The Eccentric Chef

The Eccentric Chef is a long urban novel by the web writer Tian Shi. It entered Qidian's "Premium Channel" on September 22, 2014; the book runs to about 6.28 million characters and 2,026 chapters and was completed on June 1, 2017. The story begins at an oasis in a boundless desert: the protagonist, Bai Lu, grows up in a special prison there, learning a host of odd skills from all manner of strange people—he can fight, he can play the trumpet, and most remarkably he possesses a peerless culinary art known as the "Divine Culinary Way." After leaving the desert he comes to the capital and takes over a small restaurant left to him by his second uncle; with his outstanding skill and a set of eccentric rules he gains a foothold in Beijing and befriends the police officers Sun Min, Zhang Shasha, He Shanqing, Ding Ding, Liu Wenqing, Gao Yuan, and others. The little restaurant grows ever busier, and through various chances he enters show business, singing and acting, until he becomes the country's top male star. The author calls the book a "casual narrative," written without a strong main plot or outline; events unfold like a day-to-day account of life, using a comic tone to depict the daily lives of ordinary people while, through the protagonist, exposing the hidden rules of the entertainment industry, social injustice, environmental protection, and children's rights. Reader reactions are polarized: some find it authentic and warm, good for a meal and for unwinding, while others find the plot loose and the protagonist's behavior monotonous.