Chapter 411: Cooking for Enemy (4)
‘What are they thinking about us now?’
Min-joon suddenly became curious about how the protesters thought about most French men supporting the American chefs. In some respects, he wanted to see them distorting their faces.
Kaya said nothing while walking through the protesters. She got close to him while walking, so he initially thought she did so in order to avoid the rain. But when he stole a glance at her, that was not the reason.
Actually, she was looking askance at the protesters, looking right and left then looking down on the ground. At the same time, she held her arm tighter as if she was a frightened child. He bit his lips, watching her. He could fully understand why she did so. No matter how tough she looked, she was basically tender-hearted.
Then she was hit by tomatoes thrown by the protesters. Fortunately, she didn’t get hurt, but the shock at that time became a weak trauma for her, which was unavoidable.
Min-joon bit his lips. After all, he didn’t like this place. He wanted to turn back even right now, but the dice had already been cast. What he could do was play the cooking game perfectly.
When she got out of the protesters’ intensive gaze after entering the venue, Kaya seemed to be less nervous now.
He asked, folding his umbrella, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“If you feel you can’t stand it, just tell me. You don’t have to overwork yourself because of this contest.”
“Don’t you think you are overprotecting me because I was hit by a tomato? I’m alright.”
“Okay, If you are fine, I’ve nothing to say.”
I didn’t have to have a quarrel with her when she said she was okay.
At that moment, two men approached them. They were Enzo and Theo.
“It’s nice to see you again, Min-joon.”
“Oh, Enzo. Thank you very much. I heard that you came out of the venue even before they announced the cancellation of the event.”
“What’s the point of winning based on discrimination? That’s a disgrace, not an honor.”
“Anyway, thanks. it won’t be that easy to decide.”
“If you feel grateful to me, try your best today. That’s the way you pay someone back.”
“Sure, will do.”
Min-joon stopped for a moment to hear that. Of course, he thought he would do his best, but it was true that he wondered if he could really cook here as usual because he felt so uncomfortable right now. Most of the participants here don’t talk nonsense, nor do they harbor any bad feelings. But a tomato thrown at Kaya changed his impressions of the situation and the place, just like one could not drink water with an insect, no matter how clear it was.
And even if he tried to hide his bad feelings, he couldn’t.
Watching him, Enzo opened his mouth.
“It looks like you are not happy to be in this place.”
“Oh, you have already noticed it?”
“Absolutely. You know it’s not that often you see the face of a chef who doesn’t want to cook.”
Min-joon made an embarrassed expression. He also wondered what he would look like in Enzo’s eyes.
Enzo opened his mouth in a calm voice.
“Don’t hate France too much. For the French people, cooking isn’t just a meal. So sometimes, they go to extremes. Of course, it’s obvious that those who protested at that time were just idiots. I look forward to seeing you doing your best today. Of course, I have the same expectations for my son, too.”
“I’m sorry, Min-joon. Do well today,” said Theo.
“Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything to apologize.”
Min-joon shook his head with a sigh. Enzo and Theo went back with a light smile.
Watching them going back, Kaya opened her mouth.
“Well, I think it’s my first time seeing you not wanting to cook.”
“Sorry.”
“You don’t have to feel sorry. You feel bad because of me anyway. To be honest with you, I don’t hate this situation that much.”
Min-joon always thought about cooking only. So much so that there was no other person who was as crazy as him in this world. What he always thought about was cooking, and what he usually paid attention to was something related to food, such as ingredients and recipes. So, Kaya sometimes wondered which he would choose between cooking and her.
Given the choice, she would choose Min-joon because it was him, not cooking, that brought about the biggest change in her life. However, honestly, she couldn’t get a sense of what he would do because typically men put their ambitions before their women.
However, watching him protecting her like this, she felt a bit relieved because he showed cooking was not necessarily his top priority now.
“Hey, wake up! Now that we have come to this place, we should not make a half-baked dish. We have to show how absurd their protests against us were.”
“You bet. Let me pull myself together.”
Min-joon took a deep breath and composed himself. She was right. Today, he wanted to present a more perfect dish than ever before. It wasn’t perfect enough just to make a simple dish.
He was about to hit upon an idea when the judges stood on the podium. The crowds were silent and quietly watched the judges.
Bastien was the first to step forward and said, “Thank you, everyone, for coming today. As you know, there has been an embarrassing incident recently. I would like to first apologize on behalf of France to the chefs from Rose Island, America.”
“Please remember that this contest is not just the Paris Cooking Contest, but the Paris International Cooking Contest. The value of this competition is that chefs from all over the world show their cuisine, compare their skills, and seek harmony. It’s not a childish competition in which one country’s cuisine or one country’s chef is superior to the other.”
