I've been transported to the orc continent.

Bai Ling: "Father, this can be eaten if it's prepared properly, and it's very filling."

The "big root grass" in the eye of the storm is actually cassava. Raw cassava is poisonous, but it's perfectly safe to eat when cooked. Cassava is one of the "three major tuber crops," with a high starch content, and it's a staple food in some countries.

“Father, I’ve seen this food in my dream, and I know how to prepare it,” Bai Ling continued. “Father, the weather has been bad this year, and the tribe’s food supply is far from enough. If this is really edible, the tribe won’t have to worry about food for the winter.”

Feng hesitated. His son was right. If the bulrush was really edible, then the tribe wouldn't have to worry about food for the winter. There was a sizable valley in the tribe's territory that was full of bulrushes. If they dug them all up, it would probably be enough to feed the tribe for more than half a year.

Seeing that her father's expression had softened, Bai Ling continued, "Father, let's dig up some cassava first, clean it up, and give some to the little animals. If the little animals are fine after eating it, then we can eat it, okay?"

Feng thought for a moment and agreed with his son: "Alright, let's dig some up and take it back first. Ling, you're not very strong, so just watch from the side. I'll dig."

The cassava in the orc world is huge, perhaps because the soil by the stream is fertile and moist. The cassava grows as tall and thick as Bai Ling's thigh, and one cassava plant can fill the basket carried by the wind.

*

The people in the tribe were all surprised when Feng brought back a basket of large root grass. Feng was an old hunter in the tribe, so he must know that large root grass was poisonous. Why did he dig up so much of it?

The old orc in the square quickly stopped Feng and asked him why he dug up so many large roots of grass. Didn't he know that they were poisonous?

Bai Ling answered before her father could, "If it's processed properly, it won't be poisonous and you can eat it."

An old orc named Cai said, "Ling, eating a little bit of the big root grass is fine, but eating too much will cause vomiting, even fainting, and may even cost you your life. You've dug up so much and you're planning to eat it all? That's absolutely not allowed."

Cai is an elder in the tribe. He is a long-eared rabbit beastman. Long-eared rabbit beastmen are not good at hunting but are very good at gathering. When Cai was young, he was the captain of the tribe's gathering team. When he saw Feng digging up a basket of big grass, he quickly came up to stop him.

The other orcs also stood in front of Feng and Bai Ling, telling them not to eat the big root grass.

"Cai is right, you absolutely cannot eat daikon radish."

"If you don't have enough food, I have some at home, and I'll bring it over to you in a bit."

“I have some at home too, I’ll send some over to you.”

…………

The beastmen assumed that Feng had dug up large grass to eat because he didn't have enough food at home, and they all offered to give him some food.

Orcs are simple-minded creatures; helping each other is their habit. If anyone in a tribe is in trouble, the people in the tribe will come to their aid. Just like now, even though those orcs don't have enough food, seeing that Bai Ling's family has reached the point of having to eat coarse grass, those orcs are still willing to give Bai Ling's family some food.

Even in Bai Ling's memory, his tribe and the surrounding tribes had never fought a war. Even if there were disputes between tribes, they would choose the warriors of the tribe to fight a battle to determine the winner, unlike the wars in his previous life where they fought to the death.

Bai Ling and his father were surrounded. Feng quickly explained the situation, and Bai Ling repeatedly assured him that he knew how to process cassava and that properly processed cassava was absolutely edible.

Cai asked, "In your dream, is the large root grass called cassava?"

Bai Ling nodded: "Yes, they will treat cassava as a staple food, just like we orcs eat meat."

After Bai Ling's repeated assurances, the beastmen finally became somewhat skeptical and were willing to give Bai Ling a chance to prove that the Big Root Grass was edible.

*

With the help of the beastmen, the cassava was quickly harvested. Bai Ling didn't even have to touch the cassava before a whole basket of it was peeled and cut into small pieces.

Bai Ling instructed the orcs to put the cassava into the earthenware pot, add water, and start cooking.

The fire in the hearth was burning brightly, and the water in the earthenware pot soon began to bubble. A group of orcs sat under a tree, chatting and glancing at the earthenware pot from time to time.

An orc asked, "Ling, is the bigroot grass cooked yet? Should we take it out?"

Bai Ling shook her head: "Cassava needs to be cooked for a long time to remove the toxins. It can't be eaten just because it's fully cooked."

Only after a large bundle of firewood had burned out and more than half of the water in the earthenware pot had evaporated did Bai Ling say, "Alright, you can take the earthenware pot down now."

Bai Ling soaked the cooked cassava in a ceramic basin filled with water for a while, then changed the water. Feng took out a few pieces of cassava, put them in a ceramic bowl, and handed them to Cai: "Uncle Cai, take a look, is it edible?"

The long-eared rabbit orc has a special talent: identifying whether plants are edible. Cai is an expert in this field. Whenever the tribe encounters an unfamiliar plant, they rely on him and a few other long-eared rabbit orcs to determine whether it is edible.

Pick up a slice of cassava between two fingers, first smell it under your nose, then lick it with your tongue, and finally put the cassava slice in your mouth and chew it slowly.

After a while, Cai said, "The unpleasant smell of the radish is almost gone, so it's edible."

Most of the orcs here cheered.

After eating a piece of cassava, he handed the earthenware bowl to another long-eared rabbit beastman. There were four long-eared rabbit beastmen in total, and they all said that cooked cassava was almost free of poison and could be eaten. However, just to be on the safe side, they fed the cassava to the two chirping beastmen first.

The Jiji Beast is also a small wild animal, resembling a pheasant on Earth, but twice the size. The Jiji Beast has very bright feathers, and beastmen like to use its tail feathers to decorate themselves.

The two Jiji Beasts were in poor spirits. Cai and Feng each caught one of them and used seashells to scoop up cassava to feed it.

At first, the Jiji Beast refused to eat, but Feng and Cai imitated its calls a few times, and the Jiji Beast's spirits improved considerably, and it began to peck at the cassava inside the shell.

*

The two chirping beasts ate a lot of cassava. They did nothing wrong, and even though their paws were tied with grass rope, they still ran around all over the place.

It was time to cook, but none of the beastmen said they wanted to go back. Instead, they kept their eyes fixed on the Chirping Beast.

Feng said, "I'll go cook some meat, and we'll eat together."

Cai was the first to say, "Okay, I'll go home and get some meat. We'll eat together for lunch today."

The other orcs chimed in, "My grandson said Ling's cooking is delicious, I'll try it today too."

"Yes, yes, my little rascal says he wants to eat Ling's cooking every day, and he can't sleep at night thinking about it."

The beastmen laughed and joked for a bit before dispersing to go home and get their food.