I Became a Food Developer in Another World

Chapter 5: This is the real deal (2)

Potato chips are one of the most dominant snacks in the snack market and have become a favorite snack all over the world.

However, potato chips didn’t always have this reputation.

The first potato chips had a number of problems, including crumbling and oxidizing easily.

They crumbled during the transportation process, leaving customers with nothing but potato crumbs.

Pringles was the first snack to solve this problem.

It is synonymous with potato chips that are stacked in a long cylindrical can in a standardized manner.

In a snack market where nitrogen comes with potato chips as a foreign substance, it was the only snack that actually contained potato chips.

It took two months to magically embody the Pringles in my memory.

With experience, it took me much less time than it did to make Coke.

“This is a snack…?”

“It’s a unique shape.”

The wizards of the tower looked curiously at the pile of Pringles in the bowl.

The snacks they knew were dried crops sprinkled with salt.

“Yuri, what kind of crop is this?”

“Potatoes.”

“Potatoes…?”

Ranya’s face visibly shook.

“You made sweets from potatoes?”

“Yes.”

Of course, it was a figment of my imagination, so no real potatoes were used but even with that in mind, Ranya’s reaction was beyond imagination.

It was the same with the other wizards.

In the other world, potatoes were shunned as the “devil’s fruit.

The fact that they grew in the “earth,” their wild colors, and bumpy shape made them seem sinister in the eyes of the Otherworlders.

Crucially, people who ate potatoes raw and unpeeled became ill and were called ‘the devil’s fruit’.

‘There’s a lot of prejudice.’

It can be ugly to eat.

“How can you eat a potato anyway?”

“Try it, you’ll see.”

At my urging, Ranya picked up a Pringles and lifted it to her mouth, half-heartedly.

“…I actually eat them?”

“At this rate, we’ll be up all night.”

At my urging, Ranya squeezed her eyes shut and popped the whole Pringles into her tiny mouth.

A crunching sound rang out.

“…Huh?”

Ranya’s eyes widened like rabbits.

“What do you think?”

“……Were potatoes supposed to taste this good?”

Ranya picked up the Pringles again, as if she hadn’t already shown her disapproval.

She closes her eyes and rolls her tongue around in her mouth, savoring the flavor.

‘For hating them so much earlier, you’re eating well.’

I smirk.

“You should try a Coke, it goes with it.”

“Do you think so?”

With a twinkle in her eye, Ranya filled a glass with Coke and drank it with Pringles.

“Hoa…”

Ranya’s expression melted.

One by one, the wizards watching began to taste the Pringles.

“Mmm, delicious!”

“Ohhh!”

“These are snacks?”

“What the hell have I been eating all this time……?”

The reactions were as bad, if not worse, than Ranya’s.

Like beggars who hadn’t eaten in days, the Tower family members fiercely craved Pringles.

‘I’m not going to have anything left to eat.’

I looked at them with satisfaction and quickly moved my hand to bring a Pringles to my mouth before the bowl was empty.

-Crunch!

“Yum.”

The crunchy texture of Pringles and the salty flavor that spreads across my mouth.

‘This is a snack.’

I took a gulp of my Coke.

The sweetness of the Coke danced in my mouth with the saltiness of the Pringles.

“Hey, do you have any more of these?”

Aria asked.

From the look on her face, it seemed she liked the Pringles too.

But alas, that was all for today.

“No. That’s it.”

It costs gems to bring my imagination to life.

In the Otherworld, where gems cost more than gold, I couldn’t waste them on tastings.

If they want to eat, I have to make it.

The only catch is that I have to get permission from the wizards of the tower.

I couldn’t just spend the Tower’s public funds as I pleased.

Well, the results are pretty self-explanatory.

“Okay, all those who are against making Pringles, please raise your hand.”

There was nobody.

I don’t think I would have heard it even if there was, because it was a public vote.

*

The manufacturing of Pringles went smoothly with the full support of the wizards.

“When will Pringles be ready?”

“You know, the ones from the other day.”

“Hi, when’s the release date?”

I’ve said it all, because every wizard I meet asks me about the release date of Pringles instead of greeting me.

Along the way, I learned something: Aria’s taste buds are more sophisticated than I ever imagined.

