Chapter 662: Preparation Competition
One of the necessary principles for the emergence of rich and diverse cuisine is the abundance of products, and the abundance of products, in essence, is inseparable from the abundance of species.
As a Chinese, it is difficult to understand how to cook without onions, ginger and garlic.
Therefore, it can be seen that the closer to the lower latitudes, the richer the diversity of the food, and there will even be many unheard-of varieties of spices.
In addition to the latitude relationship, it must also be able to provide a platform that is sufficiently interactive so that ingredients from all over the world can collide.
If you stick to one place, there will indeed be delicious food, but it is usually rather monotonous and becomes a "local taste".
It's like the sour and spicy taste of Southeast Asia, which is very good, but apart from this cuisine, there seems to be no other more impressive one. This is not because of the lack of resources, but a reflection of the lack of communication. The reason for this is essentially the limitations of national borders and transportation.
Thirdly, a period of prosperity is needed. People need to live and work in peace and contentment before they can satisfy their appetite.
Looking at the global map, the only country that meets these three conditions is China.
It is a vast land with abundant resources. Although people can't always live and work in peace and contentment, every dynasty has at least such a period of time.
Looking at polar bears, they are found at too high a latitude, with most of them being in Siberia and the same is true in Canada.
As for the Ugly Country, its latitude is nearly 20 degrees higher than that of China, which barely meets the first condition. However, it has a short history and cannot meet the third condition at all. Moreover, due to its colonial nature, the tastes of the Ugly Country are essentially transferred from the high-latitude Europe.
Going further down, no one meets the third condition.
Therefore, China is unique, and every place has its own unique cuisine. However, the vast territory of China itself gives these cuisines infinite possibilities and makes them diverse.
Bifang drank some water and lay down on the ground contentedly. Beside him were a few half-eaten large fish, which looked like the leftovers of an Alaskan brown bear.
Only they would have the luxury of eating only the high-fat belly of the fish and discarding the rest.
All the belly meat of the fish was eaten by Bifang, leaving only the fat-less part. Given the current weather in the Arctic, there is no need to worry about it going bad if left for a day or two.
If there is another bumper harvest tomorrow, these will be preserved and the limited space in the stomach should be left for high-calorie food as much as possible.
After looking at the comments in the live broadcast room, I found that many viewers were still discussing the strong taste of pickled puffins. I couldn't help but smile, feeling the pleasure of a successful prank.
Judging from the history of humans' foray into the cold zones, the human body has not evolved any taste genes to adapt to this kind of "delicious food". Only by eating it from childhood can people form habitual adaptation. However, as life improves, fewer and fewer people will be able to accept it.
Even canned herrings, as economic life improves, many locals can no longer eat them.
"The Inuit still eat puffins, but one type of puffins, the great auk, is now extinct. The last specimen of the great auk exists in the form of a pickled puffin, which can be regarded as a testimony to human history."
Bifang stood up, patted the snow off his body, and prepared to start digging a shelter for tonight.
Tonight's night was quite good, the temperature only dropped to minus thirty degrees Celsius, not too low, and there was even an aurora, light green ribbons floating in the night sky, providing a good view.
The northern lights were quite strong. The snow was cold, but the audience's hearts were boiling. Watching the northern lights floating in the sky was like the swaying of angel souls.
Historically, people have been very afraid of the aurora.
Especially for the local Sami people in Northern Europe, their legends about the Aurora are mostly scary stories.
For example, there is a legend that children should not go to see the aurora because it will take their soul away. There is also a saying that the aurora will fly across the sky with an axe and kill anyone who laughs at it.
Therefore, bells are not allowed when sledding under the bright aurora, so as not to disturb the aurora and cause misfortune.
But in modern times, apart from possible solar storms that cause changes in the magnetic field and poor mobile phone signals, the aurora has become a beautiful landscape.
"I feel full of energy now. The feeling of having a full meal is different."
Bifang shoveled a piece of frozen soil out of the pit. With a floating green light on his face, he worked hard.
If tomorrow is also a good day, Bifang feels that he can even take a bath.
On the vast snowfield, digging the foundation prompted Bifang's heart to continuously supply blood to the skin surface and limbs. It was still very cold at minus thirty degrees Celsius. As long as Bifang stopped moving, the blood transfusion process would immediately slow down, and the warmth brought by the food would gradually fade away.
The cold came from all directions, attacking Bifang, the tiny creature on the snowfield with all its might.
Blood is a living thing. When faced with a sudden attack from the cold, it will fight back. But if it exceeds the threshold, it will retreat and want to hide away from the terrible cold.
The hole that had been dug for a long time became a barrier. After all, it did not scare the blood enough to retreat. Bifang shrank in the hole, took out a few remaining finger-thick branches, and used the charcoal left over from last night. He quickly started a fire again, which quickly warmed the cold hole.
Feeling the pleasant temperature all around, Bifang began to feel sleepy.
He buried the kettle in the snow thirty centimeters deep.
“In polar regions, I recommend using wide-mouthed containers, as narrow-mouthed bottles freeze more easily and thaw more slowly.”
"Snow has really good insulation properties. If you put a pot of water under 30 centimeters of snow, even if the temperature drops to -40 degrees Celsius, most of the water in the pot will still remain liquid."
Bifang carefully sealed the hole with accumulated snow to keep the cold air out, and placed the kettle upside down so that even if a little water froze at the top - the bottom of the kettle - it would not prevent the lid from being opened.
After finishing the last thing, Bifang turned off the live broadcast.
Tomorrow will be very busy, as he needs to harvest more food for the winter and a safe enough shelter to prepare for the arrival of the polar night.
The snowstorm that lasted for four days drastically reduced Bifang's daytime activity time, and what followed was a race against time for survival.
Therefore, early the next morning, Bifang set out with his hunting knife. He did not go for winter fishing right away. If he fished in the same cave too frequently, even if there were any fish, they would react. So he planned to leave it until night.
Today Bifang will go downstream along the river to see if he can find coniferous forest, collect enough wood, or find larger prey.
