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"The last one?"
Richard was a little shocked, but he quickly realized that the last one in the class seemed to refer to the poor students.
Richard looked at the overall grades of various subjects in the column behind Ryūga's name.
God… one was worse than the other.
Practical courses: E, theoretical courses: E, business courses: E, hygiene courses: E, etc…
Is this kid really that bad?
Richard raised his head and looked at Ryūga.
At that moment, he discovered that there was something completely different about Ryūga.
It was Ryūga's gaze.
In general, a poor student shows some hesitation or anger when mocked by classmates, but why were Ryūga's eyes so calm?
Richard had worked in kitchens for a long time and had taught at Totsuki for several years, so he had met all kinds of people.
He now felt that Ryūga's eyes were very much like those of a clear-minded adult facing a situation…
Of course, there was another explanation — that Ryūga had despaired of himself and no longer cared about anything…
Compared to the latter, Richard preferred to believe that Ryūga was the first type.
Thinking this, Richard looked at Ryūga encouragingly and said:
"Ryūga-san, tell me your opinion!"
"I think every student has the right to express their thoughts. Whether your answer is right or wrong, we must have enough courage to express what we think."
"Sometimes, the courage to act is more important than the final result."
When Ryūga saw Richard's expectant and encouraging eyes, he said helplessly:
"Alright, I'll tell you my opinion!"
"But before that, I want to say a few words to Nakajima-san!"
"The knowledge a person learns is meant to enrich themselves, not to show off!"
"If your only goal is to attract attention, then no matter how much knowledge you acquire, it will be useless!"
"It will enter only your mind, not your heart!"
"Nakajima-san really disappoints me!"
When Nakajima heard Ryūga's mockery, he was so angry that his lungs almost exploded.
If someone better than him had scolded him like that, he would have accepted it easily.
But now, being lectured by Ryūga — the last student in the class — was unbearable.
Nakajima looked at Ryūga with a mocking smile.
"I didn't expect Ryūga-san to be so reasonable!"
"I'm sorry, what I said earlier was a bit rude. I shouldn't have commented on my classmates that way!"
"But I don't think there was anything wrong with what I said!"
"Every class session is precious, and I hope to make the most of every minute of this valuable time."
"Mr. Richard's questions are somewhat obscure, and Ryūga-san doesn't even have an understanding of basic logic theories, so I'm afraid she'll be even more helpless with such obscure questions!"
"So, isn't it a waste of our time to let Ryūga-san answer questions?"
"A waste of time?"
Ryūga's eyes were still as calm as ever.
Frankly, he didn't care about a man desperately trying to show off his talents in front of the girl he liked.
However, he didn't want to be the target in his way of that showing off either.
He also didn't understand why someone like Nakajima would waste time mocking a poor student like him.
If he were someone who had a relationship with Mana Nakiri, he could at least understand it as jealousy.
But he had no connection with her, didn't even know her — or rather, he was invisible in class.
So he didn't understand why Nakajima was mocking him.
Even so, Ryūga didn't want to be provoked in such a shameless way and stay silent.
So Ryūga looked at Nakajima and said calmly:
"Then, let me say a few words. Nakajima-san can judge whether my thoughts are a waste of your time!"
"The question that Teacher Richard asked earlier was about the history and development of French cuisine!"
"First of all, before answering this question, we need to think about why Teacher Richard asked this question!"
"As professionals in the culinary field, the first thing we should do is categorize this question as one of culinary theory, not history!"
"What we need to focus on in this question are the number of different cooking methods, techniques, kitchen tools, and ingredients that appeared in the development of French cuisine…"
"Nakajima-san said earlier that French cuisine did not actually emerge until the 15th or 16th century. So I would like to ask — before the 15th century, did the inhabitants of the French lands rely only on dirt and stone to make a living?"
Richard's eyes lit up when he heard Ryūga's words.
He looked at Ryūga with great interest, eager to know what Ryūga would say next…
Ignoring Nakajima-san's embarrassed look, Ryūga continued:
"I can answer you confidently, Nakajima-san. Unfortunately, before the 15th century, the inhabitants of the French lands did not rely on mud and stone!"
"As I said before, this is a lecture on culinary theory, not history, so we don't need to delve deeply into the origins of the French people. Let's start from the moment when the concept of cuisine appeared in France!"
"In the first century BC, Caesar, the Roman ruler of Gaul, conquered the whole of Gaul. Before that, the locals always ate what I consider to be food, not cuisine. With the Romans' conquest of that land, their eating habits gradually spread into the region. From then on, the inhabitants of continental France gradually began to adopt the concept of cooking food in different ways."
"The Romans occupied that land for five hundred years, until the fifth century BC, when the Franks conquered Gaul and established the Frankish Kingdom. As a result, Frankish eating habits gradually spread."
"In my opinion, the Franks mostly learned their eating habits from the Gauls, so it can be said that their origins are the same…"
"In my view, if we want to determine the earliest prototype of French cuisine, it can definitely be traced back to the first century BC!"
When Ryūga said this, Nakajima-san immediately stood up and objected.
"Nonsense!"
"Cuisine? Ryūga-san, do you even know what cuisine is?"
"Cuisine is the process of adding color to bland food through various techniques and seasonings. The food produced in these different ways is what can be called cuisine."
"As for calling the food that the original French ate in the first century 'cuisine,' I think that's completely absurd… food simply prepared by boiling or roasting doesn't deserve to be called cuisine at all; it can only be called food. Does Ryūga-san think something without any technical element deserves to be called cuisine?"
Most of his classmates agreed with Nakajima's statement.
In the eyes of the classmates, the terms "food" and "cuisine" could be said to be two different concepts.
Cuisine can be called food, but food cannot necessarily be called cuisine.
In the early days of the European continent, its inhabitants followed a monotonous diet. They only roasted or cooked the meat they hunted. At that time, they didn't even have the concept of salt. As for plant-based food, they ate it raw.
Therefore, in Nakajima's view, this primitive way of eating didn't deserve to be called cuisine.
When Ryūga heard Nakajima's question, he smiled calmly and did not rush to defend himself. Instead, he asked:
"Nakajima-san, do you know what stone cooking is? Do you know what a stone mortar is?"
"Stone cooking method? Stone mortar?"
When Nakajima heard Ryūga's question, he was stunned…
He didn't know why Ryūga suddenly brought up this topic.