Chapter 4: Tofu Steak

Chapter 4:
Tofu Steak

Fardania’s eyes filled with both satisfaction and rage as she looked down in front of her. On the table was a black metal plate that once held the meal the young elf girl had finished off only moments ago.

She’d been had.

The taste of defeat lingered in her mouth. Indeed, Fardania, an elf of the Shiena woods, was forced to admit she had lost.

“Well? Delicious, right?” She could hear the annoying human man speaking to her.

Fardania honestly hadn’t anticipated this. She never thought that humans, with their short lifespans and limited magical power, could ever create a meal that could satisfy her stomach. The noble race of elves once ruled over the world itself. With their powerful magic and rich culture, it was said that even dragons stood no chance against them.

Elves usually did not eat food made from animals. As guardians of the woods that could communicate with beasts, elves looked upon their animal neighbors as friends. Even the smell of cooking animal meat was too strong for them. To elves, animal meat was wholly unappetizing. That was why they didn’t hunt them. Their magic and archery skills were reserved for defending the woods against trespassers.

Perhaps as a sacrifice in exchange for their long lifespans, elves reproduced at an extremely low rate. Since their numbers were so few, the forests that elves tended to live in were typically lush with trees and flowers of all kinds. Capable of using their magic to preserve their food through the colder seasons, the elves could make do. Unlike the barbaric humans whose lives lasted but a moment in time, or those of mixed blood (half-elves) who could eat meat or fish, “true” elves like Fardania did not eat animals.

That was why Fardania had made her order in the most sneering of ways. Yet the man still managed to answer her request: a delicious meal that used no meat, fish, milk, or eggs.

Fardania wouldn’t have been surprised if he had brought out a salad of fresh vegetables or some kind of mushroom soup. She often ate dishes like that. If that had been the case, she could have just said “Not bad for a human” and left it at that. Unfortunately, this was something else entirely. What the human man brought to her was a delicious meal that she had neither seen nor heard of before.

Curses!

She was well aware that after eating everything on her plate, she couldn’t very well tell him it wasn’t delicious. She’d look like a fool. Biting her lip all the while, she thought back on how things had come to this.

My first mistake was coming here at all.

She recalled the moment she stepped into this Restaurant to Another World only minutes ago.

It began when Fardania, on her way to search for some mushrooms, had felt the strange flow of energies in the forest.

“What was that? Some kind of teleportation magic?”

Her ears twitched in response to the sudden shift in the flow of magical energy. There was a specific corner of the forest that made it easy for magical energies to gather, and it was there that a great deal of it had collected, as though some sort of spell had been activated. This had to be the work of a magical teleportation circle.

Fardania’s vast knowledge of magic led her to this conclusion. There was no way she was wrong, as her father had taught her everything she knew. When he was younger, he traveled the human world with another elf from their forest capital, learning the ways of the magical arts. Elves were a race incredibly proficient in the magic arts. Even humans who were said to be masters of magic were only really equal to that of a young, perhaps fifty-year-old elf child. Compared to elves, who would go on to spend the nearly one thousand years of their lives researching magic, humans and dwarves simply stood no chance.

Which is why elves were particularly sensitive to magical energy and could often pick up on strong spells before they were activated.

“This isn’t magic from anyone in the village. I have to go check this out.”

If somebody was using strange magic in the elf forest of Shiena, there was no way Fardania could ignore it. She held up her trusty bow and approached the area where she sensed the disturbance.

There it is…

Upon arriving at the area, Fardania found a strange black door attached to one of the trees. On it was a bizarre picture of a cat and words in a language that Fardania did not recognize. It went without saying that there were no elves mad enough to put a door here. Going by that simple truth and the quality of magic she could sense from the door, Fardania came to the logical conclusion.

Looks like it’s a magical relic left behind by the ancient elves.

This was a type of magical tool built over a thousand years ago, well before Fardania was born into this world. These tools were the origins of the complex, modern day magic of this age. This item was clearly the source of the magical energy she felt earlier.

With magic this strong, there’s no doubt that it’s a door to another world.

Despite her youth, Fardania was one of the most talented magic users in the forest. Her wealth of knowledge led her to accurately identify the door’s true identity. It was the sort of magic that activated in the interval of a few days, when its energies were at their peak. Given the strength of this magical energy, she theorized that multiple doors appeared simultaneously around the world.

