章 62: Feast (part 1)

9th march 1574

"All of you, sirs gentlemen, must be wondering why someone like me, with more wealth than enough to comfortably get by, bothered to look into the topic of food."

After all the preparation was done for both the group that I was controlling directly and the one that I left to their own devices, all that was left for them to bring what we all made to the great table assembled by a completely separate unit of servants.

But there was no way I would just let all my effort of managing everyone and ordering them what to do just go to waste by throwing away the chance that this situation presented to me!

"While it might sound dumb to some, smart to some but most of all, completely worthless to the most from what I observed during my travels… But keeping our serfs well-fed, especially if we could do so without wasting our precious crops on them, could only result in greater profit margins for us!"

There was no point in introducing advanced concepts like education, raising people from poverty, or even transforming unproductive serfs into capable craftsmen. There was simply too many social barriers that blocked all those steps from happening!

Taking craftsmanship under scrutiny, it wasn't enough to just let people tinker their time away. The world was already filled with buglers that failed guild's exam. If one really wanted to advance on the path of currently existing crafts, one had no other way than doing so through guild!

Even if I was a noble, if I dared to raise my hand against this system, instead of getting an entirely new pool of talent to supply my lands, I would lose the backing fo the currently established and efficient craftsmen! While this was something that sooner or later had to be done on the road of improving the efficiency of the social system, I was nowhere powerful enough to afford the cost of doing so right now!

As such, only small steps like the one I was taking right now, could lead to the potential improvement to any part of the country! If it fails now, I won't lose anything, but governor or the other nobles successfully implement it, in a few months or maybe years from now, I could count on their gratitude!

"But let's not keep all of us hanging any longer. Men, bring the food out!"

While at first, I thought about making an entire ceremony of serving a single meal at a time to let everyone have a taste of the difference, but in the end, I decided against it. For such thing to happen, we would need to be in some fancy palace, all set on enjoying our time slowly and peacefully.

But we were inside a hunting camp, with most of the guest waiting to sate their hunger after a tiring adventure in the forest. If I were to prolong the entire thing any longer, instead of enjoying the food, they would enjoy disconnecting my head from the rest of my body!

"For the first meal, I would like to offer everyone a wild boar soup, with a selection of spices and vegetables, or a Silesian, sour creme soup, enriched with the greaves of the same boar, in more traditional spicing!"

Following my words, the long table got swarmed by the servants, bringing countless pots with a steaming hot content, spreading its aroma all over the place. For the most part, everyone gathered could enjoy either of the soups, depending on which of the pots was closer to them, but right in the middle, where the governor was seated, there were entire four pots with different content!

"Sir outside of the two soups served for everyone, I dared to prepare a meal often eaten by the commoners, with just a slight touch of meat, poured evenly to two different pots, with the only difference being the further pot being enriched with the spice I brough with me. I did it for the sir Governor to taste the effects of this miraculous powder in its full power!"

While I could do something like that for the Governor and the people closest to him, if I were to offer commoners food to all the nobility, they would easily misunderstand my intention for the insult, an attempt to make fun of them as if I considered them to be on the level of serfs. Hence, only me, Elia, Governor and the other two nobles on his right hand could enjoy the luxury of tasting all four different soups!

"I won't treat it as an insult, you don't have to worry about. But let's dig in then!"

Looking at me meaningfully, the governor forced me to sit down and gesture at the servants to pour me all four kinds of the soup. While it was the highest rank that was supposed to start the feast by swallowing the first bite, as someone who brough a new spice that could potentially be a poison, I was forced to do the honours and start eating first.

One by one, I sank my spoon into the bowl, taking up a small amount of the soup from the container straight to my mouth. Beginning with the simple commoner's meal, I could swallow it easily. It couldn't be said to be bad or something, but it simply lacked any sort of taste that could make such a meal appealing.

After taking a few spoonfuls of the commoner's soup, I finally could move on to the one enriched with MSG. While the taste was still bland, far off from what one could achieve with just a bit more ingredients, at least there was a pleasant trickling of my tongue, as the slight taste of the radish and carrot finally had the chance to cares my taste buds.

"Woah… I didn't expect such a difference!"

For the people of the current age, being able to change the bland taste of the water coloured by boiling vegetables in it into something that actually had any hint of taste in it was already an achievement! If that was the Governor's reaction to the enriched commoner's soup, I could wait to see him taste the proper meals!

Acknowledging the praise with just a slight nod of my head, I moved to the next two bowls, this time taking my sweet moment to enjoy the taste. Starting with the boar stock, it had an insanely rich aroma of wild meat, only improved with the intricate umami taste coming from MSG. With various herbs mixing into the fray and adding a hint of freshness to the soup, it was truly heaven in one's mouth!

Immersed in the food, I automatically moved on to the sour, creme soup, finally reaching the pinnacle of a fine taste. At first, the sourness overwhelmed the insides of my jaws, as streams of saliva filled my mouth only to mix with the soup and reveal the light texture of the overly boiled turnip, turning this commoner's vegetable from a hard and tasteless product, into a mellow and tasty addition that added some solidness to the otherwise liquid meal.

"This spice… Where did you get it from?"