Chapter 870 It’s All Pork’s Fault
The Luna's chef, Old Liu, sat there sighing with a depressed look on his face.
"Old Liu, what's wrong?" Chen Cheng, who was sitting there watching the news, asked in confusion.
Old Liu said helplessly, "Captain, you're making it too difficult for me! That time we went on the Sentinel and ate those barbecued ribs and they said they were delicious. He came back and gave me a recipe and asked me to make it for him, but when I made it, he said it didn't taste right. How can I tell what's wrong with it since I haven't even tried it?"
"Didn't I give you the recipe?" asked Hua Chong who was sitting next to him.
Old Liu got anxious after hearing this. "Is this a recipe problem? Everyone has different tastes. The recipe is incredibly detailed, with instructions for how much salt, how long to marinate, and even the baking time down to the second. I followed it exactly, but he's not satisfied with the taste. Can you blame me? Are the ovens on our ship the same as theirs? Are they using the same ribs? Isn't this putting me in a difficult position?"
After hearing this, Hua Chong curled his lips and said, "But let's be honest, the barbecued spareribs made by Pingte's wife are indeed delicious."
Grilled spare ribs are an Austrian specialty, especially in Vienna, where they are known as the "most suitable Western food for Chinese people." Rows of pork ribs are simply cut into pieces with the bones together into widths of about 20 centimeters and then grilled. The aroma of the meat permeates the air while grilling, and the red pork combined with the white bones makes people's appetites increase at first sight.
Chen Cheng laughed and said, "Old Liu, come on, what's the difference between the ribs? Could it be that they use wild boar meat?"
Old Liu was stunned after hearing what Chen Cheng said: "Captain, what did you say?"
Chen Cheng was confused and said, "I told you to overcome it!"
But Old Liu said, "The last sentence!"
"What about the last part?" Chen Cheng thought for a moment. "Could it be that they used wild boar meat?"
Old Liu suddenly burst into laughter: "I know what the problem is! Haha! If the boss gives me trouble again, even if I tell him 'I can't do it', he won't be able to do anything!"
Chen Cheng and Hua Chong looked at each other in bewilderment. "Old Liu, it's no big deal if you can't make grilled ribs. The boss just gave you a heads up. Don't drive yourself crazy over grilled ribs!"
"This is the dignity of a chef! Especially the dignity of a chef on the Luna!" Old Liu looked proud.
Chen Cheng and Hua Chong exchanged a glance, and they understood what Lao Liu meant: "Luna" is one of the top private luxury yachts on the planet. It is a great honor to be able to work on this ship. The opportunity to work on such a ship is not always available, and of course one's work ability must be worthy of this ship.
Hua Chong asked with a smile, "Old Liu, what's the problem?"
"Of course it's the pork!" Lao Liu explained. "When we were resupplying the ship, we took into consideration that all the people on board were Chinese, so we used grilled pork. They use free-range pork for roasting ribs! The latter has a stronger fishy smell that doesn't suit our Chinese tastes, but when it's roasted, it takes on a whole other flavor! That's the difference in taste between European bacon and Chinese bacon!"
In China, I often hear that Europeans and Americans don’t like to eat pork because pork is unhealthy and beef is healthier, so they eat beef!
Do Europeans not eat pork? Do German pork knuckles grow on trees? Are Lithuanian sausages stuffed with sawdust? Is Spanish ham grown in the ground? Is bacon fished from the water? It's not that they don't eat pork; in many places, pork is the mainstream meat!
The main people who don't eat pork are Americans, but they cannot do without pork products such as bacon.
Germany even caused a not-so-small incident just for eating pork, and in the end even Chancellor Merkel jumped out, which eventually triggered a "not-so-small" political storm.
We all know that there are many refugees in Germany now, and the first thing many refugees do when they arrive in Germany is to have children. Now, in kindergartens in some major cities in Germany, MSL children account for about 30%-40%, and some have even reached 50%.
This is when the problem arose: the lunches originally ordered by the kindergarten contained pork. According to Chinese custom, guests should follow the local customs, but these refugees were unwilling to do so. They marched, protested, held banners, and so on. Many kindergartens had no choice but to stop ordering lunches containing pork.
This has once again upset the Germans. Why can't our children eat pork? We respect your customs, but you don't respect ours? Dark beer and ham are the hallmarks of our Germany!
The refugees were very confident: Your customs are wrong, we are saving you and helping you correct your bad habits.
The situation escalated, and even Angela Merkel, known for her 'saintly' demeanor, stood up and pointed out: "We Germans can tolerate your diet. You can choose not to eat pork, but respect and tolerance are mutual. You must respect our eating habits. You absolutely have no right to restrict our right to eat pork, and you must abide by our German laws!"
From an outsider's perspective, her words were not wrong, but they also caused a lot of controversy. Some people stood up to protest her disrespect for refugees, which triggered a new round of demonstrations...
It’s so hard to be a leader in Europe!
However, this incident also shows that Germans like pork. In fact, pork is the main meat in Germany, Russia, and Eastern Europe.
Europeans' attitude towards pork is basically a process of like - hate - like again.
In the early Middle Ages, pork was a favorite food of the nobility, more expensive than beef. Back then, pigs were raised to forage in the forests. But with urbanization, these omnivorous pigs became the "scavengers" of European cities. Places like Paris raised pigs to clean up manure, and people began to dislike pigs again. Even many religious doctrines state that while cows eat only grass and leaves, pigs eat everything, both clean and unclean.
The influence of religion in that period was terrifyingly high, but when the Reformation came, things began to "set things right", including pigs, which were clearly hated by the religion at the time, became good things again, and all kinds of pig-related delicacies appeared on people's tables again.
But the pigs here are still different from the pigs in China.
In China, pig farmers castrate their boars. Castrated boars are free from vulgar interests, spending their days eating and sleeping. They grow meat quickly, their smell diminishes, and their meat becomes tender. Pig farming in Europe and the United States didn't originally have this practice, but in recent years, large pig farms in Europe and the United States have begun to learn from the Chinese practice of castrating pigs. They've even introduced laws regarding castration: Castration without anesthesia is prohibited, as it would be too painful for the pigs and the pigs' feelings should be taken into consideration.
Why don’t you consider these things when you eat pork?
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