Food: Random stalls, customers chase me all over the country

Chapter 653-Can chefs also have cognitive impairments?
"But before we finally begin, I'd like to ask if anyone has anything harsh to say?"

Li Sen, who had just announced the start, suddenly kept the secret and made a very explosive proposal.

This kind of competition is more exciting and more interesting if there is some tension.

The first contestant was a man in his thirties, nearly two meters tall, who looked quite intimidating. "I'm not very bright, but I look at these lanterns every year, and the riddles are always the same. I definitely won't lose."

The second one was a shorter, fair-skinned girl wearing a white down jacket. She looked more like the Southern princess who hadn't left yet. "I'm a master of riddles, so be prepared to lose!"

"I'm a language major. It's not too late to surrender now."

"Competition comes first, friendship comes second."

The first wave of people who dared to go on stage were basically quite confident in themselves. Everyone made some powerful statements and were determined to win the grand prize.

Wang Fan originally thought his girlfriend would be more low-key, but he didn't expect Zhuo Qianqian to say very domineeringly after taking the microphone: "You all came in second today."

"Ow!"

As soon as Zhuo Qianqian finished speaking, the crowd burst into amazing cheers and screams.

According to the competition rules, if she wants the rest of the people to get second place, it means that she is going to take all 10 questions, so that the rest of the people will get 0 points, and then they can all get second place.

"The boss lady's words are really tough."

"Good boy, that's even more domineering than Boss Wang's."

"A nerd's words are always firm. No matter what the final result is, this guy has already won in terms of momentum."

Zhuo Qianqian was not at all stage-shy when she stood on the stage. She had basically been in the spotlight since she was a child, and was definitely one of those other people's children.

Wang Fan looked at the extremely confident Zhuo Qianqian, and also cheered and screamed with the group of people below.

Li Sen raised an eyebrow. The atmosphere at the scene had far exceeded his expectations. He was confident that this month's prize money was a sure thing. "Okay, our contestants are very confident. Let's start answering the questions now!"

After he said this, the audience gradually quieted down, and everyone looked at the people on the stage with great interest.

"Please listen to the first question, the riverside guest is happy..."

"I know!"

Li Sen looked at Zhuo Qianqian, who had already raised her hand, speechlessly: "You already know the answer before I even finished reading the question?"

Zhuo Qianqian nodded confidently: "Le is equal to Harbin, and the guest by the river is the coast. The answer is Harbin."

Li Sen exclaimed, "I knew the boss lady was very smart, but I never thought she was this clever. That's right, the answer is Harbin. 1 point for the boss lady."

"Yes!"

Zhuo Qianqian waved her hand excitedly, and Wang Fan's two thumbs were almost raised to the sky.

Although the other contestants were somewhat shocked by Zhuo Qianqian's speed, they thought that she might have heard this question before, so they did not take it to heart.

However, they are now fully focused and will not let others beat them 10-0.

"Please listen to the second question. The water of Taohuatan is a thousand feet deep, but it is not as deep as the love Wang Lun gave me. I guess 10%..."

"I know!"

The moment Li Sencheng's words came out, before anyone else could react, Zhuo Qianqian raised her right hand high again.

"The answer is unparalleled."

Li Sen exclaimed in admiration, "Correct! Madam Boss's speed is truly astonishing. If these questions weren't all new this year, I would have doubted whether you already knew the answers."

"The third question: Two children arguing about the sun..."

Li Sen drew out a long tone and did not rush to say the range.

This question was very open-ended, and no contestant, including Zhuo Qianqian, raised their hands rashly.

"Fight on the street..."

"I know."

The crisp voice sounded again, and Li Sen looked at Zhuo Qianqian numbly: "Boss, are you so fast?"

Zhuo Qianqian chuckled: "The question is too simple, I didn't want to think about it, the answer is Liaoyang Street."

Li Sen is now somewhat doubting his life.

When I first got the questions, I guessed a bit, and for a few questions, I even spent ages thinking about them but couldn't come up with the answers. How come others were able to answer them right away without even having to think? They didn't even have the 15 seconds I was supposed to think about them.