“Well, I guess I’ll take a look.”

Fardania placed a teleportation symbol on a nearby tree. With this, she’d be able to teleport back here by force from another world, as long as the door was still connected. Her preparations made, she stepped through.

Ring, ring.

The source of magical energy let out a ringing sound. And then…

“One order of fried seafood, please! And some whiskey, too! Lots of it!”

“The usual.”

“Omelet rice. Large. To go. Three orders.”

“Master, can I get two orders of fried shrimp over here?”

“Um, can I get a chocolate parfait?”

The sight of a small restaurant filled with tables and chairs stretched out before Fardania’s eyes. Seated in many of those chairs were customers ordering a host of different dishes.

“Aye, welcome! Take a seat anywhere that’s open!”

Fardania was somewhat dumbstruck at the sight in front of her. The man, likely the master of this place, was carrying plates of food as he noticed and called out to her. Watching all of this with a look of disdain in her eyes, Fardania decided to take a seat out of sheer curiosity.

“Damn it all! My stuff still doesn’t even come close!” The dwarf man tore into his fish and booze while letting out a heavy sigh, then immediately placed another order. He looked like he reeked of ironware, his large axe propped up next to him.

“Indeed, this is the dish to have on the Day of Satur!” An old, thin man nodded to himself and dug into his fried pork, occasionally taking sips of the golden alcohol next to him.

“Mm. Seconds.” The source of this magically translated voice was that of a Lizardman warrior covered in scars. Fardania had heard that these monsters lived in the wetlands. The one in front of her ordered a yellow egg dish with some sort of red stuff on top of it.

“Tartar sauce is great, but pork cutlet sauce goes well with it, too! Shripe truly is magnificent!”

The next voice came from a human man, likely a warrior, as he gushed over the sea creature he was eating.

Elsewhere, there was a noble-looking human woman in a beautiful dress, eating some kind of food made from dairy with black stuff on it.

This seems to be a restaurant where they serve human food.

Fardania found herself troubled. Nothing here looked particularly appetizing. The menu she was given upon arrival featured a host of foods she’d never heard of or seen before, but one look at what the other customers were eating told her everything she needed to know. Nothing here would please an elf.

Why must all human food be so barbaric?

Fardania recognized that all the meals served here had some manner of beast, fish, milk, or eggs in it. As a true elf who lived in the woods, none of that was considered edible.

The bread and soup are off limits, too.

Elves had sharp senses. If even a little bit of beast, fish, milk, or egg were used to cook something, they’d be able to detect it and would immediately lose their appetite.

What should I do? I can’t very well not order anything after coming in.

As one of the younger elves in the forest, Fardania was often still treated like a child. Even so, her knowledge of human customs told her that it would be rude to enter a restaurant and then not eat anything.

“Are you ready to order, miss?”

The master walked up to her, having noticed her struggling with the menu. After letting out a brief sigh, Fardania decided to mess with him a bit.

“Let’s see… I’d like something with no meat, fish, milk, or eggs in it. That is, if you’re even capable of making a dish like that. If not, I won’t be needing anything. I’ll just be on my way. Sorry.”

It was unlikely the human would be able to satisfy her needs, and so Fardania was already about to stand up.

However.

“Aye, you got it! Now then, something without meat or fish, which’d mean… Do you mind leaving it to the chef’s choice?”

The master’s response was so confident that Fardania did a double take.

“Excuse me!” Panicked, she stood up and raised her voice.

“Yes?”

“Just so you know, if there’s even a hint of meat mixed into my food, I can’t eat it. Do you still think you can cook for me?”

“It’s no problem, miss. Hm, but the miso soup is going to be off the menu. I use bonito stock for it. Other than that, I can serve you a full meal.”

“Fine, then.” After hearing his words, Fardania had no choice but to back down. She quietly sat in her seat.

What is he planning on serving me? I can’t imagine this being an easy task for a human. Some kind of combination of fresh vegetables and soup? But he said he couldn’t serve me soup…

Fardania was prepared to complain to her heart’s content if this was some kind of trick.

After a brief period of waiting, the master set a plate down right in front of her.

“Here’s your food, miss.”

“What is this?” Fardania couldn’t help but look at the master’s face after glancing down at the plate.

