[THEO]
Cooking Skill: E
Dessert Skill: E
Decoration Skill: D
Food Knowledge: S
Taste Perception Level: E
Make at least one family member understand the true taste of food.
Reward
Access main quest to uncover the secret to the past.
Samut gazed blankly at the mysterious system window floating before him. The main quest heading had appeared after Theo's taste perception level rose to E.
"Looks like what I need to do now is... cook, huh?"
He got up from the bed and walked towards his futuristic computer, touching his finger to the small, square projector. Holographic images popped into the air. The text used in this era was all English, as it had been the lingua franca even before the past millennium. Thus, when countries merged into continents, English was chosen as the common language for daily life. As for the languages of individual continents, most retained their unique national characteristics, but it was undeniable that hardly anyone used those languages anymore, with only certain associations or generations seeking to preserve the original cultures.
From the little information Samut possessed, it seemed he truly had to accept that, for now, he needed to embody Theo. He wasn't sure where Theo had gone, or if Theo had been swapped into his past body, but he felt that the most important thing now was to follow what the system told him. Because, analyzing all the events currently unfolding, he could guess that the system might want him to do something related to food.
He didn't believe it was a coincidence. For him, coincidences didn't exist. He had been sent a thousand years into the future, to a world where human eating habits had completely changed. Everyone consumed synthetic nutrients, ingredients were scarce globally, and most importantly, ordinary people's taste buds were distorted from the past because they didn't eat human-cooked food daily.
If he were an ordinary person, he might not have given it a second thought. But he wasn't ordinary. Before he was sent here, he was a world-class food critic. He was a man deeply in love with the world of food, and crucially, the system that only he could see exclusively displayed details related to food.
Therefore, unless he had an IQ in the negative, food was the answer to all equations right now.
"The problem is... I can't cook."
Samut, now accepting himself as Theo, looked at the status window showing his cooking skill at merely E-rank, and his taste perception only recently climbing to E from F. If compared to an online game he used to play, these stats would be considered trash.
A keyboard materialized before him at Theo's thought. Everyone in this era always wore a device resembling a wireless earphone on their left ear. It was a tool that allowed everyone to access technology more conveniently by reading brainwaves and processing them.
Theo's original memories contained only basic details from his past daily life. He knew the name of the school he attended but not its location. He remembered all his friends' names but couldn't recall if each friend was close to him, which could become a problem in the future. Fortunately, Theo was quite meticulous. He kept a personal diary, recording his daily life as video files via the earphone-like device he wore, stored separately in the Cloud.
So, Samut spent several hours that day going through everything essential.
Knock, knock.
"Yes?"
"It's Mom..." Halina opened the door to his room. Theo quickly closed the data window and sat on the bed beside her.
"Is something wrong?"
"About what you talked to Mom about before... I've already spoken to your father about it."
At first, Theo couldn't remember what his mother was referring to, but soon, a memory from the original owner of the body rushed into his mind. It was a memory from a few days before he took over this body: Theo wanted to enroll in one of the world's leading culinary institutions.
This seems to align perfectly with what I've been thinking... Looks like I'll have to go to that institution after all...
"What did Dad say?"
"You know your father is stubborn as a mule..." Halina placed her palm on Theo's head and gently stroked his hair. "But we'll always support you."
The faint smile of the 43-year-old woman in front of Theo felt so warm. His heart, within this body, beat faster, a sensation he could feel himself. Throughout his 30-plus years on Earth before being sent to the future, his family had been quite different from this one. Even though he had found success as a food critic, everyone in his family was a chef. They wanted Samut to become a renowned chef like them, and that very pressure had led Samut to choose a different path, despite possessing taste buds every chef in the world coveted.
"You know Argus Academy isn't a place you can enter with half-hearted commitment, right?" Halina gently held Theo's hand, gazing at his face with a serious expression. "Most people who go there are from high-ranking families hoping to graduate as famous chefs or ingredient restorers to gain renown for themselves. Or some, if they're good, might even help make our world more complete."
