Food Wars!, Vol. 1: 05/11/16

Food Wars!, Vol. 1 by Yuuto Tsukuda is the start of an ongoing manga series about an elite culinary school in Japan. The main character, Soma Yukihira, has been sent there after his dad decides to shutter their small restaurant to work for an overseas client.

Soma's no slouch when it comes to cooking and competition. Years of competing against his father and the on going demands of running a family restaurant has given him lots of experience.

This first book though stalls before taking Soma to the school that will be the focus of so much of the plot. Instead of jumping right in, there's a side plot about an obnoxious business woman wanting to buy the restaurant. She sets up a contest that she's convinced she'll win (because she cheats). Soma, though, is used to things going awry and comes up a savory solution.

One thing about the portrayal of extraordinarily good cooking — it's shown as literal food porn. Characters suddenly lose their clothing and sparkle in ways that would make Major Armstrong jealous. The first few times I saw it, it was jarring and frankly off putting. Having now watched the entire anime, I'm sort of used to it.

Three stars

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