BXBX NOVEL Chapter 56 - 56: The Opening of the Cooking Contest
The city-level cooking competition, set to begin three months later, has not only captured the hearts of all the spiritual chefs in Dongxia City, but also garnered the attention of ordinary people not involved in the culinary world. Due to the peculiarity of Food Spirits, people in this world pay great attention to everything related to Spirit Chefs.
Jobs that are popular among the public, such as celebrities and internet celebrities, are naturally favored by Spirit Chefs.
Watching various competitions involving Spirit Chefs has become a popular form of recreation for ordinary people in the Food Spirit World, and the related industries are all thriving.
Thousands of tickets to watch the event on-site were sold out in just an hour after being released. Those who were unable to get the tickets sighed in despair and had to settle for watching the live broadcast of the competition.
The theme for the first round of scoring competition that had been announced was also hotly debated.
Many Spirit Chefs came forward, stating that the theme ‘Vegetables’ gave very little room for creativity and was even more challenging.
This made people more curious about how the twenty-six contestants would tackle this challenge in the scoring competition.
In the midst of widespread discussion and attention across the city, two days passed swiftly.
On the day of the Dongxia City cooking competition, Qin Lang woke up early. After changing into a new chef’s uniform, he walked out of his door with Dan Bao.
“Little Qin is setting off!”
“Little Qin, cheer up! I’ll be watching your competition on TV!”
Neighbors he ran into on the street greeted him, their faces full of sincere wishes.
“I will,” Qin Lang, who had gradually become accustomed to these familiar faces from his memories, showed a friendly smile, “Don’t worry, everyone, I will do my best to achieve a good ranking!”
After bidding them farewell, Qin Lang and Dan Bao headed straight for the competition venue—the Dongxia Arena, built specially by the Dongxia City Spirit Chef Association for the competition.
Not just the cooking competition, but also the tri-monthly training competition held by Dongxia City takes place here.
The two do not conflict, each held at a different time.
The Dongxia Arena is an open-air building in the shape of a cylinder.
It is colored yellow all over, with the words ‘Dongxia Arena’ hanging high up.
As he approached the arena, a wave of anticipation and nervousness filled Qin Lang’s eyes.
In his previous life, he was the youngest Special Class 1 chef in Yan Huang, even participating in the preparation of state banquets.
But now, he is just an unknown, newly-promoted Spiritual Chef.
His opponents are no longer inheritors of the eight major cuisines, experienced national banquet chefs or The Three Stars’ head chefs, but Spirit Chefs who possess talents different from his previous life but just as dazzling. This is a new beginning!
Qin Lang took a deep breath.
“Dan Bao, let’s go in.”
“Gudu!”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Dongxia Arena!”
In the center of the arena, the host’s passionate voice echoed across the whole arena through a loudspeaker, rallying cheers from the audience filling the seats.
“The Dongxia City Cooking Competition, held every three months, is about to begin.”
“In every competition, Spirit Chefs with enough strength will demonstrate their culinary skills and their passion for cooking to prove themselves on this arena.”
“I believe, this won’t be an exception.”
“Now, let’s give the warmest applause to the eleven First-Level Food Recommenders in Dongxia City!”
As the host gestured grandly, the eleven people sitting on the side seats stood up and waved to the audience amidst the thunderous applause.
Zhou Qing, Song Hui, and Fu Hang, who gave Qin Lang the Food Recommender Badge, were among them, and the other eight Food Recommenders each had their unique traits.
“The eleven Food Recommenders will serve as judges in the upcoming elimination and ranking matches, whereas the judges for the scoring competition are…”
“The thirty senior judges from Dongxia City Spirit Chef Association!”
“Let’s welcome them with the same enthusiastic applause!”
As the host’s hand moved to seats on the other side, the thirty judges seated there also stood up and greeted the audience amidst thunderous applause.
“And today, under the assessment of these thirty judges, are our twenty-six contestants!”
“Let’s cheer and clap for them with the greatest enthusiasm!”
All eyes of the audience focused on the twenty-six people standing in a row in the center of the venue.
Various names of the contestants were heard in the cheers and applause, echoing throughout the Dongxia Arena.
Standing among the contestants, Qin Lang couldn’t help but feel tense.
Although he had participated in cooking competitions in his past life, he had never seen such grandeur.
Looking at the competitive standard kitchens, each with an area of one hundred square meters, identical to the ones used in Food Fights and already set up in advance, Qin Lang’s heartbeat quickened.
It was a feeling of excitement.
Vaguely, Qin Lang heard his name being called in the cheers.
Mixed in with the deafening cheers, the sound seemed exceptionally clear.
He looked in a certain direction and saw a few familiar figures on the stands closest to the arena.
It was Qi Xiaoyu and the others who had managed to get VIP tickets.
He nodded in the direction of the three who were waving at him, and shifted his gaze to the middle-aged man with a firm face and robust figure who was addressing the crowd.
Li Yuantu, the deputy chairman of the Dongxia City Spirit Chef Association, was also the only Second-Level Food Recommender in Dongxia City.
This deputy chairman Li was not one for verbose speeches, his speech was rather brief.
After Li Yuantu’s speech, the city-level cooking competition officially kicked off amid the enthusiastic applause of the thousands of spectators. All the judges swore to judge each contestant’s dishes fairly and justly.
“The scoring competition theme this time, after a pre-competition draw, has been finalized as a restricted cuisine theme. The theme this time is Vegetables!” The host announced loudly, “All twenty-six contestants have submitted the ingredients needed for the competition in advance, and they have been verified by the association to meet the requirements of the theme!” “These ingredients have been transported into the competitive standard kitchens, each tagged with the corresponding contestant’s name!”
“The scoring competition will officially start in five minutes, and the cooking time is limited to within three hours.”
“Please enter your respective competitive standard kitchens. You have one chance to verify the ingredients before the competition.”
“After the competition starting bell rings, the walls of the competitive standard kitchens will automatically turn opaque.”
“We look forward to your performance!”
Among the cheering crowd, Qin Lang and Dan Bao entered the competitive standard kitchen with his name on it.
The transparent kitchen wall allowed everyone outside to see him clearly.
Standing in front of the kitchen counter, his gaze scanned over each ingredient, condiment, and seasoning he had prepared. After confirming everything was in order, Qin Lang slowly closed his eyes.
The key techniques of making vegetarian braised pork went through his mind over and over again.
Five minutes later.
With the ringing of the competition’s starting bell, the walls of the kitchen turned opaque.
Qin Lang opened his eyes..