Food Wars!: Delicious Food of the Heavens

Chapter 131 Shinomiya's Memories

My name is Shinomiya Kojiro.

Totsuki Academy, 79th cohort of students.

In my senior year of high school, I graduated from the best culinary school in all of Japan as the first seat of the Totsuki Culinary Academy.

But that's not enough!

My specialty is French cuisine.

At that time, I firmly believed that if I just stayed in Japan without going to the place where French cuisine was truly born to train and hone my skills, my cooking would never be able to transform into its most perfect state!

Practical training allows chefs to hone their skills and accumulate experience.

Finally, I opened my own restaurant in Paris and won the symbol of my dream—the Order of Brussels!

If one day I can really achieve this, it will be a breakthrough!

I will accomplish the first great feat for the Japanese!

To be fair, the Japanese want to succeed in France, especially in Paris, where the culinary scene is most competitive.

To open your own restaurant.

This is an absolutely unimaginably difficult road!

I know that, but I'm still not reconciled.

I, Shinomiya Kojiro, refuse to submit to fate!

If there truly is a god, He is now saying He wants to show me the power of reality.

But I refuse to give up. I want the gods who represent destiny to witness my power firsthand!

Ultimately, I took out all the prize money I had won in various competitions during my school years and went to France for a long and arduous six-year period of self-cultivation.

Because I was new to the area, I could only start as a restaurant apprentice, the lowest level job.

Sweeping, mopping, wiping, washing dishes, cleaning cookware, inventorying supplies, moving goods in the warehouse, and tidying up the kitchen after closing each day...

They even washed aprons and cleaned knives for those arrogant chefs...and ran errands to buy cigarettes!

Haha, although I was in the kitchen, my lack of experience meant I could only do odd jobs that had nothing to do with cooking at first.

I... Haha, me! Shinomiya Kojiro, I'm just a handyman!

I'm not convinced! I'm not convinced!

I felt a strong sense of resentment welling up inside me.

These feelings of resentment were like a fire, almost scorching me!

But I must admit that it was this fire in my heart that sustained me through that lonely time in the cold kitchen, preventing me from being "frozen" by the harsh reality.

As time went by, I was finally able to get some other work.

Wash the vegetables, peel the potatoes, trim the edges of the leafy greens...

Although it's still mostly odd jobs, at least I get to handle ingredients, so I can be considered to have some connection to cooking!

It's better than chores like mopping the floor or washing dishes, right?

Cleaning range hoods, in particular, is a job that's practically inhuman!

After months of being tormented by sticky, greasy stains, I finally managed to hand over these dirty and tiring jobs to the new apprentice.

Now I can pick up a kitchen knife and get involved in cooking!

Although I am still faced with repetitive, unskilled chores every day, I tell myself never to lose heart and never to give up.

Keep going, and the dawn will surely break through the darkness one day!

On the first day, we selected and washed the vegetables.

The next day, we prepared the ingredients.

On the third day, peel the potatoes and carrots.

On the fourth day, tend the fire in the soup pot.

Day 5...

Day 10...

On the thirtieth day...

Day after day, I could feel myself reaching my breaking point...

Damn it! When will this endless chores ever end?!

I consider myself a capable person, but now I'm stuck doing these boring and tedious chores every day.

Moreover, the kitchen staff were almost entirely locals.

Coming from the Far East and with an East Asian face, I stood out conspicuously in the kitchen.

That feeling of being out of place, and the undisguised contempt from a few troublemakers, really put me under a lot of pressure. Several times I felt like I was about to give up.

You can't learn real skills, and the environment for cultivation is a mess.

My mood has been getting worse and worse lately.

Every night after work, lying on my small bed in the dormitory, I would fall asleep with a feeling of irritability and anxiety.

The main reason for my frustration is that I encountered some unpleasant people or things in the kitchen today... Another reason is that the dormitory room is too oppressive, and the bed is small and hard, making my back ache.

My anxiety stems from genuine fear... fear that my passion and ambition will be completely worn down by this petty, mundane existence.

