Culinary God in Wilderness

Chapter 412: Chapter 255: Invitation to Cooperate (Part 2)

The spice wasn’t the kind that made your eyes water and your throat feel like it was on fire. Instead, it was like a gentle, trickling stream—easy to handle while still providing a distinct spiciness. The sourness also helped cut the heat, making it perfect for people who couldn’t handle much spice.

Tasting such a delicacy right after waking up sent her into a state of bliss. By the time she came to her senses, the bamboo tube in her hands was completely empty, with not even a speck of chili left.

Lin Chen was currently placing peeled taro chunks into a coconut shell bowl. The roasted taro was incredibly soft, turning into a mash with the slightest pressure. He then poured in the coconut milk left over from extracting coconut oil, along with a small amount of the oil itself, and stirred it all together, cooking it to a consistency similar to a mashed potato porridge.

As a dessert, the most important ingredient was, of course, sugar.

The only ready-to-use sweet ingredient on hand was a ripe mango. He cut it into bite-sized cubes, dicing the scraps and mixing them into the taro mash first. Then, he arranged the larger cubes over the surface and sprinkled a little snow-white coconut flesh on top as a garnish.

"Here, try this. A Great Xia-style dessert."

He turned his head, about to hand over the bowl of mango taro mash, only to see Erica guiltily avert her gaze.

In her hands was nothing but an empty bamboo tube.

The corner of Lin Chen’s mouth twitched. "You ate it all?"

"Sorry!"

Erica pressed her palms together. "It’s just that what you made was too delicious, and it was a texture and flavor I’ve never had before. I wasn’t paying attention and..."

"Forget it, forget it. I still have a lot of sweet potato starch, and I can just catch a few more fish tonight. It’s not like I have anything else to do."

What chef didn’t want to see their food devoured completely by a diner? It was the highest praise for his skills.

The inspiration for these fish noodles came from a dish from his hometown, fried egg crepes.

He wasn’t sure if it actually originated there, but he had seen it on menus frequently whenever he ate out, ever since he was a kid.

The method was also very simple: just mix sweet potato starch and eggs into a batter, spread it into a thin egg crepe, cut it into strips, and finally, stir-fry it like chow mein with your favorite seasonings. The only difference was that you couldn’t use dark soy sauce, as it would affect the color of the egg crepes.

The freshly cooked coconut taro mash was as hot as porridge and completely covered by the mango, so Erica couldn’t hold the bowl. Lin Chen had to place the coconut shell on top of a bamboo tube for her to carry.

The rich aroma of taro mingled with the mellow, fresh scent of coconut, and the unique fruity fragrance of mango continuously wafted into her nose.

Most importantly, this thing was hot, which couldn’t help but remind her of the fruit oatmeal her dad used to make for her when she was sick.

It also had a porridge-like consistency and was made with coconut milk and fruit. The only difference was that one used steel-cut oats, and the other used taro.

Taro was something you rarely saw in North American supermarkets and restaurants; at least, she had never seen it before.

Afraid of blistering her tongue, she carefully scooped up a spoonful of the taro mash mixed with mango bits and blew on it a few times. She didn’t eat it right away, instead looking at him curiously.

"Why the sudden urge to cook for me? You haven’t eaten yet yourself. It looks like you made this just for me."

"Ohh~ I get it~"

"No, you don’t."

Before she could unleash her ultimate move, Lin Chen quickly cut her off.

"I have something I want to ask you."

’Ask me something?’

Erica blinked, quickly realizing what was going on. A question that would make him go to the trouble of cooking a special meal was most likely related to the United States.

This kind of topic wasn’t suitable for discussion on camera. After all, it was an American show, and the majority of the audience were Americans. If he said something that set them off, it could affect the show’s ratings and reputation.

She shot him a meaningful look before saying, "You had to make a special meal just to work up the courage to ask? This must be a very important question. Let me guess..."

"Are you going to ask about my size?"

She looked down at her own impressive curves, even giving them a little hoist with her hands.

"You should’ve just asked. It’s not like it’s a secret~"

"..."

Although Lin Chen had mentally prepared himself when she gave him the signal, he still found it hard to handle being faced with such a provocative topic.

Reacting as he usually did, he rolled his eyes dramatically and turned his head away.

"Oh, give me a break. I’m not interested in that. Anyone with decent eyesight can figure out the general range, and knowing the specifics is meaningless anyway."

"How is it meaningless? Oh my god, you Asians really don’t understand this kind of fun at all."

Erica patted his shoulder with an expression of exasperated disappointment. "You have to understand, what you can hold in one hand and what you can’t are two completely different worlds. That sense of satisfaction..."

"Stop, stop, stop!"

Lin Chen quickly made a "time-out" gesture, afraid the girl would get completely out of control if she kept talking.

"This isn’t some adult education channel, you know. Please, rein it in a little. What if you corrupt the kids?"

"The kids here don’t need me to teach them~"

She shrugged, an undeniable truth in her expression, a mischievous smile still playing on her lips.

Though she was only doing it to change the subject, she had to admit that teasing Lin with this kind of topic was always fun.

Seeing his shy, awkward expression, completely at a loss, only fueled an even stronger impulse within her to keep teasing him.

’Men from Great Xia are so interesting. Don’t people over there ever talk about this stuff?’

’It really makes you want to bully him mercilessly!!!’

"So, what did you want to ask?"

Though she thought that, she couldn’t let it show. The most fun things are meant to be savored slowly.

"What I want to ask is, are you very rich?"

"Hm?"

A flicker of astonishment crossed Erica’s eyes. She hadn’t expected him to ask such a relatively sensitive, personal question.

However, given their current superficial relationship, it wasn’t too offensive for friends to discuss this.

"That depends on your definition of rich. To the average middle-class person, my family would certainly be considered rich. But to a true capitalist, my family is just the average middle class."

"I’m definitely comparing you to most people. Since you are rich, would you be interested in partnering with me?"

"Partnering?"

"After the competition ends, I want to use the prize money to buy an estate and invest in a startup, right? The estate would be mainly for me to live in, and to do some farming and stuff. As for the startup, I definitely want to open a restaurant."

"In Great Xia, we have a type of ’agritainment’ experience. Guests pay an entrance fee, then they can go into the fields to pick their own ingredients or catch things like chickens, ducks, and fish. We then provide a space for them to cook it themselves, or they can have a chef prepare a delicious meal for them."

"The main appeal of this model is its novelty. After all, most people have never farmed before and rarely get to experience the satisfaction of a harvest. Plus, the cooperative process can help strengthen relationships, making it great for families or couples."

"That sounds really interesting, kind of like when I take clients on adventures in the forest. People love trying new things. Hmm, but we’ll need to discuss the specific details. Let’s talk about it after the competition. You can find some videos about it for me to watch then, so I can get a better idea."

She had originally thought Lin Chen was just making up an excuse to get past the awkward moment, but to her surprise, he was actually proposing a partnership.

It sounded like he wanted her to invest, or maybe he was suggesting a joint venture.

With his current level of fame, starting something like this would undoubtedly attract a large number of visitors. That was an undeniable fact.

Business at White Whale was good, true, but the main reason was that Lin Chen himself wasn’t the one cooking there.

If you could have the real deal, who would want the knock-off?

However, White Whale was located near Vancouver, in western Canada, while Toronto was in the east, thousands of kilometers away. There wouldn’t be any direct competition between the two.

"Have you thought about where you’d want to buy the estate? As far as I know, the prices in Toronto are pretty high. A lot of luxury mansions are located there."