“So, last time we all had to agonize over how to best convey our message clearly. And we tried to express it through today’s cooking mission.”
“Okay, let me announce today’s cooking theme.”
It seemed Bastien ended with offering apologies for the recent protest, but now the topic was the theme of today’s cooking. While the participants paid attention to the announcement, pricking their ears, judge Norris opened his mouth.
“Today’s theme is cuisine from countries other than France.”
“Of course, as French cooking techniques have spread all over the world, it will be inevitable for you to use French cooking techniques to some extent. But what you make should be either another country’s dish or completely original and fresh.”
“So, we would like to ask you to prove to all of these people the value of foreign cuisines.”
At that moment, the venue was full of whispering because nobody ever imagined that a cooking competition in France would require non-French cuisine as the theme.
Min-joon glanced at the French chefs. He thought they would be embarrassed, but they looked calm as someone who survived all the previous rounds to move up here.
But there were some other conditions—the participants should make the dish in an hour, and they had better make one right perfect dish instead of making several half-baked dishes.
“Any idea?” asked Kaya.
“Well, one ingredient comes to my mind,” Min-joon replied.
“Ingredient?”
Min-joon looked around and whispered something into her ear.
At that moment, she burst into laughter and said, “So, you want to kick their butt?”
“You don’t have to think like that. My point is to show how much we can be different from others.”
“I like that idea. Okay. Let’s do that.”
Kaya smiled gently.
At that moment, the judges approached them.
Norris opened his mouth, looking at Kaya with a sympathetic expression.
“Are you alright?”
“Well, I’m not weak enough to get hurt by a tomato.”
“Once again, I’m sorry. That shouldn’t have happened.”
“Well, people like you who don’t have to feel sorry or keep saying you are sorry while those bastards who threw tomatoes at me just keep silent.”
“Since they don’t want to talk, I have to. What can I do?” said Norris with a sigh.
Sophie said, looking at Min-joon, “I heard that you agonized a lot over whether you would come back or not. How come you decided to come back?”
“Well, I have two reasons why I didn’t want to come back and why I had to. Now I’m here, I want to go back after winning this contest.”
“As a judge, I may be a little strange if I say this, but I would like to cheer for you. I hope you can get good results.”
Min-joon smiled lightly. The judges had nothing to do with the protests. But his heart melted a bit when the judges apologized for their protest.
The judges returned to their seats.
Min-joon looked at the top of the Island where nothing was placed then slowly looked at Kaya.
“Shall we devise a recipe?”
“I think we can choose an Italian dish if we choose that ingredient.”
“We can make any country’s dish, not just an Italian dish. But this time, let’s make whatever we want to do instead of picking any particular country’s dish.”
“I know what you mean…” Kaya blurred.
There were recipes and cooking methods in each country. And in most cases, the recipe represented the dish. So, it was more difficult than to make a dish that did not reflect the traits of other countries, perhaps except for molecular cooking.
It was also because of the conditions for upgrading his gastronomic level that Min-joon came to think about it. It was also related to cosmopolitan cuisine. How could he make a dish that didn’t smell of any particular country? That was the question that Min-joon had been pondering over these days.
“Let me fully use molecular cooking techniques this time. There is no other dish than molecular cooking that blurs the cooking boundaries among countries. Let’s make a dish that you can find possibly everywhere, but you really can’t find in any country.”
“Can you figure it out so quickly?”
“We can do it.”
“Sure, let’s do it.”
And that was the beginning. The two constantly exchanged their opinions like a philosopher engaged in a debate. They looked most passionate and tense at the moment. Naturally, the theme itself was very tough. More precisely, that was what the judges aimed at this time. In terms of the level of difficulty, this new dish was as difficult as the escargot that they cooked for the first time in the previous round.
‘It seems that Min-joon is looking for cosmopolitan taste these days.’
Kaya felt it while discussing with him about the new recipe. At the same time, she even felt he was improving because although she was confused about the definition of global taste itself, she could now realize more clearly what it was. And this was his talent that she recognized. As far as cooking that required hard thinking was concerned, she could not catch up with him.
“Then, should we make it with foam?”
“Foam would be better than air because it needs to be a little strong.”
“How about paprika?”
“Hmm… well.”
They kept discussing like that until the given time was over.
Bastien opened his mouth.
“Okay, we’re going to start the competition now All participants, please bring your ingredients first.”
Min-joon and Kaya went straight to the pantry. When Min-joon headed for the vegetable compartment without hesitation, the first thing he stretched out his hand and grabbed was a tomato
