The Cheat Emperor of the Culinary World

This issue resonates so much.

If it’s an old waiter from the restaurant, they naturally would have some corresponding rhetoric to deal with such questions.

However, newcomers, who aren’t very familiar with the restaurant’s dishes, often find it difficult to react promptly when suddenly asked by customers.

Especially since Qianlima primarily features seafood dishes, and seafood is the food most prone to causing allergic reactions, often surrounded by dietary taboos spread by word of mouth.

Yao Yihang couldn’t help but glance at the young food runner who asked the question.

The question was well-asked; it is indeed one of the most frequently posed questions by customers in service work.

Yao Yihang chuckled and flipped through his notes.

Regarding the topic of food incompatibility, he had transcribed Gu Yunwu’s training notes during last year’s training at the restaurant.

Now is the perfect time to recite them verbatim.

Yao Yihang simply read out from his notes word for word: ”Each ingredient has its specific effects, but sometimes, when incompatible ingredients are eaten together, the effects might turn into causes of illness. However, the premise is overconsumption. Any food eaten in excess can burden the body, and foods like seafood can indeed easily cause allergic reactions, but that is an issue for only a minority of people. Furthermore, customers with such conditions should already be aware of their need to avoid seafood.”

The food runner was stunned: ”But when a customer asks, explaining it this way might not be very convincing, right? There’s no definite standard for what constitutes overconsumption.”

Yao Yihang paused for a moment: ”Indeed, many people say seafood easily causes allergies, and there are many claims about food incompatibilities. Yet, we specialize in seafood dishes, and over the years, there’s been no report of any dining issues, so when customers inquire, just respond as I mentioned earlier, and it should suffice.”

At this point, Liu Yuqing was starting to get restless.

She was among the first of this batch of newcomers, so she had a better understanding of these matters.

She knew this question indeed gets asked by customers quite often, and if not addressed carefully, it could lead to missed orders or even affect the customers’ dining mood.

”Chef Yao, actually, the concept of food incompatibility is a myth, and there are already scientific explanations for this kind of rumor.”

”When crabs and tomatoes are in the gastric juice of the human body, the arsenic in crabs doesn’t get converted into arsenic poison.”

”The first food incompatibility rumor in history is untraceable, but tracing back to the roots, it can be attributed to the traditional theory of ’the five elements counteracting each other.’”

”However, some people do experience gout, diarrhea, etc., after consuming beer with seafood, or crabs with persimmons. The Deputy Minister of Health and the Secretary-General of the Chinese Medical Association once wrote that impure food, overeating, and allergic constitutions may cause adverse reactions like diarrhea and itchy skin in a minority of people.”

”When real factors do not draw attention, people tend to attribute occasional factors to the disease cause.”

”Excessive focus on food incompatibility reduces our dietary diversity, and the food incompatibility rumor is unfounded.”

Liu Yuqing spoke softly, yet her words silenced the whole room.

Her statements were logical, transparent, and straightforward, clearly explaining the crux of the problem.

After hearing it, everyone felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.

So that’s how it is!

Even Yao Yihang felt a sense of sudden clarity.

What a wonderful explanation, so that’s how it is!

Liu Yuqing didn’t originally intend to speak up, but this training session was attended by her peers, the same batch of newcomers. Having been through similar setbacks herself, she especially hoped others would work more smoothly.

She hadn’t expected her words to cause such a stir. Seeing the amazed expressions of those around her made her somewhat blush.

”Actually... none of this was my original thought; I heard it from Chef Fu.”

Liu Yuqing was never one to take credit or boast.

She explained truthfully, ”When I first started working here, a customer happened to cause trouble over food incompatibility issues. The server guiding me at that time explained to the customer in this way. I thought it was an excellent explanation, so I learned from her, and she said these were all taught by Chef Fu.”

Everyone was dumbfounded!

So, was it all taught by Fu Yu?

Even Yao Yihang’s face changed slightly, surprised it was Fu Yu’s words?

After Liu Yuqing finished, everyone around started whispering.

”Oh, so it was Chef Fu! That explains it!”

”Chef Fu is so amazing!”

”Awesome...!”

Listening to the whispers, Yao Yihang discreetly tightened his grip on the pen in his hand.

Darn!

Fu Yu is not even here, and he’s stealing the limelight!

Cursing inwardly once, he looked up with a smile still on his face: ”Oh, it was Chef Fu who said that? He made excellent points that can indeed be used to handle customer inquiries.”

”Of course, we face many similar issues in our daily work, so the training aims to allow everyone to brainstorm, learn, and communicate more. This opportunity is perfect for us to explore what other questions need answers.”

Yao Yihang now faced Fu Yu with complete composure.

To him, Fu Yu was someone he could never catch up with, someone he would be overshadowed by.

Thus, for today’s events, aside from having a critical comment inside his mind, he was not really angry.

...

The training concluded.

Yao Yihang watched as the young girls left briskly without a hint of nostalgia.

He could no longer maintain the smile on his face.

The anticipated gazes of admiration and appreciative looks were nowhere to be found.

From today’s training, he understood the truth of an old saying.

A single woman is worth five hundred ducks.

The ancients did not deceive me!

Recalling the lively discussion among the girls in the meeting room just now, Yao Yihang felt his temples throbbing again.

With heavy steps, he walked towards the back kitchen.

Just turning the corner connecting the front hall to the back kitchen, he ran into a hurriedly approaching busboy.

”Chef Yao, Chef Gu called you just now. Why didn’t you answer?”

Yao Yihang was startled: ”Huh? He called me?”

He took out his phone and found two missed calls indeed.

During the training, to show his focus, he had set his phone to silent mode and forgot to change it back afterward.

”What’s Chef Gu calling me for?”

Quickening his pace, Yao Yihang asked as he walked.

The busboy followed, explaining, ”The back kitchen just received a large banquet order for a family gathering. Chef Gu couldn’t handle it alone and wanted you to help.”