north actually eat zucchini. He then learned that the Bear Country has launched a series of "healthy canned foods" in recent years, including sour cream zucchini salad cans... Although this thing is despised by most people, there are still a small number of people who can accept it.

After a pause, Yang Mo glanced at the white coats with different expressions beside him, and then said, "Since Mr. Li is confident, let's do it this way. For the canned foods you mentioned just now, please have Xi Xiangfeng Canning Factory conduct a intensive research on the taste, and then try to produce samples within a week... As for Manager Wang, you should also produce samples according to your own ideas, also within a month, and then we will find someone to do on-site evaluation."

At this point, Yang Mo took out a cigarette, motioned to Li Jun, and lit it: "As for the other winter vegetable varieties... I am very grateful for Mr. Li's concern, but there is no rush. Wait for you to get the samples first, and then we can talk about it after we have done the evaluation."

Taking the lighter from Yang Mo, Li Jun took out the cigarette behind his ear and lit it. Feeling the other party's slightly intimate attitude, he felt much more relaxed. He then bravely asked, "Chief Yang, I see that there are at least 20 or 30 varieties of these winter vegetables. What are you going to do with the remaining varieties?"

Yang Mo exhaled a long puff of smoke and smiled: "Mr. Li, you don't know that the food supply in the Bear Country is getting tighter and tighter. Although there is no shortage at present, they have already started to distribute it according to the plan... In this case, as long as the taste is suitable, people will naturally be more tolerant of unfamiliar food, don't you think?"

At this point, Yang Mo shrugged: "Besides, aren't you surprised why we are mainly discussing canned vegetables today, but there are so many Tusankas?"

Li Jun, who understood the meaning of the song, was surprised when he heard the words: "Chief Yang, the production of 817 broiler chickens... has caught up?"

Yang Mo shook his head. "How can that be possible? Although 817 broilers grow fast, they are not soybeans soaked in water. How can they produce a plate of bean sprouts for you in one night?"

"However, although the supply of general 817 broiler chickens has not yet come in, the specially bred 817 broiler chickens are almost ready for sale. Originally, these chickens had other uses, but since the issue of winter vegetables is more urgent, we have no choice but to transfer a batch of special 817 broiler chickens to meet the emergency needs."

Special 817 broiler chicken?

What is that stuff?
Li Jun looked at Yang Mo in bewilderment, but he became more and more curious about how Yang Mo would deal with the remaining winter vegetables...

(End of this chapter)