Chapter 1412
Chapter 1412 - 1408: New World
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7 min read
When the fireworks burst in the sky, it meant that this new commercial street had been completed.
Oriental Food Street, a name lacking in creativity, was destined to become the world’s most famous culinary Holy Land.
"Thank you all for coming. The shops here all offer the authentic flavors from the Eastern Country. Today, we have a half-price promotion for our opening, and if you fill out a survey afterwards, you can get an additional ten percent off..."
"Hometown Dishes. Kaifeng Cuisine," "Hometown Dishes. Wanjing Roast Duck".... and other subtly named signs appeared along the street.
The Official promise given to Lu Ping’an began to materialize, as the first batch of stores belonging to the National Grain Group opened on Lu Ping’an’s territory.
"Keep track of the time..."
And Lu Ping’an himself participated in the ribbon-cutting, not because he was really idle, but because he wanted to advertise for himself, making it easier to promote these stores.
He ate his way through the street "with great interest," chatting and taking photos with the shopkeepers.... Soon, these photos would appear in the chain stores in other regions.
Advertising was one aspect, but declaring "this industry is under my protection" was the key.... in this world, the threat of Strongmen was real—they might actually come to kill you for the insult of "daring to dine and dash without giving me face!"
"As expected, the effect is pretty average."
This time, Lu Ping’an enjoyed himself quite a bit, trying many delicacies for the first time.
However, the flavors catered to Easterners were not to the Fishmen or the Long Hand Clan’s liking, and even the Saphire people had rather subtle expressions.
This was an expected outcome, after all, the differences between Races exist inherently, and a forceful "unification" or "everyone the same" approach is what is truly uncomfortable.
"Fishman prefer cooked food and generally hate seafood, huh, can they not taste salty dishes because they are used to seawater? But they do like sweet and spicy flavors, dishes like spicy chicken are quite popular with them. Too spicy won’t do either, it seems their digestive ability isn’t great...."
𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
The advantage of the food street lay here, the Eastern Country cuisine offered many flavors, and perhaps among the variety on this street, people would find something to their taste.
Contrary to most expectations, Fishmen not only disliked raw food, but also despised eating fish... Perhaps the impression of Fishmen nakedly catching fish in the sea and then gnawing on them raw had settled deeply into people’s minds, creating a stereotype, and according to the survey results, their favorite foods were fruit-based dishes, followed by well-cooked meats.
"On a scale of one to ten, our stores are hovering between one and six—in general, it’s quite pessimistic..."
This was totally within expectations, yet still a bit disheartening for the master chefs whose carefully crafted dishes were genuinely not understood or liked by the customers.
"Keep it up, everyone. With your skills, I believe you will soon be able to discard past Experience and come up with products that meet the new market demand..."
Lu seemed optimistic. The skill level of these chefs was there, each one a highly recognized Master, tasked with endlessly researching local tastes to create new signature dishes suitable for the various chain stores.
In this process, the adaptation wasn’t just between the dishes and the Foodies, but also between food Materials and the dishes themselves... It was impossible to keep shipping ingredients from home, so localization was inevitable, and the native species here were bound to evolve differently, requiring constant adjustments in taste, nutrition, and safety.
But Lu was confident, because he had faith in these high-quality professionals (including many professional chefs), and those who could be dispatched by large Eastern Country companies with high salaries were talents he couldn’t usually recruit.
Taste, Materials, as well as safety and nutritional value—a part of them might revert to local practices, but before they left, they would ensure that each franchise had a standard routine for their menu items.
"The gap in taste preferences among the Races is vast, as is the difference in the amount they eat. The Long Hand Clan prefers bland flavors, but they pay great attention to the presentation of food, particularly color... I suspect their Perception Ability in scent is in their eyes, and they can actually ’see’ to taste."
"Looking at it now, a standard set of procedures simply can’t solve the problem; we have to customize meals according to each Race..."
"A Fishman BBQ set? A Long Hand Clan steamed rice set? This... isn’t it a bit like racial profiling?"
"Not at all, we’re not the Huaqi Federation. Besides, the differences among Earth people are really not that great, but in front of us are indeed different life forms; these distinctions are clear—it’s two different matters..."
After listening to the meeting with the master chefs and branch managers, Lu Ping’an left.
He left the professional work to the professionals. Having confirmed their level of competency, Lu naturally would not interfere... He merely sent the chefs from his hometown restaurant, as well as the cooks from the Redemption, to them for further training, also improving his own business and crew’s meals.
"Next stop, the clothing factory...."
Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are essential needs, and the initial investments from the Eastern Country were mostly focused on these aspects.
However, when Lu arrived at the Fashion Street, he knew there was no need to go in.
Various garments... uh, the sight of Long Hand Clan women happily wearing cotton-padded jackets as vests, and the Fishmen fashioning pants into skirts, were simply too comical and too much for the eyes.
Clearly, the first batch of clothing products were just for a laugh and needed further professional adjustment by the masters.
But judging from the overjoyed faces of the locals coming out of there, it seemed the clothing market was doing much better than the food industry.
After considering it for a moment, Lu had a rough idea of why.
The locals were dressed in strange fashions, but they hadn’t put on clothing incorrectly—there were no socks on hands or underwear on heads. They had seen these garments through "Human Masters."
Aesthetics are actually a relative concept, and there’s no denying that the relatively high status of humans in this world has indeed distorted local tastes, selling these average and ill-fitting clothes quite well.
"On to the next stop..."
Lu Ping’an shook his head. These things had to take their natural course.
"Shipbuilding yard...."
As expected, the first batch of the local machinery industry was the shipbuilding industry, but it hadn’t opened yet... all sorts of native machinery were still emitting smoke, needing to adjust to the local environment.
The Shipbuilders from the Ancient city were directing work here, along with the local engineers, giving them a first-mover advantage which could save the new shipyards many years of technical accumulation.
Looking at the busy factory area, Lu Ping’an didn’t want to cause a disturbance.
He just quietly walked through, watching each of his "investments" taking shape, watching his new homeland slowly rise.
— End of Chapter 1412 —