"I know."
"Those people start training from a young age, and many of them are very confident and like to use their abilities to control others. Are you sure you can get along with people like that?"
It was a question laced with worry.
Theo understood perfectly why his mother seemed so anxious. That's because the profession of a chef in this era was far grander than it was a thousand years ago. In a world with limited ingredients and people with almost zero knowledge of how to manage them, it was clear that only chefs with culinary skills, ingredient management abilities, or those in a newly emerging profession called 'Ingredient Restorers' – specialists in food ingredient research – could truly bring back the concept of authentic food.
If one were to compare this world to a fantasy novel, the professions of chef and ingredient restorer were akin to knights, heroes, and mages, revered by the people. This was precisely why it was no surprise that those born into families with famous chefs as ancestors were considered high-ranking families. These individuals often possessed culinary information, techniques, and tools passed down through generations.
He once read in a novel that truly noble knights were few and far between, while those who used their greatness to dominate were countless. The same comparison could be made with the high-ranking families or chefs of this era.
Theo paused for a moment. He wasn't sure how to answer this question. This world was so new to him. But ultimately, all he could do was keep moving forward. And only one thing could prove his current thoughts...
"Can I cook dinner tomorrow?"
The First Dish
The next morning, Theo quickly opened his computer and accessed the "Shop" system, an online marketplace for ingredients. Fortunately, the original owner of the body had accumulated a decent amount of money. The currency unit of this era had been standardized globally as "Seras" for convenient inter-continental trade.
One hundred thousand Seras was roughly equivalent to the Thai Baht in his old era. So, Theo thought he could buy enough real ingredients for dinner. But the moment the ingredient window popped up, Theo's face began to contort.
[Ingredient List]
"What the f*** is this?!"
He had somewhat prepared himself for the prices, but seeing them with his own eyes, as someone who remembered garlic costing mere tens of baht, it still threw him off balance.
[Theo has met the conditions. Initiating Ingredient Exploration: Activating Encyclopedia System.] [Theo has met the conditions. Initiating Ingredient Exploration: Activating Ingredient Options.]
As soon as the mysterious system's voice finished, Theo's eyes perceived certain data from the ingredients he was Browse.
[Garlic]
Ingredient Quality: E
Type: Synthetic
Synthetic type?Meaning it's been synthesized, then?
He quickly scrolled through other ingredients on the list again. All of the top 100 items on sale were synthetic ingredients, and their quality was only E, or some even as low as F. Then, Theo scrolled down to find an item: one handful of holy basil leaves, which looked withered in the picture.
[Red Holy Basil]
Ingredient Quality: F
Type: Original
"Even if it's only F-rank, it's genuine holy basil..."
Theo glanced at the price, 4,000 Seras, with hesitation. But in the end, he decided to click "Add to Cart."
After scrolling through ingredients for a long while, it seemed that besides the one handful of holy basil he found earlier, all other ingredients were synthetic. Theo reluctantly bought more synthetic garlic, bird's eye chilies, rice, eggs, and ground pork. Fortunately, his house still had some seasonings in the kitchen. Nevertheless, for this meal, Theo had to spend a total of 32,000 Seras.
And this is just for stir-fried holy basil with a fried egg... If I try to make any other fancy dish, I'll probably have to sell a kidney...
After clicking "checkout," within a few seconds, a square-shaped device beside the computer, with four blue lights illuminating its top, began to operate.
Whoosh!
All the ingredients Theo ordered were transmitted through those lights. This machine was a matter-teleporter, making transportation in this era incredibly fast and flawless.
The holy basil, though withered, wasn't so bad that it was unusable. The other ingredients were in perfect condition, but Theo was still unsure what the difference between original and synthetic ingredients truly was. Fortunately, no one was home right now, so Theo could use the kitchen without much worry.
Even though he wasn't a particularly skilled cook, pad krapao was at least a dish he was intimately familiar with, as it was considered Thailand's national dish. For pad krapao, having all ingredients prepared beforehand was crucial, as the cooking process itself wasn't complicated. So, Theo started by pulling out a stainless steel bowl and gently washing the handful of holy basil to remove any clinging dirt or dust.
