I’m a Chef in the Underworld

[Cozy] [Healing] [Whimsical] [Gourmet] [Good food and love are both too precious to neglect] To keep up with the times and make the underworld more humane, the authorities offer perks to both the ghosts already living there and the newly arrived. You Xia, a human with an official underworld position, can travel between the living world and the underworld. An exceptionally skilled cook, she is assigned to a restaurant where she’ll prepare one free meal for each ghost, on the condition that they tell her the story behind the dish. Behind every dish, bottle of wine, or little snack these ghosts order lies a story of love, family, friendship… The ghosts’ regrets and the dishes they can’t stop thinking about are tied to the people and events they hold dear. Corn, seaweed, and pork dumplings; tomato and egg stir-fry; spicy crayfish; strawberry cake; spicy pig’s trotters; radish and beef short-rib soup; flatbread… The restaurant never runs short of ingredients, and You Xia cooks each meal for the ghosts with care. Some don’t ask for stir-fries or desserts, but simply a cup of plain water. Even plain water has a story of its own. Love, friendship, family… The restaurant serves ghosts in its regular hours, and the underworld staff sometimes gather there when it’s closed. For all its gloomy appearance, the underworld is really not so different from the world of the living.