Chapter 18: Rise of Dark Cuisine

I never knew that teaching Gaspar to make pizza and tofu would become the biggest mistake of my life that someday would make it's mark on the history of our development.

From the time that Gaspar have tasted the deliciousness of pizza he has now become discontented with most of our food that he started to dedicate most of his time, in researching for more variants and tasty dishes but he always come up with the most horrible combination of food ever.

We can say that I ended up spending half of the day inside the toilet room, and take note I just took a small bite of his food just to check if it taste good despite how horrible it looked, but no, not only does it taste disgusting but it lingers in my mouth for a long time.

I don't know what kind of spices ot ingredients Gaspar have put into his experimental dish, but I think he puts all of the available spices that we have. The mixture of different spices has created a huge contrast to my taste buds, that even water can't remove its residue. I also thought that I would only suffer from this state for several minutes but it has been hours since I tasted his new dish and yet I think my sense of taste has gotten worse.

If I just didn't know the truth, I would think that Gaspar is a secret spy trying to poison me but no he is not.

All he wants to do, is to share his joy in creating a new recipe using the new spices that have recently become popular in the city.

However, It also didn't help the fact that Gaspar himself didn't find anything wrong with his recipe, as his taste buds have long gone bad.

Even his tongue is now color purple due to tasting a lot of his experimental dish but despite all of this Gaspar is still the perfect chef candidate to cook our meals. Because even without the guidance of his sense of taste he can still perfectly recreate the usual old dishes we often consumed.

Even Michael with his strong stomach has caved in. No one was safe in trying Gaspar's experimental dish, except for my father. He was the only one that was spared from tasting his new dish as he strictly demanded Gaspar to only serve him the usual food.

It did not even cross my mind that Dark cuisine would be born due to my intervention.

I thought with more spices available in the market my daily foods would get an upgrade ,but what happen is the opposite, due to the spice boom in the city everyone was busy trying out a new recipe and sharing it with other people.

The worst part, is a lot of people in the city have now become obsessed with trying out a new taste as most of them got bored with their old food. This somehow makes the entire marketplace lively and chaotic most of the time.

As people kept on experimenting with the spices and recipes, the number of people who get sick because of consuming this food has risen rapidly. Though none of them died because of this madness. It sure creates a new dark culture in Florentine city, where people are gifting each other with the worst food they have ever created.

This dark cuisine madness has started since the day I unveiled the use and production of spices in our city. It triggers a massive response of enthusiasm among the people I underestimated the power of spice among the people, who are already sick of eating the same food every day.

With the help of my newly started industry of such as spices, pickled vegetables, and feeds for our farms, not only I was able to earn a ton of money but it also helps us to revive the dying economy of the city.

If you go into the market nowadays, a lot of people are busy selling and buying things and the most popular product among them are spices.

But the aftermath of this fiasco has greatly ruined my expectations for delicious meals. As now, a new culture has started to become popular among the people.

That is creating horrendous dishes using different ingredients and someone actually comes up with a new variety of pizza. That has a mysterious filling inside the bread and dried fish as a topping. Well, at first it doesn't sound so bad right, but wrong. He used the mash pickled vegetables and a lot of spices to be the filling of the pizza crust.

And who has started this trend? of course none other than the chef of the Beaufort house, Gaspar. He himself have promoted this new dish in the city after the old Melissa have hit him with a broomstick while shouting profanities at him.

To be honest I didn't expect that I would see that side of her, she looks so mad and flustered as she tried to expel our cook Gaspar in the mansion. She said that Gaspar have tricked her in trying out a new dish he created for the dinner that day.

Melissa said that after eating a bite of that cursed food of Gaspar, she felt like her soul have leave her body for a moment as the most horrendous taste have attacked her mouth.

A/N: Remember Melissa is just a normal lady who is already in her mid 40's and during this era her age is already considered old for a mortal.

"That man wants me dead he must have known something he didn't like, that's why he tried to poison me with his food but thank goodness it didn't work," Melissa said as she wipe her tears from her eyes.

"I don't think I would be able to go back eating for today, my mind can't accept any foods as of now." She added as she cover her mouth trying to stop the vile from rising on her throat.

"Is it really that bad? Maybe I can have a bite" I asked since I'm not convinced yet.

"Oh! No! No! That would be a big mistake Master Lucas, the taste of that food is too horrible, too inhuman for anyone." Said by Melissa as she insist on stopping me.

"Then I just like to take a look, there's nothing bad about that." I said as I went inside the kitchen.

There I found Gaspar while he was munching on his new variant of pizza and it looks normal at first, but then I found that he have a baffled looked on his face.

"Gaspar, what have you done to Melissa? She wouldn't react that way if there's nothing wrong with the food, and besides what's with that look on your face?" I said as I question him.

"Master Lucas, I don't understand Melissa, she said that my food tastes horrible but it tastes ok for me, though it has a unique touch to it, I don't think that this is a horrible dish." He said as he looked at the remaining pizza on the table.

"Unique! Unique! Really? are you kidding me, don't deny it. You just wanted to poison me. Didn't you pick up one of my books last week? You read it didn't you? That's why you're mad at me." Melissa said hysterically.

"No! no, I didn't I don't have any ill intentions towards you, or to anyone in this house. I just want to share the taste of my new creation, but I didn't expect that you would react that way, and I tasted it, but I found nothing wrong with it. You can even give it a try Master Lucas." Gaspar said defensively.