“I don’t think these are pure potatoes, I think they’re fried in oil with flour and salt…….”

Aria shook her head as she munched on a Pringles.

“There’s something else that makes me want to eat them, but I don’t know what.”

“…Are you a cook?”

“My parents own a restaurant.”

Oh, right. They do.

‘I forgot.’

Aria’s parents ran a restaurant on their country estate.

Growing up with them, Aria was no stranger to cooking, but even so, I was surprised.

I knew she had good taste, but I didn’t expect it to be this good.

Especially at the end, when she said “tantalizing,” she was referring to MSG.

I thought, “This could be useful.”

I wanted to try it.

“Aria, can you be specific about that tantalizing flavor you were talking about?”

“When you say specific, how much are you talking about?”

“Enough that you can ’embody’ it.”

Aria frowned.

“I think that would be difficult, it’s so subtle, I’d have to taste a lot to get a feel for it……”

“Then taste it.”

“Are you sure you want to? It’s a lot of magic stones.”

“Don’t worry, it’s all research.”

The processed food I was making wasn’t technically a real processed food.

It was a figment of my imagination that relied on my memory.

Memory is inaccurate, so I can’t be sure that the flavor is perfect, that’s why I spent half a year tweaking the flavor of Coke but even then, it was hard to say that it was a perfect cola.

Everyone’s taste buds are different, so it’s inevitable that the taste of cola that I feel is different from the taste of cola that others feel.

People’s tastes vary from region to region, and if the world is different, the difference is even wider.

However, there was one substance that everyone agreed was delicious.

It’s MSG.

The food additive that is the beginning and end of processed food.

It’s the magic white powder that can make even the most bland food taste delicious when sprinkled on top.

‘It only takes a few low-level magic stones to make MSG, and it’s cheap.’

It’s a crazy world when you can make MSG without any ingredients.

*

The production of Pringles went faster than expected.

This was largely due to Aria’s research into the ingredients that go into Pringles.

More raw materials mean less to implement, so it’s no surprise that the development of the stocks went faster.

The development of the ‘original’ flavor stock was long over, and now they were in the process of implementing the different flavors of Pringles.

“Now we just need to drizzle this stock over the potatoes and we’re done.”

Ciel poured the finely ground Pringles stock evenly over the potato slices piled in the bowl.

The dipped potato slices became firm and the Pringles were ready.

I took a bite of the finished Pringles and nodded.

“Good.”

The crunchy texture, the salty flavor, and the sweetness of the onion in the center tasted like the perfect onion.

“By the way, do you have to make the potatoes uniform in shape?”

“Yes, so they don’t crumble.”

Pringles are delicious, but they’re rooted in a vat that doesn’t allow for crumbs.

The reason for grating the potatoes and stamping them into a uniform shape is to prevent crumbs from forming during the distribution process.

Ciel’s eyes lit up at my explanation.

“Ah, so it’s shaped for transportation. Surely, this will keep the snacks from getting crushed.”

“Yes, stacking the potatoes in round bins makes them harder to crush and easier to store.”

It would be an extra step to get the potatoes to the right dimensions, but it wasn’t a difficult task for the alchemists, who were capable of more detailed work.

Afterward, I asked Ciel to make me a Pringles container, and I left the workshop to return to the tower.

Then….

‘What?’

When I returned to the tower, there was a lot of commotion.

Many wizards, who usually lock themselves in their rooms and don’t even think about coming out, were crowded in the lobby.

I wondered if it was a cleaning day, but soon realized it was not.

Ranya was sweating it out with a guest of honor, clad in the white robes she only wears once a year.

Ranya’s fumbling opponent was a handsome young man with all-blonde hair.

‘Who is he?’

I asked, grabbing a passing wizard.

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, Yuri. You’re back. Go in quickly, the Third Prince has come to visit.”

“The Third Prince is……”

“It’s Mr. Leon.”

“Um, I see.”

Sensing that I was in for a nuisance, I quietly turned and left the tower.

“…There he is! He’s the developer of Coke!”

“Master…?”

Ranya averted her gaze.

“That’s right, the developer of Coke.”

“…….”

The Third Prince of the Empire came to me.