After arriving in this world, Li Wei had encountered plenty of things, most of which he could accept.
But there was one thing he was genuinely unhappy with.
The food.
The Empire's food was better than that of a certain country in his old world. At least it didn't have SAN-draining monstrosities like stargazy pie. But it was still only average. In other words, it was edible, but whether it actually tasted good depended entirely on the ingredients themselves.
Imperial cuisine mainly involved boiling and frying, with bread made from wheat as the staple. Rice existed, but to Li Wei's despair, people here didn't eat it as a staple. Instead, they mixed it with milk, sugar, and spices to make pudding-in other words, most people in the Empire considered rice nothing more than a dessert ingredient!
This was killing him!
Previously, Li Wei had been busy working and really hadn't had time to worry about it. Besides, Erin and the others were decent cooks, so the food was edible enough. But after more than a year of eating it, he felt he'd had enough of this white-people food. As it happened, he had nothing else to do, so when Erin asked what he wanted for lunch that day, he made a firm decision.
"I'm cooking today!"
"Huh?"
Sure enough, Erin froze when she heard his answer.
"Master, you... intend to cook?"
Her surprise was understandable. In the Empire, nobles didn't cook for themselves. They left that to professional cooks and servants, since most people considered cooking beneath a noble's dignity. Li Wei usually ate at the Club or at home, and occasionally went out to eat. But he had never suggested cooking for himself... nor had anyone imagined he would. "Is our cooking not good enough?"
"That's not it. I