It's too difficult. Everyone should just stick to eating boiled vegetables.
Mo Bei's pupils dilated in shock: "Impossible! How could someone not know how to stir-fry vegetables?" Even a phoenix like him knew, while his phoenix clan never cooked.
"Well, let me put it this way," Ye Xu thought for a moment, "There was an ancient cooking method called 'fan,' which all the ancients knew how to do. Do you know what that involves?"
Mo Bei: "What character is this? I don't recognize it."
The word "燔" (fān) actually means cooking food directly over a fire, then dipping it in sauce before eating. It's very simple to explain, but if I didn't explain it and just gave you a single character, would you understand?
Interstellar people have this feeling when looking at information from ten thousand years ago, because everyone knows what "stir-frying" means, so there is no information that specifically explains how "stir-frying" is done, so they can only guess.
"But stir-fried and deep-fried foods are so delicious, how could they be lost?" Mo Bei still didn't understand. "I can accept the loss of foods that aren't delicious."
"It's also delicious cooked and dipped in sauce."
Mo Bei: "This technique hasn't been lost, has it? It's just been presented in a different way and with a different expression."
"I'm just using it as an example. These practices might still exist among the elite, but it's unlikely for ordinary people. However, the elite during wartime, well..."
The largest races are like war machines, each only concerned with fighting and devoid of worldly desires. Would they really hire someone to cook delicious food? Ye Xu thought it was highly unlikely. The remaining nobles are far fewer in number, meaning that the inheritance process is more prone to problems and could easily be lost.
Han Yingchen understood: "In the end, it's still a matter of time. The duration has been too long. If it had been shorter, the cultural discontinuity wouldn't be so severe now."
After the war, the war machine races continued to vent their frustrations through interstellar exploration and extreme sports. Without the political correctness of having many children to provide fresh blood for the battlefield, no one was keen on having offspring—even though in-vitro fertilization and artificial womb technologies were now so advanced that they didn't need to put in much effort, and nations were even willing to pay for the children's upbringing.
All these factors combined have caused the populations of war-loving races to remain stagnant or even slowly decline, while other races that prefer pleasure are eager to expand their numbers. Their populations have already dwindled due to the war, and if they don't increase their numbers, their lives will become even more difficult.
In the interstellar era, it's a classic case of having more people means more advantages. Whether it's arguing with netizens or doing anything else, having more people in your own clan or group is always better than having fewer. More people mean more influence, and you can also negotiate more benefits within the interstellar alliance.
"So now, after fifty years of recuperation, the number of people who enjoy pleasure has surged. Fifty years is enough to produce two or three generations, and a large number of hedonistic people have emerged. However, their progress in exploring the food industry is still very slow, which is a great opportunity for us to accumulate points in the past," Jiang Yuexuan concluded.
In this scenario, the emergence of a restaurant that could outperform its competitors even at its peak would undoubtedly provide an unparalleled dining experience for the people of the intergalactic world. Imagine everyone eating there, glowing with satisfaction, just like in the anime "Cooking Master Boy"—the thought alone is quite amusing.
The key point is that there really are intelligent races that can glow in the interstellar era (...).
So here's the question: "If ten thousand years pass and you drink these awful-tasting nutritional supplements every day, won't your taste buds atrophy?"
"Probably not. Primitive humans ate raw meat for hundreds of thousands of years and didn't degenerate." Mo Bei was optimistic. "When I read time-travel novels, I see protagonists go back to ancient times and just add a few seasonings, and everyone is amazed. It's probably because their taste buds have been tortured by boiled food for many years, so they are more sensitive to flavors they haven't tried before."
Han Yingchen was very curious: "Novels are all written by people. The author didn't actually travel back to ancient times, so how do you know that what he wrote is reasonable?"
Mo Bei glared at him: "Don't try to undermine me like that stinky dragon did. We have no family feud."
Han Yingchen: "..." He really was just asking out of curiosity, not deliberately trying to provoke anyone.
"Alright, stop fooling around." Ye Xu slapped Mo Bei away. "Then it's decided. We'll open a proper restaurant in the last plane where everyone gathers, so we can all stay together and not separate. Judging from the interstellar environment, it should provide a lot of points, so we don't need to open branches to speed up the accumulation of points."
Judging from their current situation, they'll probably stay for another full year before leaving. So, there's really no difference between saving up sooner or later. Opening so many shops is a bit of a hassle; if something goes wrong, they'll have to rush back to deal with it, which really interferes with their travel plans.
