Chef at the University Canteen-Chapter 323 - 235: Athlete’s Menu

After a pause, he continued,

"Master Xiaojiang, here’s the thing. Several alumni have returned to our school today, and among them are a few current athletes. They have strict dietary requirements, so the academy asked me to specifically select some ingredients and bring them to you.

I should have informed you earlier, but it was arranged quite hastily, and in all the rush, I forgot. I really apologize for that!"

"Oh, that’s what happened!"

Jiang Yu nodded with a look of realization and said with a smile,

"I’ve known about the excellent alumni visiting the school for quite some time, but I wasn’t aware that the school had taken it upon themselves to procure ingredients."

This alumni visit today—Xiong Bingsheng had called him about it in the morning, so Jiang Yu was certainly aware of it. However, he didn’t expect the School of Sports to be so meticulous, going so far as to prepare the ingredients.

But the school’s concern is understandable. Athletes do have a lot of dietary restrictions. Even someone like Jiang Yu, who’s not an expert, knows that athletes can’t eat fried food, barbecues, hotpots, various marinated dishes, and animal offal.

Besides these, things like liquorice, lotus seeds, clove (spice), and pepper are also off-limits.

This is because these condiments and ingredients might contain certain stimulant components. If athletes consume these and are then detected for "doping," the consequences would be unimaginable.

Jiang University, as the inviter of visiting alumni, naturally doesn’t want such incidents to occur. Being extra cautious is more than necessary in this aspect.

After pausing again, Jiang Yu turned to look at the ingredients placed by the car, and then asked,

"So, how should our cafeteria accept these? Are any procedures needed?" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

It’s obvious at a glance that these ingredients must be green and organic foods. Regardless of their taste, they are surely expensive. Why on earth would he mind using better ingredients for cooking?

It just doesn’t make sense!

"It’s simple; Master Xiaojiang just needs to sign here."

The tall man, seeing that Jiang Yu was easy to talk to, breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly pulled out a document-like item from his pocket and, not sure where from, produced a pen, handing it to Jiang Yu, pointing lightly to the lower right corner of the document and saying,

"Here, just sign here."

Jiang Yu took a quick look. It was essentially a printed receipt. After a brief scan and finding nothing amiss, he took the pen and signed his name on the receipt.

Returning the pen to the tall man, he smiled at him and asked,

"Can I transport these ingredients back now? Is there anything else you need to brief me on?"

"There’s one more thing."

The tall man said as he pulled out a sheet of paper from his body and handed it to Jiang Yu, a bit sheepishly saying,

"Master Xiaojiang, this is a menu specifically crafted by several teachers from our School of Sports, spending a whole day, according to the athletes’ dietary needs during competitions. Do you want to take a look?"

"Sure, I’ll take a good look at it in a while."

Jiang Yu nodded and noticed that the teacher seemed a bit at a loss, so he smiled and added,

"If I can’t think of better dishes for the moment, I’ll just follow this menu. I’ll also have to trouble you to thank those teachers who helped design the menu once you return."

"It’s fine, it’s fine! We’re all doing this for the school!"

The tall man was immediately delighted upon hearing Jiang Yu’s words. He had been genuinely worried that Jiang Yu would merely glance at the menu. If that were the case, he would certainly be severely scolded once he got back.

He breathed a long sigh of relief, akin to shedding a heavy burden, waving to Jiang Yu, and said,

"Well then, Master Xiaojiang, I’ll take my leave. Please take care of the dinner!"

"Sure, take care!"

Jiang Yu nodded with a smile before lowering his head to look at the menu in his hand, his expression slightly surprised.

The menu included dishes like Steamed Fish Head with Diced Hot Red Peppers, Kung Pao Chicken, Braised Beef with Tomatoes, Stir-fried Smoked Pork with Artemisia, Stir-fried Mutton with Scallions, Shrimps with Scrambled Eggs, Baby Bok Choy in Superior Soup, Sautéed Mushrooms with Asparagus, and West Lake Beef Soup.

This menu not only had Sichuan cuisine, Xiang cuisine, Lu cuisine, and Cantonese cuisine but also featured Hangzhou cuisine and Jiangzhou cuisine, making it a true collection of various culinary styles. A general chef might not be able to handle such a menu.

But Jiang Yu happens to be skilled in dishes from various cuisines, so a sports menu encompassing so many cuisines isn’t really a challenge for him.

At the bottom of the menu, in bold red letters, was a note: No pepper allowed in the dishes!

Jiang Yu was aware of this because pepper is considered a food-based stimulant; thus, over 40 common kitchen ingredients, including bay leaves, cannot be used.

"Tsk, this menu is going to be quite tricky to prepare!"

Jia Dequan, who had come out with Jiang Yu earlier, looked at the menu, shook his head slightly, and said,

"Without pepper, many dishes just won’t have the right taste."

As he spoke, he pointed to the "West Lake Beef Soup" on the menu and added,