Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 385 The Taste in My Memory

Chapter 387 The Taste in My Memory

"Why does it have to be that potato and pork chop stew?"

Everyone present was either a renowned chef or a professional gourmet, so Bilan had no choice but to ask this unromantic question herself.

"If you just want to answer a magazine interview, why not choose another food whose taste and preparation you remember? You could even make up a fictional story related to these dishes. Why insist on a dish you've almost completely forgotten?"

"Actually, I had the same idea before I came to Sanyao Restaurant today."

Guskaf, looking dazed, shook his empty glass, using the glass to refract light onto the table, creating various patterns.

"Just like the layout of a magazine, interviews absolutely cannot be left blank. As a contingency plan, randomly picking a food item from the past that you vaguely remember is obviously the most reasonable choice. School meals, roadside pizzas, snacks from twenty years ago—with my expertise in food criticism, I can talk about any of these without any problem in front of the interviewing reporter—after all, this level of linguistic processing doesn't even qualify as lying."

"However, if we were to accept this interview according to this plan," the food critic's tone inexplicably turned somber, "it feels like a betrayal of something."

"Because this is the taste of my mother."

Zhimi, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.

"Human taste memory is very stubborn, Mr. Guscalf. Taste preferences formed in childhood often determine our lifelong food choices and aesthetic inclinations."

The culinary king from the Carlos region toyed with his light blond curls and spoke with unparalleled persuasiveness: "A six-year-old child wouldn't imprint a mediocre dish deep in their brain for no reason. Although I don't know the specific details of that stew, it must have contained your mother's deep love for you—I can guarantee that. It was this maternal love that transformed into a sense of security and dependence, helping you smoothly embark on your journey of exploring food."

"It's a pity I don't remember what that dish tasted like at all."

Guscalf rested his elbows on the bar, rubbing his enormous head in self-reproach. "I consider myself a gourmet, yet I can't even recall the taste of my own mother's cooking. This is probably the retribution for my casual comments on other people's dishes."

"What about the details besides the taste? Do you really have no recollection at all?" Azure pressed.

"Besides the taste," the food editor frowned. "Speaking of which, aren't stews with potatoes usually yellow or brown? But in my memory, my mother's stews were red."

"Red? Did they add ingredients like tomatoes?" Seeing that the investigation seemed to have made a breakthrough, the owner of the Tento Pavilion perked up.

"I'm not sure, but my mother only told me the name of the dish was 'Potato and Pork Rib Stew.' If it used tomatoes so obviously, it would probably have been called something else. By the way, speaking of which, I clearly remember another potato and pork rib stew."

"Another one?" Tian Tong raised an eyebrow as she took notes.

"Yes, it's the potato and pork stew my stepmother cooked." A self-deprecating sneer appeared on the gourmet's face.

"The reason I remember that dish is entirely due to my feelings at the time, which were completely opposite to those of my mother. It was probably when I was in the third year of junior high school. That day, my adopted bright red roly-poly toy got sick, and I had to ask for leave from school in the afternoon to go to the hospital. When I returned home early in the evening, I saw the dinner my stepmother had prepared."

Guskaf recalled, his expression somewhat complicated, "That day, my adoptive brother had just finished his long journey and was preparing to return to our home to rest. My stepmother had also gone out to buy daily necessities."

So I was home alone. I happened to walk past the kitchen and saw two pots filled with stewed potatoes.

"Two pots?" The Grass-type Pavilion Master paused, puzzled. "Is it because one pot can't hold all the ingredients?"

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Guskaf shook his head sadly.

Both pots contained yellow stews. I secretly tried the dishes in each, and one of them was special.

One dish contained a lot of artificial meat patties, and it tasted better than the potato stew I usually eat, while the other dish was the regular stew I usually eat, without even any meat patties. Although they gave me meat patties again when they served me the rest of the meal in the evening, this difference in treatment still made me feel uncomfortable.

"The editor's sense of taste is becoming more acute at this time. It seems that the talent of a gourmet begins to show after entering puberty." Azure cleverly brought up the topic, trying to break the awkward atmosphere that had become awkward again.

Unfortunately, the editor was still immersed in his own emotions: "Although there was a vague sense of alienation from outsiders in the past, the feeling in my heart and the two pots that I saw with my own eyes were ultimately two different things. And what I was making was the potato and pork stew that my mother left me with important memories. From that moment on, I made up my mind that after leaving this family, I must make a name for myself in society and let those two people see my success with their own eyes."

"Although we've obtained a lot of information, it has absolutely nothing to do with the stew your biological mother used to make." Tian Tong sighed deeply. "Hmm - I don't know if this can serve as any kind of clue, but when I think of my mother's stew, I sometimes picture a snowy winter."

"Snow? Shanlu Town is located on the east side of Reversible Mountain. It's said to be rich in geothermal resources due to its proximity to a dormant volcano. Does it snow here?"

Azure, who had studied the geography of Unova through the "Complete Encyclopedia of Underground Minerals in the Unova Region," looked skeptical. Guskaf shook his head with a wry smile, "It really doesn't snow much in that place in winter. I never saw any snow there when I was a child."

"It's still a mystery." Azure lowered her head in disappointment.

Human taste is a nuanced and sensitive thing. Based on such ambiguous and useless information, can anyone really find out the taste that Guscalf tasted in his childhood?

Do you have any other clues or inspirations?

Tian Tong, with a similarly troubled expression, flipped through her notebook, her linen trench coat draped down listlessly.

"I'm sorry, that's all I have." The editor of Giants lowered his head apologetically. "Wasn't this request a bit too presumptuous? How could I possibly find a dish made by someone who passed away twenty years ago based on such a limited description?"

"No."

Suddenly, the owner of the Tian Tong Pavilion slammed the notebook shut.

"We have all the necessary clues; all that remains is some tedious investigative work."

He looked at the food editor: "Mr. Guscalf, when will you be interviewed by Outlook magazine?"

"Oh, that's not urgent." The food critic paused for a moment, then replied, "According to their magazine's schedule, I won't be interviewed for at least two months."

"Alright, there's plenty of time."

Tong adjusted his glasses, which had no lenses, with his index finger, and then confidently announced, "As the food detective of the Sanyo Gym, I will definitely solve this mystery within two weeks. Mr. Guscalf, please visit our Sanyo Gym again at the same time in fourteen days. At that time, the three of us brothers will recreate the potato and pork stew that our biological mother cooked for you, and tell you the recipe and cooking method without reservation."

"Really?" Guskaf couldn't help but be skeptical.

"Don't worry." A voice came from deep within the beverage room; it was Mr. Kohn, the Water-type Gym Leader.

"At our Sanyo Restaurant, every single case that Tento has handled has been successfully solved without exception. We've even encountered clients who are more demanding and have more vague requests than Mr. Guscalf. Please feel free to trust his abilities."