After listening for a while, Xiao Suguang suggested, "We can compile information about the food in a way that interstellar people can understand, preferably with instructional videos. When we leave, we can publish it on the Star Network to save them the trouble of slowly deciphering it."
“We still need to decipher it, after all, their traditional dishes are not all Chinese, there are also some special dishes from other races.” Xiao Yige added in a low voice, “But it would be good to leave them a lot of Chinese recipes, but I don’t think we necessarily have to leave them when we leave.”
It's too much work to upload all that information at once. With so many recipes, you can start by uploading the dishes that aren't sold in the restaurant, and then post the menus for the dishes that are still available when you leave.
Chapter 47 Holographic
After making the decision, everyone packed up and went back to rest. As usual, they used Xiaoyu's skill to adjust the flow of time, and when both sides arrived at 7:00 AM at the same time, they teleported.
Since we're only opening one store this time, there's no need to specifically choose the location. Just find out which race loves food and pleasure the most, then choose the most prosperous and wealthy planet of that race, and land in its central city.
Ye Xu didn't want to start the game on hard mode. If he went to open a shop in the territory of a war-torn race, he probably wouldn't be able to complete the mission.
"For a top-tier restaurant, should it be a Chinese restaurant or a Western restaurant?" Jiang Yuexuan asked Ye Xu for his thoughts.
Ye Xu replied without hesitation, "Of course, it's Chinese food."
Chinese cuisine has eight major regional cuisines, as well as many local delicacies that haven't yet formed a distinct cuisine, and even various snacks. Since the interstellar people don't understand the difference between main meals and snacks, he put them all in the shop, introducing several new items every day so that everyone could try as many different foods as possible, so that they wouldn't end up figuring out the right flavors on their own when the shop closed down.
Jiang Yuexuan saw through his little scheme at a glance: "Are you trying to tempt them on purpose? Once they've tasted it, they can't eat it again, so they have to take the recipe and cook it themselves. In order to replicate the delicious taste from before, they have to study hard and not just make something passable."
Ye Xu chuckled and did not refute.
“Even if the restaurant adds ten new dishes every day, it can’t cover all the delicious food,” Xiao Suguang said with a smile. “I heard you guys made some kind of holographic video before, which allows you to smell the aroma of the food. Can you taste the food?”
The headmaster's words immediately brought back memories of the mixed rice noodles from back then. Ye Xu also suddenly realized, "That's right, it's the interstellar era anyway, the technology is sufficient, releasing holographic videos with taste and smell won't cause any trouble, he can just slip his own ideas into the recipe tutorial videos."
"Then it's settled. The tutorial video will start with a display of the food, followed by a tasting process. We'll use the presentation and flavor to keep viewers engaged so they'll be willing to watch the entire cooking process."
So, compared to managing the business, the biggest task in this current dimension is actually to film instructional videos for almost all the dishes. Han Yingchen suggested removing some dishes with more "challenging" ingredients, such as spider-wrapped barbecue and beef offal hot pot.
There are countless delicious foods out there, so let's not challenge the interstellar people's ability to accept them right away. If they're adaptable, they'll eventually develop their own hellish cuisine. If they're not, there's no need to complicate things; after all, these kinds of dishes aren't so delicious that they're irreplaceable or that not teaching them would be a loss for the interstellar community.
Ye Xushen agreed: "I don't want cow dung to appear in my restaurant's kitchen either."
Everyone remained silent as they imagined that scene.
Although "cow dung" isn't actually formed cow dung, but rather half-digested stomach contents, people don't really think it's any better than cow dung. A runny, undigested mass in the stomach looks even more unappetizing.
Considering that the only thing lacking in the interstellar era is the large population, and that interstellar transportation is highly developed, making it entirely possible for people to travel long distances to eat, Ye Xu decided to expand the restaurant.
Jiang Yuexuan stopped him: "No need, just set up a holographic shop."
For their store manager, the greatest convenience of the interstellar era actually lies in holographic technology. The current dimension already boasts a well-established holographic commercial street, and many homebodies who dislike going out shop online.
The items in the holographic store are the same as those in the physical store. If you want to buy clothes, you can try them on online first before placing your order. The item that arrives in your package is exactly the one you tried on, with no mistakes or omissions, which is very convenient.
"The products in the holographic store are divided into two categories: one is for use in the virtual world, and the other is physical goods."