"Wow, the boss lady is cheating."

"It feels like a dimensionality reduction attack."

"You all came in second today. This isn't just a threat; this is simply an announcement."

Zhuo Qianqian's superb performance amazed the audience, and this was just the beginning. Her next performance made the audience numb.

"The bright moon flies across the sky, a divine arrow flies, meeting under the flowers in the fields, weeding the fence and wall..."

“The answer is Chinese Baroque.”

"Soldiers wear hats, don't worry, fight..."

"Bin County."

……

Li Sen felt very tired and had an urge to call the police.

Ten questions, a full ten questions. She had only read out half of the questions when the proprietress, who everyone thought was just a pretty face, had already answered all the questions. She didn't even give others a chance to raise their hands!

The answers to several of these ten questions are place names and street names in Erbin. They are all questions set by the local street office and some state-owned enterprises. It is impossible to know the questions and answers in advance, otherwise the big brother who claims to come here every year would not have raised his hand even once.

The audience went from cheering and screaming at the beginning to being numb by the end. "Honestly, as a Harbin native, I can't relate many of the questions to that place name. Mainly because I don't even know the place name, so how did the boss lady know it?"

"Oh, I heard the answer and worked my way back to the question, but I still have no idea why the answer is this."

"I suspect my IQ has been crushed."

"I originally thought the boss lady relied on her looks to make a living, I never expected her to be so smart."

"I originally thought Boss Wang and his wife were a perfect match, but I never thought they were so greedy. They could both make a living with their looks, but one relies on his craftsmanship and the other relies on his talent. How greedy!"

Li Sen's head was shaking like a rattle. "Amazing! Amazing! You all came in second today! This arrogant and harsh remark truly came true. The boss lady didn't even give the other contestants a chance to raise their hands, let alone answer the questions. So, according to the competition rules, the big doll for this round will be the boss lady's reward. We'll also give out exquisite small gifts to the others as a thank you for your wonderful performances."

Hearing the words "wonderful performance", everyone blushed a little. When it came to performing the pillars, they were indeed quite wonderful.

Wang Fan opened his arms to welcome Zhuo Qianqian who was running towards him. After hugging her, he spun around in a circle. His display of affection, oblivious to the people around him, was immediately met with boos.

"Old married couple, stop showing off. We want to eat your cooking more than dog food."

"Spring is here, everything is coming back to life, and it's cough cough cough season again."

"I really envy your relationship, you two must be very happy!"

The vast majority of Chinese people are soft-hearted and kind-hearted. They have an instinctive yearning for beautiful things and love. When they see such a beautiful scene, most people will send their blessings.

Although my life is hard, I also hope that others will have a happy life.

……

After the Lantern Festival, Zhuo Qianqian will return to school. Zhuo's father and mother didn't take it to heart at all that Zhuo Qianqian didn't go home during the one-month vacation.

Firstly, the New Year is not a holiday for them, and secondly, there are two months of summer vacation, so this is a net profit of one month, which is not a loss no matter how you think about it.

After sending Zhuo Qianqian to school, Wang Fan did not leave in a hurry, but stayed to fulfill his promise.

When he participated in the Sino-French Dessert Competition, the teachers and students of Kainan University became his strongest backing. It would be unacceptable not to cook a good meal to thank them.

Although Professor Liu was very dissatisfied with the fact that this guy had taken over his most promising student, he was very satisfied with the heights he had achieved in his favorite field.

Wang Fan still respects Professor Liu very much, and brought her a lot of gifts this time. While chatting, Wang Fan also asked about the Dessert World Cup.

Professor Liu was a little surprised: "You actually know about this competition. I thought you weren't that interested in desserts."

Wang Fan said, "I'm not really that fond of desserts, but I'm stuck at a certain stage and can't improve, so I want to learn something from it. There just happened to be an invitation to the Dessert World Cup, so I'm thinking about giving it a try. Maybe I can find a way to break through."

Professor Liu was shocked when he heard his words. He looked Wang Fan up and down carefully and asked, "Have you reached the stage of seeing the obstacles in your perception?"