"Eh~"

With a helpless sigh, I fell into a deep sleep, knowing that a whole host of chores awaited me tomorrow.

Before drifting off to sleep, I prayed as usual... praying that tomorrow a chance to stand out would fall into my lap, even if it was just a chance to prove my abilities!

Although I know this is wishful thinking, it can't hurt, can it?

What if it works?

The next day, I was woken up by the alarm clock as usual, and mechanically went through the washing and grooming process in a daze.

Still half asleep, I hadn't realized that today was both an ordinary and extraordinary day.

Normally, my tasks today are no different from usual.

What's unusual is... the opportunity I've been waiting for and dreaming of has finally arrived!

In the morning, as lunchtime approached, the kitchen was bustling with activity, filled with the noise of people.

"The Four Palaces!"

"After you finish chopping the ingredients, come and keep an eye on the heat of the soup pot for me."

"Mr. Kobo is here today! I'm going to the front hall to chat with him for a while."

"Everyone, snap out of it!"

"Today's number one guest is a famous food critic. If he gives our restaurant a bad review, I'll fire you all!"

"Yes, Chef!"

Amidst the respectful entourage of numerous sous chefs and apprentices, a short, stout man swaggered out of the kitchen.

That was the head chef of the restaurant, but I didn't respect him, and I believe the others in the kitchen felt the same way.

It's fair to say that this guy, whose culinary skills are only average, relied entirely on seniority and a distant family relationship with the restaurant's investors to shamelessly seize the head chef's position after the previous chef retired.

Fortunately, he was perhaps somewhat self-aware... or perhaps it was his lowly status, but in any case, he was usually only responsible for the management of the kitchen and rarely interfered with the actual preparation of the dishes.

The signature dishes on this restaurant's menu are all made possible by the exceptional skills of its several highly skilled sous chefs...

"Bang!"

Just as I was staring absentmindedly at the chef's disappearing figure, a sound suddenly came from behind me.

I looked back and saw a thin figure blocking the soup pot that the chef had just mentioned.

The young man was a new apprentice who had just joined the restaurant and could only do odd jobs unrelated to cooking.

For example, right now, he is holding a mop in his hand.

"Xiao Kuan, what happened?" A busy sous chef asked without turning his head from the stove in the distance.

"No! Nothing happened! I just accidentally bumped my head on the corner of the table," the young man replied hastily when asked.

The sous chef, unsuspecting, continued working diligently.

But I noticed...

I saw the soup pot he was hiding behind shaking, and I also saw some red marks in the sink next to the stove.

Did you bump your head on the corner of the table?

This kid clearly spilled the soup that the chef specifically instructed him to make!

The next second, something even more jaw-dropping happened!

It seems they felt that having only half a pot of soup left in the pot would be too easy to be discovered and difficult to cover up.

This kid who only knows how to mop the floor has taken it upon himself to start adding things to the soup pot!

Simply place the soup pot under the tap next to it, turn on the faucet, fill the pot with water, and then quickly move the soup pot back onto the stove.

Then, something happened that left Shinomiya even more dumbfounded.

A carrot cut into three sections, an onion cut in half, parsnip and fennel (which shouldn't be there), lethal amounts of salt and pepper, and a whole bunch of random spices like cinnamon, bay leaves, sage, and oregano were thrown into the pot by this young man without a care in the dosage.

He even kept an eye out for anyone around him while adding those miscellaneous ingredients.

Fortunately, because there were so many customers today, almost everyone in the kitchen was too busy to notice him, and the noisy environment made him completely unnoticed.

The young man breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly glad that he hadn't been discovered.

Until his gaze met mine.

Please!

The young man lunged at me, covered my mouth, and pleaded with me through his eyes.

I'm sure that in that instant, the kid must have looked at the most pitiful person he could ever imagine.

I slapped his hand away, which reeked of sewage... I almost threw up from the smell!

"Please, Shinomiya, don't tell anyone!"

His body and voice were trembling. He gripped my sleeve, pleading incessantly, almost crying.

"If the head chef finds out, I'm finished! I'll definitely be kicked out!"