[Encyclopedia System Activated]
A video window popped up. This window was divided into many categorized videos, including specific cooking techniques, basic cooking techniques, ingredient preparation techniques, and even instructional videos for various dishes. Most of these videos, however, were locked.
Pad krapao didn't require any complicated preparation techniques. Theo opened a video tutorial for stir-fried pork with holy basil to see if there were any special techniques taught within the clip. After watching for the full three minutes, it seemed the main technique highlighted was using a deep-bottomed Thai-style wok and high heat to achieve the aromatic wok hei in the holy basil.
But unfortunately, Theo's house didn't have a deep-bottomed wok. So, the best he could do was turn the heat high enough to ensure the holy basil wouldn't stay in the pan too long and overcook the meat.
Theo slowly plucked the holy basil leaves one by one, careful not to tear them too much. Then, he gathered the holy basil flowers and put them into a blender along with peeled garlic cloves and five bird's eye chilies. The kitchens of this era likely didn't use mortar and pestles anymore.
Holy basil flowers have a uniquely pungent aroma; they would help give this pad krapao a more dimensional scent. Once the ingredients were blended, Theo spooned them into a small bowl and set it aside before grabbing rice, putting it in the rice cooker, pouring water, and skillfully rinsing the rice. He then started cooking it first, figuring it would take a while for the rice to be done.
Next, he turned to the Teflon pan, poured in oil until it was about a finger-joint deep, and turned on the heat until smoke began to rise from the oil.
"One perfect fried egg at a time..."
Theo had seen advanced fried egg techniques, where the egg white was added to the pan first, then the yolk on top of the white. Doing it that way would make the whites crispy and fluffy while keeping the yolk runny. But with his current cooking skills, it would be too difficult. So, he simply cracked eggs into the pan one by one, slowly waiting for each to cook. A good fried egg, in his opinion, shouldn't have an overcooked yolk, but that was hard for a beginner to achieve. Theo's four fried eggs thus had varying degrees of doneness: some were entirely crispy, some still runny, and some had partially broken yolks.
"Hard, huh... I've eaten fried eggs my whole life, but I never thought making a good one would be this difficult..."
[Imperfect Fried Egg]
Ingredient Quality: E
Cooking Level: D
Components: Synthetic nutrients
Overall Score: E/D
"But the level is still better than capsule food..."
Having admired his first creation, it was finally time for the star dish of the evening.
Theo drained the excess oil from frying the eggs. Then, he heated the pan again until smoke appeared, and added the blended stir-fry ingredients.
Sizzle!
The sound of the ingredients hitting the oil was wonderfully nostalgic. The pungent aroma of chilies wafted out, irritating Theo's nose, so he quickly turned on the extractor fan. Once the chilies and garlic were fragrant enough, Theo added all the synthetic ground pork he had bought and slowly stirred it with a cooking spatula, while his left hand increased the heat.
Whoosh!
The seasoning sauce in the kitchen was pre-made. Its taste was similar to a mix of green-cap sauce (like soy sauce) and oyster sauce, so Theo was quite familiar with it. He slowly drizzled in the sauce, then reached for just a pinch of sugar, sprinkling it into the pan as he had seen in the encyclopedia video. Sugar, he knew, would help cut the saltiness well. Although the bird's eye chilies provided heat, adding black pepper would enhance the aroma with a more subtle scent.
Once everything was well combined and the synthetic ground pork was no longer faintly pink, Theo turned the heat to maximum for the final flourish, as shown in the video. He then added a large handful of holy basil leaves and stirred rapidly twice with the spatula before immediately turning off the heat.
[Synthetic Holy Basil Pork (with Original Ingredient)]
Ingredient Quality: D
Cooking Level: D+
Components: Synthetic nutrients, withered holy basil leaves
Overall Score: D
[Cooking skill proficiency slightly increased]