Free Web NovelChapter 656: Chapter 617: Arctic Cuisine
Zhao Rong had never eaten narwhal meat before. As he chewed on the rubbery piece, he found it completely tasteless. "No way," he said. "Since the Inuit presented us with their most precious food, it should be delicious, logically speaking. But why does this narwhal meat taste like rubber? It’s simply awful, I can’t even swallow it..."
Miss Lili chewed on the narwhal meat, frowning and holding her jaw. She struggled to bite through it. "This feels like a piece of beef tendon," she said. "Not only can I not chew it, but it’s also tough beyond description..."
Yu Lan was even more direct, spitting the narwhal meat out. "Did the Inuit make a mistake and give us the worst-tasting thing in their tribe? Otherwise, why is this narwhal meat impossible to chew or swallow?"
Xue Lianmei took the narwhal meat out of her mouth, cut it into tiny, tofu-sized cubes with a knife, and popped them back in. Chewing, she explained, "Brother Zhao Rong, Assistant, Miss Lili, Yu Lan, you’re eating the narwhal meat the wrong way. You have to cut it into very small pieces and then chew it slowly. You’ll taste a hint of lemon..."
As she spoke, Xue Lianmei began to eat the narwhal meat with obvious enjoyment.
When Zhao Rong, the assistant, and the other two women saw Xue Lianmei relishing the very food they found as tough and unchewable as rubber, their eyes widened in surprise.
Zhao Rong stepped forward and followed her example. He took the meat from his mouth, cut it into tiny pieces, and put them back in to chew. "Xue Lianmei is right! After cutting the narwhal meat into small pieces, not only is it chewable, but it really has a bit of an orange flavor..."
While eating, Xue Lianmei was searching on her phone for the reason the Inuit love narwhal meat so much. "I finally get it," she announced. "The lands where the Inuit live are barren. There are no plants, so they have no vegetables to eat, only meat. To get vitamin C, their only option is to eat narwhal meat. It’s the only meat that contains vitamin C."
Hearing Xue Lianmei’s explanation, Zhao Rong, the two women, and the assistant immediately understood.
Yu Lan chewed hard on the narwhal meat and said, "Well, if that’s the reason, let’s just grit our teeth and eat it."
Just then, the assistant had a sudden idea. With a smile, he returned the narwhal meat to the Inuit. "Chieftain," he said, "since narwhal meat is the most precious food in your tribe, I’m returning it to you. In exchange, you can just give me your tribe’s least precious food."
When the three women heard that the assistant was passing up the most precious narwhal meat for the least precious food, they snorted in disbelief. "Assistant, have you lost your mind? Turning down the most precious food to ask for the least precious? We don’t get it."
However, before the women could finish speaking, the Inuit Chieftain immediately ordered his tribespeople, "Bring out the Alaskan king crab we caught earlier." Then, with an apologetic look, he turned to the assistant. "My human friend, since you do not wish to eat our most precious food, I can only apologize and offer you our least precious food instead. This is an Alaskan king crab. Please make do with it."
With that, the Inuit Chieftain handed an enormous Alaskan king crab to the assistant.
Upon receiving the massive crab, the assistant excitedly took out pots, pans, bowls, and a propane tank, and began to cook right there in the snowy landscape.
He broke the crab apart, placed it in a pot of plain boiling water, and added various seasonings. With a smile, he said, "A giant Alaskan king crab like this would cost at least 10,000 US dollars in the city. I never imagined that in an Inuit tribe, it would be the least precious, most worthless food that nobody eats! I’ll just boil it in water and have it with some dipping sauce."
When the three women saw that the least valuable and most overlooked food in the Inuit tribe was actually Alaskan king crab, their eyes widened in astonishment.
Just as the assistant finished cooking, he pulled a claw from the pot, cracked it open, and began to eat the tender white meat, dipping it in sauce. "Holy moly! This is the first time in my life I’ve eaten such a huge crab claw. It’s absolutely delicious! Plus, in these Arctic waters, the Alaskan king crab is completely pollution-free and all-natural."
Seeing the sheer delight on the assistant’s face as he ate the crab, the three women licked their lips, desperate for a taste.
Right then, Zhao Rong stepped forward and addressed the Chieftain. "Chieftain, do you have any other foods that your tribe doesn’t particularly like or use to serve guests? Could you bring them out for us to choose from?"
At Zhao Rong’s request, the Inuit Chieftain immediately brought out various foods they usually avoided. "My human friend, here we have polar bear meat, Arctic abalone, deep-sea cod, Arctic krill, and Arctic scallops. You can choose whatever you’d like."
When the three women saw the Chieftain present so many valuable and delicious types of seafood, they couldn’t help but rush forward. They each grabbed what they wanted, set up their cooking gear on the ground, and immediately started preparing their feast.
Miss Lili chose the Arctic krill. She laughed as she stir-fried the tails, saying, "I never imagined I’d get to eat Arctic krill one day! This is truly delicious!"
Yu Lan ate the Arctic abalone with a smile. "I used to love Australian abalone most, but I never expected Arctic abalone to be even tastier!"
Meanwhile, Xue Lianmei cooked the deep-sea cod. Inhaling the fragrant aroma, she said, "So, deep-sea cod is the most delicious fish in the world! My taste buds are going wild. I feel like I could eat a hundred of them right now!"