Wang Fan scratched his head, confused: "What is cognitive impairment?"

Professor Liu took a deep breath and explained, "As the name suggests, cognitive impairment is a knowledge barrier. Simply put, it means you've learned too much, and it's affecting your judgment."

Wang Fan asked in surprise, "No way, isn't this something you only encounter in school? Do chefs even have such a saying?"

Professor Liu rolled his eyes. "Any profession that requires learning will accumulate a lot of experience after reaching a certain level. Why shouldn't cooking have knowledge barriers? For example, adding salt to cooking is basic common sense, there's no doubt about that. But as you learn more, you know that salt contains iodine, and then you learn about folic acid, oxalic acid, the three isotopes of iodine, the effects of eating too much salt, and so on. As a result, when cooking, you don't know whether to add salt or not, how much to add, and whether to use deep well salt or Himalayan rock salt?

Thinking too much and too complexly, and making a matter infinitely complicated, is what is called cognitive obstruction."

Wang Fan frowned and fell into deep thought.

Is the problem I am facing now really as Professor Liu said?

If you think about it carefully, it seems to be true.

Although I didn't consider folic acid, oxalic acid, etc., when I got the recipes of my ancestors, out of respect and reverence for them, I did seem to make some trade-offs in the proportions of seasonings.

And because my nose is so sensitive and my taste buds are so sharp, I always seem to have to make choices when adding various seasonings.

There are also which ingredients are most suitable for this seasoning, and which ingredients are most suitable for another seasoning, but when the two seasonings are mixed together, they will have the opposite effect, all of which will give you a headache.

It’s just that I have never been a person who likes to be entangled, so I can make a decision and make a choice very quickly.

"What you said seems to be the problem I am facing now."

Wang Fan sincerely asked, "Do you have any idea on how to solve this problem?"

Professor Liu looked at Wang Fan with admiration. "Honestly, kid, I never thought you'd encounter cognitive impairment at this age. Even the most gifted gourmets might not show signs of this until they're in their forties or fifties. This requires not only talent, but also time and accumulation, and a far greater amount of practice than the average person. But I know you're traveling all year round. I'm going to make a bold guess. Do you have a special talent, perhaps practicing cooking even in your dreams?"

Professor Liu already got the answer from Wang Fan's slightly open mouth and wide eyes.

She said with admiration, "Honestly, I've never been jealous of anyone. You're the first. Your talent is one in a million. Even if there are only 1000 Chinese people, most of them wouldn't choose to be a chef. You truly are a rare talent in the chef industry."

Wang Fan felt a little embarrassed by Professor Liu's words. "Maybe it's just a simple matter of daytime thoughts and nighttime dreams. Do you know how to solve this problem?"

Professor Liu smiled and said, "This question isn't particularly difficult. Simply put, it's about developing your own personal style. Let's take cooking as an example. For the same dish, would you choose to prepare it according to the customer's taste or according to what you consider to be the most perfect result? Would you focus more on the aroma, the original flavor, or the texture of the dish? Once you choose a direction and persevere, eventually developing a style that's uniquely your own, you'll be able to break through the barriers of perception and become a true culinary master."

"Your own style?"

Wang Fan chewed over these words carefully.

Professor Liu's words were like a ray of light piercing the darkness, allowing Wang Fan to suddenly see the way forward.

"If your goal is to break through your cognitive barriers, then I don't think you need to participate in the Dessert World Cup. This competition is more about the appearance and novelty of the desserts, which won't help you with your current state. Of course, if you want to relax abroad, that's fine too. Oh, and if you can truly break through your cognitive barriers, I'm very much looking forward to being your first food taster."

After saying this, Professor Liu walked towards the teaching building, leaving Wang Fan alone in a daze.

He just felt that his head was in a mess at the moment. Various seasonings and ingredients were circling in his mind like butterflies. These ingredients were also labeled with smell, texture and taste. They intersected and collided with each other to form familiar dishes.

“What exactly is my style?”

"What is the limit of my pursuit of food?"

The stunned Wang Fan moved his lips and said in a voice that only he could hear: "I seem to know what to do."

(End of this chapter)