Virtual goods are items that can only be used in the holographic world after purchase. For example, buying clothes, like a virtual dress, can only be worn in the holographic world, similar to game cosmetics. Another example is buying food; what you receive is a string of simulated data that you can consume in the holographic world to satisfy your taste buds, but it won't actually fill your stomach in the real world.
The advantage of virtual goods is their low price, often more than half the price of physical goods. If they opened a holographic shop selling only virtual dishes, they could let people from all over the galaxy come and enjoy their food.
"The most important point is that the system can absorb the energy generated from eating virtual food in the holographic store," Jiang Yuexuan emphasized.
Ye Xu: "!!"
Does that mean that once a shop becomes famous, it might be possible to accumulate enough mission points in just one day? The interstellar era is so awesome!
Han Yingchen understood: "You mean the internet can be used by the system as a tool to absorb energy?"
“Yes.” Jiang Yuexuan nodded. “But it has to be on a holographic network. It’s hard to operate things like computers and mobile phones through a screen.”
The human consciousness is completely immersed in the holographic network, and the emotions generated are directly left in the holographic network, making them very easy to absorb.
"So how do you apply for a holographic store?" Ye Xu asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
Having an experienced person around makes all the difference. Five minutes later, with the expert's guidance, Ye Xu successfully completed the shop application. Applying for a holographic shop requires a deposit, after which rent is paid to rent the space. If you have enough money, you can change the lease to a purchase after the application is completed and expand the area, and so on.
Ye Xu had accumulated a considerable amount of funds using the first three locations, and now he only needed to exchange a small portion for star coins, which would be more than enough. Sister Xuan said that in the interstellar era, not many people were willing to go out to eat, especially with holographic stores available. They could simply set up a small offline store and then aggressively expand their online store.
According to the system's rules, only those who eat inside the store can absorb energy, and this also applies to holographic stores. However, the interstellar government has regulated the model of holographic stores, requiring customers to have a separate table to sit and consume food unless they choose to take away.
In other words, sharing tables as before is no longer possible; each table can only accommodate guests from one family traveling together. Therefore, Ye Xu needs to expand the shop area to accommodate more tables.
"If it doesn't work out, we can just open a branch," Mo Bei suggested, leaning over. He had tasted success last time and was now very enthusiastic about being a store manager.
Jiang Yuexuan coldly pushed him away: "There's no need. The points task will be completed soon, and I don't need your help."
"Opening a branch is possible, but I estimate we'll only earn currency." Ye Xu was unusually amiable towards Mo Bei, probably because he was in a good mood, thinking about how he would soon be able to let loose and become a free man.
Mo Bei was about to mutter, "What do I need so much money for?" when Han Yingchen quickly agreed, "That works too."
As someone accustomed to poverty and a complete glutton, Han Yingchen deeply understands the importance of money.
Don't be fooled by the shop manager's seemingly endless wealth in every world; that's just his situation, not a guarantee he'll be able to live that way on his own. He's still quite aware of potential crises. If he can't accumulate more points, he should at least accumulate more currency—that's all capital for the future.
“Okay, when there aren’t enough seats in the store, you can open a branch outside. Anyway, it’s a store in the holographic network, but we’re still together in reality, so we can meet and have meals offline every day.”
These days, what everyone looks forward to most is daily get-togethers. Eating alone is too boring; it's much more fun to gather with others, eat, and chat. Especially when having a barbecue party, you can even force robots to perform their clumsy talents—being a ruthless boss is definitely fun.
With massive funding, the first interdimensional food store had already generated buzz online before its official opening.
Having gained experience from the modern world, Ye Xu roughly understood how to market and promote his products. He and Sister Xuan worked together to spread the word about the "reappearance of lost delicacies" and attract attention.
Ye Xu discovered that he had indeed made rapid progress and was now able to work with Sister Xuan, instead of being just a lazy bum who kept saying "666" like before.
These days, the most popular news definitely includes the tag "lost cuisine," although the news about it always leaves people scratching their heads. Ye Xu checked the trending searches from a while ago and found that the last related entry was "what does 'fry' mean," and the one before that was "what are the two fruits that make up tomato stir-fry."
Scrolling further up, you'll find some alarming news stories caused by translation errors. Many ancient characters have similar shapes, and if not translated carefully, they can appear quite bizarre when placed in their original names, such as "fried garlic embryo."
Even so, the public's enthusiasm for lost delicacies remains undiminished, with countless videos jumping on the bandwagon online. Relying on the meager dozen or so semi-finished recipes that have already been recreated, this group racks their brains to reproduce them. Although the finished products still incorporate a lot of personal interpretation and imagination, as long as they taste good, netizens are very receptive.