On the black dish was some kind of food that had been grilled with cobbler’s tuber oil and sprinkled with salt. Next to it were fresh-looking orange karoots, boiled to sweetness. To the side of that were moist greens. Up to this point, Fardania remained unsurprised. She had seen all of this before. The problem was the main course: the bizarre white square sitting in the center of the dish.

Fardania had never seen anything like the sizzling hot food in front of her.

“It’s tofu steak flavored with ponzu sauce. I only used seaweed stock to make it, so I think you should be able to eat it, miss. Actually, a lot of young women like yourself tend to order this menu item. Oh, and since bread doesn’t fit your needs, I brought you a side of rice. I can guarantee you it’ll go well with the steak. Please enjoy!”

The master replied to her as if directly answering the question in her mind and then went to take another customer’s order.

…It certainly doesn’t smell like meat.

Fardania leaned in close to the dish and took a whiff. While she didn’t detect the scent of any meat, what she did smell was the ever-so-slightly fruity, mysterious sauce sizzling on the black plate. She also picked up on the aromatic white cube in the center, which was clearly fried using fresh vegetable oil. There wasn’t a hint of the beastly smell that elves so very hated. The master had fulfilled his end of the bargain.

But the problem is how it tastes.

The young elf woman was rather confident in her cooking skills. Since her mother passed away due to illness, Fardania had spent thirty some odd years doing all kinds of housework, and became known in the Shiena woods for being a skilled chef of sorts. She viewed the meal before her as a challenge. Sure, the master had met her bare minimum requirements, but if it tasted awful, none of that mattered.

“Here I go…”

Nervous, or perhaps tantalized by the aroma coming from the dish in front of her, Fardania gulped and picked up her fork and knife. She was curious about the side dishes but decided to tackle the main course first. She brought her knife to the odd white object.

The utensil cut through it with amazing ease and smoothness, as though it were made of air itself.

I don’t get it. The master called it “tofu,” but…

Fardania cut out a square piece of tofu, enough for one bite, and stabbed her fork into it. She took a more careful look at the odd food. If nothing else, the scent coming from the lightly browned mystery object wasn’t awful. It seemed edible.

She was a bit hesitant about the grated vegetables and brown sauce on top, especially as she’d never seen anything like them before. Nonetheless, she chose to carry on.

Here goes nothing.

Regardless of its flavor, the fact remained that the master had held up his end of the bargain. It would be tremendously rude for her to not at least give it a try. Fardania hardened her resolve and took a bite.

Wh-what is this?!

A wave of shock erupted from deep within her heart. The aromatic flavor of the tofu’s crisp surface, and the gentle, warm flavor of its center combined to melt and spread throughout Fardania’s mouth. A brand new world of flavor took hold of her.

This was tofu.

I feel like I ate this when I was little, but I can’t place it. There’s something nostalgic about it…

What is this?

The flavor was strange, much like the texture of the tofu itself. Though Fardania was unaware of it, this flavor was very similar to that of a dairy product produced from animal milk.

Elves didn’t consider dairy edible. Even if they tried to have some, they’d first be assaulted by its rawness, preventing them from being able to enjoy the flavor. This meant that elves of the forest were only familiar with a single dairy product throughout their entire time on the planet.

I know… This is Mom’s flavor.

Fardania gazed far, far back into her memories and came to a realization. Due to their long life spans, elves spent comparatively little time as babies. However, much like humans, they too were nursed by their mothers.

This is incredible!

Finally shaking herself free of the impact of the first bite, Fardania rolled the dissolving tofu around in her mouth, trying to dissect its flavors. What she found left her stunned. While the white cube called tofu was delicious in its own right, it was the sauce on top of it that brought out its flavors and full potential.

I believe he called it ponzu sauce. It’s just a bit sour and salty… What is it made of?

While slowly investigating every inch of the tofu steak in her mouth, Fardania took a moment to think about the ponzu sauce. It contained the juice of an unsweetened, strongly citric fruit and some sort of brown liquid. It was a salty juice that tasted like the tofu. By itself, it was already delicious.

However, there was a third, unknown flavor that brought the saltiness and sourness together. It had the scent of the sea, a place she had not laid her eyes upon in some fifty years. This third element elevated the other two flavors to even greater heights.

How could a human have made this?