"Oh no you don't, please don't listen to him young master you might never forget this horrendous taste in your lifetime once you give it a try and it's too horrible I want to vomit." Said by Melissa.

"Okay fine but this pizza doesn't look so bad to me. Sure, it looks weird due to the chosen toppings of Gaspar which is dried fish but I don't think it would be that bad." I said still unconvinced since the pizza looks okay and still smells good actually much better than before.

"Or I can give it a try." James said suddenly as he looks at Melissa.

"No don't try it you would definitely regret it."

"I know and I heard everything that you said, Melissa. Your voice was too loud and can be heard trough out the entire mansion, but in order to check if there really was something wrong in this food someone other than you should confirm it." James said calmly as he takes another slice of pizza and bring it near his mouth.

"It does actually smell good and much better than before I don't think this would taste that bad." James said unconvinced with Melissa's sentiment before he took a bite.

"See everything is okay there's nothing wrong with it." James said happily after eating the first bite.

But James movement has suddenly stopped and his entire body has started to seizures as he drops on the chair.

"James! James! What Happen to you are you alright Melissa come help me." I said worriedly as I shouted for Melissa's help.

"Gaspar what did you put on that food what happen to him." I said hurriedly.

"Oh! That's normal Master Lucas, his body has just appreciated the taste of this food. It also happens to me before and everyone else who tries it for the first time. People might hate it at first, but as you continuously consumed this kind of food you'll eventually find that it's good." He said without any worry in his tone.

"You! You have gone nuts. Normal? Do you think it's really normal for anyone to convulse after eating such food?" Melissa said as she pointed her finger at Gaspar.

"You just need to appreciate it more, here try another bite you'll find out what I'm talking about." Said by Gaspar as he try to give her another slice of pizza.

"No way I won't try that again." Melissa said firmly.

"T-Take H-Him O-Out. Now, and throw this away." James said weakly as his mouth started to bubble.

"Master Lucas, I don't have any intention to hurt anybody I'm telling the truth they just need to adjust to this new dish, and everything would be back to normal." Gaspar said in defense.

"I think you need to take a leave for the day Gaspar, I know this is not what you wanted to happen, but you should stop with your excessive experimentation on our food for now, and bring this pizza out of the mansion. I don't think they would appreciate seeing this in the future." I said as I looked at Melissa as she help James to stand up.

"Meanwhile you can take a tour around the city and unwind. You need to relax. We have an abundant supply of spices you don't have to rush things out on making a new recipe. Maybe by looking around the city it might give you an idea of what goes wrong on this pizza." I said to Gaspar as he looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Bu-But Master Lucas."

"I know it's your job to cook delicious meals for us, and to find new recipes, but I think you have gone overboard with this one, so take this pizza out, and take a rest for today. I'll call for ben and Jane to assist in the kitchen to cook our dinner for tonight so don't worry." I said as I cut him off.

"Okay Master Lucas, I'll take my leave for this day and I apologized for both of you, Melissa and James." He said disappointedly as he turn his back towards us and exited the house bringing the malicious pizza with him.

But I never knew that this would be the reason and the start of the rapid rise of Dark cuisine in the Florentine city.

Gaspar has let some people to taste his new recipe in the market and at first, people were so disgusted by it, but when they found out that this is a dish we usually eat in the mansion. It immediately became popular with the masses and as they ask Gaspar about the inspiration for this dish. He told them that spices give life to his food.

And that's the start of how such Dark cuisine has grown and spread within the city. It is also the reason why spices and pickled vegetables have bloomed and become one of the biggest export of our territory.

But never in my life did I guess, that a culture revolving around dark cuisine would start a new battle in the city as this fanfest has lasted for the entire month.

Their capability to hide and imitate other foods have grown by leaps and bound you will never know if what you eat is a slice of true meat. It might be another dish disguise as that, to trick other people to buy it and it becomes harder and harder for us to distinguish which is true and not.

That is also the reason why I'm suffering from stomach ache for this day after all the clamor in dark cuisine has faded, after a month. I thought that Gaspar have finally gone back to normal but I was wrong again, he got worse and good at the same time.

He managed to trick both of us, Michael and I into thinking, that this is a new and normal food.

With its intoxicating aroma and alluring appearance, no one would have taught that it hides such as horrible taste underneath its beauty.

He even learn how to put such a beautiful design on this food it looks so appetizing in the eyes, but beholds, for the taste would kick in once you have gulped the food on your mouth.

I did manage to make our city alive once more, but I never anticipate that in exchange. I would need to be wary of trying a new dish outside the mansion for worrying about the possible consequences I might face after eating it.

I can now proclaim that our cook, Gaspar is the king of Dark cuisine, as he reach the apex of beauty and taste at the same time, but he got it in the wrong way.

Anyway, I should start planning on trading all of our new products outside the territory. I just hope that this cult around dark cuisine won't grow anymore. I don't want to know that a kingdom might take a liking to this culture in the future.

I can't face my father anymore if it happens. Just this rise of dark cuisine around the city have given me a huge headache, as father always gives me a weird look on his eyes every time we eat our meals.

This is something that I can't carry on my shoulder, as this thing has never happened to earth but what's wrong with the people here.