At this point, Ye Xu raised the banner of "recreating gourmet food" and shamelessly claimed that his family had always possessed a massive number of translated gourmet recipes. After fifty years of private research, he was able to replicate all the dishes and would officially start selling them to the public in three days. Naturally, this attracted attention from the entire internet.
No one knew where Ye Xu and his group came from, and they couldn't find any information about them. The powerful and wealthy were told that the information was "too confidential to be found," while the top politicians, influenced by a buff, tacitly accepted the existence of the dimensional shop and didn't investigate further.
No one suppressed the news, and the promotion quickly spread throughout the entire interstellar space. Upon hearing that they would be opening holographic shops, almost 99% of the interstellar population was eager to see what was going on.
The reason is simple: everyone is just too bored, and they figure they might as well watch the excitement.
After the war ended, even the war-torn races were incredibly bored. Even if they went to do extreme sports, they couldn't always have something to do, so they had to go online for entertainment. During wartime, they could use their free time to train their combat skills, but now that they didn't need such strong combat skills, many of them became listless.
Ye Xu hadn't expected the promotional effect to be better than he anticipated, so it seemed his own store definitely wouldn't be able to handle it. No need for further discussion, he decided to just open branches—as many as he could, since opening a StarNet store was convenient anyway.
They announced that they would open in three days, initially offering only one hundred dishes. Because they need time for the chefs to prepare the dishes, they will use StarNet equipment to collect data on the cooking process and the final product, so that they can replicate the real-world food in the holographic store.
Another major advantage of holographic stores is that there's no need for a kitchen to cook. All dishes are pre-entered, and can be generated with a single click when needed. The images on the left and right are virtual dishes created from data, eliminating the need for a traditional cooking process.
Ye Xu hired ten chefs to work simultaneously, cooking delicious food offline. Making one hundred dishes in three days was more than enough. With the help of robots, each person could make one hundred different dishes a day.
However, in order to intimidate those interstellar people, Ye Xu decided to serve all one hundred dishes as elaborate dishes. Even the vegetarian dishes had to be made fancy, like boiled cabbage in clear broth, which is why the cooking time increased.
Selecting the dishes also took a considerable amount of time. Everyone first ranked the dishes from longest to shortest cooking time, then picked out a few for the chef to prepare. The first dish to be cooked was naturally Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, mainly because Ye Xu wanted to eat it herself.
"I've never tried Buddha Jumps Over the Wall before, but I've always heard it's incredibly delicious," Ye Xu said with anticipation.
There are now inexpensive frozen Buddha Jumps Over the Wall available for sale; the price isn't high, and everyone can afford it, but the taste isn't quite there yet. However, Ye Xu wants to eat the kind made by a top-tier restaurant chef. When he was an orphan, he couldn't afford to eat it, and he couldn't find any shops that made it when he traveled.
Han Yingchen held a copy of "The Manchu Han Imperial Feast" with longing in his eyes: "They all look delicious."
Everyone: "..." We haven't finished discussing the dishes yet. Let's talk about what we want to eat later.
They worked on the menu while brainstorming, and it took them two hours to finalize the entire menu. Some of the dishes weren't actually traditional delicacies, but rather trendy recipes from the heyday of social media. They specifically selected those that bloggers had recreated and praised for their taste, and then handed them over to the chef robot to figure out.
The same dish can be elevated several levels in taste with just a few minor adjustments to the seasoning and ingredients. While trendy foods may satisfy everyone's taste buds, they still fall far short of well-established and thoroughly refined traditional cuisine.
Imagine this: on the left is a plate of Dongpo pork cooked with the perfect proportions by a top chef, and on the right is a plate of cola-braised beef made simply according to a trendy online recipe. The difference in taste is obvious. To make the difference in their deliciousness levels less significant, a chef would have to be called in to do some research.
Most of the three days were spent on this, with the ten chefs discussing together, and they finally completed the task within the deadline. But the ordeal was not over yet. Ye Xu said that the remaining recipes were also handed over to everyone, hoping that they could come up with the most perfect instructional videos for all the dishes within a year.
Chefs: We've hardened our stance, our fists have hardened.
If the AI were even slightly more advanced, the head chef would have jumped out and started a fight. Luckily, Ye Xu still had a tiny bit of conscience. Once he earned some money, he used his extra points to buy employee vouchers and hired a bunch of head chefs to work hard with them. Otherwise, ten chefs alone would definitely not be able to handle the workload.