Fardania was not sure what exactly this scent of the sea was. However, she did have an idea of how it worked. A long time ago, her mother had traveled the human world and learned about sun-dried mushrooms. She didn’t know why it worked like this, but by drying mushrooms in the sun and using them in soup instead of regular ones, they produced a much better flavor.

This was probably something similar. Drying this unknown ingredient increased its flavor, and simmering it gave the broth a savory quality. Adding this special something to the other two juices gave this dish a single, complete flavor. This was far more advanced than anything Fardania had ever made.

Just that by itself was delicious, and yet…

There were also the fragrant herbs and snowy-white grated vegetables. Matching these with the sour, salty sauce created a complex deliciousness combining multiple flavors and scents. On top of that, thanks to the strong, unique aroma of the herbs, their scent lingered in the diner’s nose even after swallowing down a bite of the tofu.

The complex sauce combined with the tofu and its simple, bland flavor to give the dish a light yet satisfying feeling that filled the stomach.

I can’t believe a human made this!

Fardania was shaken to her very core. The human race had a short lifespan. They would go on to die just as soon as they had come into this world. Compared to elves, humans had no worthwhile culture to speak of.

Or at least, that was what she had thought. Fardania was an intelligent young woman, and as such was more than willing to recognize the error of her ways. This dish was far beyond anything the elves were capable of making. She swallowed her frustration along with the food.

The rice served with the main course had a faint sweetness all its own, which meshed well with the relatively heavy flavor of the tofu steak. The other side dishes, lightly browned cobbler’s tubers and sweet boiled karoots, were delicious. Even the salted greens were positively delectable, leaving Fardania even more frustrated.

I refuse to lose like this!

A fire was lit in the heart of the young elf girl who coveted the culinary arts. She had experienced a shock unlike any other. This was the moment in which the proud Fardania found her path in life.

***

The next day…

“Are you really going, Fardania?”

To the average human, her father looked no younger than the girl herself despite approaching three hundred years old. He wore a concerned expression on his face.

Some 150 years ago, he had ventured out of the woods into the human world, driven by a sense of curiosity. That was why he knew better than anyone that it was full of dangers, monsters, and demons. If he had not met his older friend, skilled in the magic arts, and his talented archer wife, he would have died. He had faced down death multiple times, in fact.

As far as he was aware, the demon race lost the war against the humans, so they weren’t quite as powerful as they once were. That said, only seventy years had passed since the humans defeated the dark lord. Things couldn’t possible change that much in a hundred years. He didn’t think the world was remotely close to being peaceful enough for him to let his young daughter venture out on her own.

Fardania was his precious, precious daughter. She was still a child! The thought of letting her leave the protection of the forest left him deeply concerned.

“Of course! Don’t worry, Dad. I’m an adult.” Fardania’s resolve wasn’t weak enough for her worrywart of a father to convince her to stay home.

After taking a blow to her elven pride, she couldn’t afford to just rest on her laurels in the forest. She needed to embark on a journey so that she could one day make a dish better than the one served to her by the man at the Restaurant to Another World. Her youth, and a dash of recklessness, led her to stubbornly stand by this.

“No, you’re not! You’re still way too young, Fardania!”

Her father raised his voice in protest. He lost his wife to illness only thirty years prior. Sure, Fardania had physically matured, but there was still much for her to learn. Her archery and magic skills still weren’t up to par. As far as he was concerned, she was a child that still needed protecting for at least another hundred years.

“Geez, I’m telling you, I’ll be fine! Don’t worry! When I come back, I’m gonna feed you something amazing!” Reaching the limits of her patience, Fardania quickly left the house.

“Ah, wait! At least take this letter…!”

Paying no mind to her father’s words, Fardania cast strengthening magic on her body and began to move like the wind itself. In mere moments, she cleared the Shiena woods and found herself in front of a vast, sprawling field.

“That’s right! I’m going to make something delicious! I’ll show that human what’s what!”

So began Fardania’s journey to reclaim her pride and to create a delectable new dish.

Some years later, an elven dish with beans as its core ingredient would be born into the world. Despite being free of meat, fish, eggs, or milk, the meal was beloved by races all across the land.

Fardania, who would go on to be the creator of this dish and a legendary chef all her own, set off on her journey at the young age of 130.