At those words, Martin smiled meaningfully. Jo Minjoon wasn’t a chef that simply had a sensitive sense of taste. He knew how to think. Because not too long after the mission was announced, he had already figured it out.
“You are intelligent. I really didn’t think that you will be able to understand this mission so soon.”
“Because it’s simple. Customers don’t only eat my food. They eat the food of the other participants, and although we are not a team, I have to look for a combination among those.”
Normally, what people looked for the most in a buffet was meat. Be it fish meat, or normal meat, it didn’t matter. However, what would happen if 9 out of 10 dishes had an oily meat in it, and in the remaining one a dish with clean vegetables? Although it will get less votes compared to the meat, the speed it gets empty will be faster than any other.
And it didn’t take long for everyone to notice that. But it wasn’t that they noticed it either. After the interview ended, Sasha gathered everyone to the 4th floor lobby. She had a ring shaped pad on top of her dark skin and had long hair. Sasha opened her mouth.
“I think that we need have to have a discussion.”
“What kind of discussion?”
“About the menu. If we decide on the menu without any discussions everyone can present pasta, or a situation where 10 desserts are presented can also happen. And maybe, even the cooking can be similar. Don’t you think that those kind of things shouldn’t happen?”
“I agree.”
Jo Minjoon nodded and said. As he looked at his surroundings, it seemed like there was no one who was opposed to Sasha’s words. Sasha took in a breath as if she was a little nervous and continued speaking.
“I’ll tell you beforehand that I’m planning to make a dessert. Strawberry chiffon cake. Can you all tell me what you are going to cook?”
Some were hesitating for a moment, but they couldn’t be silent by themselves. Everyone opened their mouths and started to think the dishes they had thought of. Mapo tofu for Chloe, tiramisu for Marco, and eggplant lasagna for Anderson. The others named their dishes as if they didn’t decide it yet. Jo Minjoon too opened his mouth.
“I’m thinking to make a chicken dish. But I haven’t decided on what.”
Precisely speaking, he was thinking about making fried chicken and dak galbi. He felt it in the food truck mission, but the viewers had a tendency to expect Asian foods. It couldn’t be helped because Jo Minjoon was still Asian. He wasn’t Asian American, but a person that really came after living there, so it wasn’t excessive asking for foreign cooking.
However, being foreign and suiting their tastes at the same time wasn’t an easy thing to do. Being foreign meant that they weren’t accustomed to, and being not accustomed to meant that it would be easier to feel rejection. Wasn’t pasta in Korea made with cream sauce rather than oil or cheese? If they presented traditional pasta, the flavor was too clean and simple or flat. Or if there was too much cheese, it felt too greasy.
With that in mind, thinking about making fried chicken or dak galbi was quite the problem. It wasn’t a problem suiting the tastes, but the problem was in which side could give a deeper and charming flavor.
‘……Should dak galbi be better?’
In the first place, the experience was different. He hadn’t cooked much in his house because the oil was fastidious to handle. In the other side, he made and cooked dak galbi whenever he thought of it, so the experience could only have a great difference.