I impatiently pulled his hand away from my sleeve again.

"In fact, not only are you finished, I'm finished too!"

You know, the chef told me to watch the soup pot for him before he left!

I hadn't even finished chopping the side dishes when this kid in front of me...

Damn it! What kind of luck am I having today?

"Tsk!"

"Get lost, just seeing you gives me a headache!"

I shoved the ugly face that was leaning in at me aside, feeling incredibly annoyed.

You should know that although this chef is not very skilled, he has quite a temper.

He is clearly not a magnanimous person.

Especially today's restaurant guests, including a food critic he found difficult to deal with.

If the soup didn't taste right, it angered the food critic, who gave our restaurant a bad review...

Then the ending is obvious.

Even if this idiot gets fired, the chef will definitely not let me off the hook.

Just thinking about this makes my head ache terribly.

"Eh~"

"We'll try anything, even if it's a dead end!"

"Shinomiya, do you have a plan?"

"Get out of my way! Move aside! Don't block my way!"

Frustrated, I pushed him aside and stood in front of the soup pot.

Given this idiot's previous "feats," I decided to try the soup first.

But I regretted it the next second.

"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!"

What's that weird smell?!

I stuck out my tongue, but there was still a strange taste in my mouth. I had to rinse my mouth several times to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling.

"We're doomed!"

I scratched my head.

You can't taste what the original soup tasted like at all.

How do I do this?

But I didn't dare to ask about that customer's order, otherwise I would be exposed.

"Since that's the case... let's just grit our teeth and go for it!"

Following the faint aftertaste in my mouth and drawing on my past knowledge of French cuisine, I began to simmer a pot of soup again.

Throughout the entire cooking process, I was completely bewildered because I had no idea what was going on.

To this end, I mobilized almost all my brain cells and all the knowledge of French cuisine I had learned so far, from the Totsuki Culinary Academy to my actual training.

Of course, there's also my own understanding, and my insights into "vegetarian cooking," which is my specialty.

Finally, just one minute before the head chef returned to the kitchen, I managed to finish the dish with a close call.

Watching the head chef volunteer to act as a waiter, personally carrying two bowls of soup out of the kitchen, my heart was in my throat, and I was so nervous I could hardly breathe!

Time ticked by as we waited.

After an unknown amount of time, the head chef slammed open the kitchen door, looking quite menacing.

But he didn't say anything; his gaze toward me was very complicated.

I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking I had finally averted the crisis, and felt a sense of relief that everything was over...

The next day, when I arrived at the restaurant and hadn't even entered the kitchen, a distinguished-looking, shrewd-eyed middle-aged man stopped me.

I recognized him when he stood in front of me.

He is the owner and investor of this restaurant, and also its true controller.

He asked me to sit down with him and chat for a bit.

Although I didn't understand, the other party was the restaurant owner, and I was just an apprentice, so of course I couldn't refuse.

During a relatively relaxed conversation, I learned the truth behind why the boss had come to me—it was because of yesterday's bowl of soup!

According to the owner, that food critic was notoriously difficult to deal with; he was not only picky about food but also had a sharp tongue, and he would not hesitate to give bad reviews to restaurants he was not satisfied with.

But last night, that bowl of soup received high praise from food critics, who even gave the restaurant a rare positive review.

The boss was naturally very happy to receive positive feedback.

But he could also tell that the soup was not up to the standard expected of a head chef.

Moreover, the sweet and harmonious vegetable flavor in the soup... is unlike the style of any sous chef in any restaurant.

Therefore, he used his boss privileges to access the kitchen's surveillance video, which led him to discover the "blunder" that had occurred in the kitchen the previous day.

At the same time, he also realized my true level.

"Shinomiya, you are a very outstanding young man!"

"And what I admire most is an outstanding young person like you."

"I've made the decision: from today onwards, you're promoted from apprentice to sous chef!"

"You're a really capable person, so stop doing those chores like washing vegetables and peeling potatoes. That's a waste of your culinary skills."

"You absolutely deserve to have your own stove..."

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