Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma is an anime show that grabs viewers’ attention in the first episode — not through its powerful main characters nor comedy skits — but rather, food. Yes! Simply just food.
If you think about it, manga writer Yūto Tsukuda, illustrator Shun Saeki, along with chef Yuki Morisaki (who’s used as a model and consultant for the series), concocted a recipe for their stories to wow their audience through a basic necessity.
What’s impressive about this show is how the characters managed to cook up delicious food that also appeals to the taste buds of the viewers.
Perhaps the reason why newcomers are so drawn to this show as much as long-time fans are is because of the characters’ strategies to cook the most delectable dishes.
I have listed below 10 competent student chefs in the series that cooked up mouth-watering cuisines that even viewers would like to taste:
Disclaimer: The following list is up to date with the Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma anime series. The characters’ rankings are based on their experience, cooking techniques, and sometimes positions in the Elite Ten Council, and victories in cook-offs. Therefore, this blog will contain minor spoilers. Enjoy!
10Ryō Kurokiba – For Kurokiba
Chefs are all about winning or being beaten.” But as a matter of fact, one of Kurokiba’s assets is his unbeatable knowledge of Molecular Gastronomy (a food science sub-discipline where one investigates physical and chemical transformations of cooking ingredients).
Therefore, he seeks the best spice blends to prepare European seafood cuisine that will have the best concentrated flavours.
In addition, his pub head chef experience in a Denmark port town made him notable for preparing crustaceans and lobsters. While growing up, the pub cooks admire him for his seafood knowledge, knifing, and crushing skills.
9Takumi Aldini
Having been born and raised in Italy, Aldini has a vast knowledge of Italian cuisines that his food is specially requested by customers of his uncle’s restaurant, Trattoria Aldini.
With his younger twin brother, Isami Aldini (a researcher in the world of flavour), and Takumi’s mastery in Italian cuisine, Takumi had the determination to crush Sōma Yukihira in a Shokugeki challenge.
As a matter of fact, one of Takumi’s specialized skills is crushing and forming paste with the Mezzaluna Mastery technique: he handles a crescent-shaped knife to pound dough to fettuccine paste in seconds.
It’s no wonder many patrons of his uncle’s restaurant regard him as the superior chef between him and Isami. His tenacity enabled him to be Engetsu Teahouse Culinary Academy’s (Engetsu) best Italian student chef in their current year.
8Akira Hayama
Like Kurokiba, he uses spices on his food so they can appeal to his tasters. But one major difference between him and Kurokiba is that Hayama uses aroma as well so his dishes can appeal and engross the olfactory senses of the judges during a cook-off tournament (therefore, emerging him as the victor).
His nose is his main strength when it comes to tournaments so he can harmoniously combine the fragrant but strong smells, and delicious but spicy tastes of his dishes.
His mastery of aroma allowed him to hold the 9th seat in the Elite Ten Council, further proving the use of his acute smell. Moreover, his specialty in scents is handy when it comes to his cuisine style: Shiomi-Style Curry Research, a cuisine consisting most of his signature curry dishes.
Hayama’s personality is strongly reflected in his dishes: he gives everything he has to offer during cook-off tournaments the same way his curry dishes combine the strong and complex spices, herbs, and peppers.
7Satoshi Isshiki
Isshiki’s talent stems in traditional Japanese cuisine and his mastery in eel preparation.
Since he comes from the wealthy family of Isshiki, many cooking techniques were passed down onto him, including the family special Ferociously Aggressive Japanese Cuisine.
Isshiki resides and hangs out with Sōma Yukihira at the Polar Star Dormitory, a dormitory many elite students looked down on. However, when Yukihira taste-tested his dishes, he compared Isshiki’s cooking abilities to that of a superhuman.
According to the 6th seat holder of the Elite Ten Council, Isshiki would have obtained her seat had Isshiki gone all-out and become serious in his cooking.
Since Isshiki often hides his true potential in cooking, not many people perceive him to be one of the strongest chefs in Engetsu’s 91st generation.
Nevertheless, the way his Japanese Wild Rabbit Soup changed into a miso soup (once opened) is unconventional but very unique!
6Erina Nakiri
Nakiri is a very talented chef in her own right having possessed the divine tongue or god’s tongue. Her regality is shown through her culinary creativity with original dishes such as Ravioli Di Aragosta (a popular Italian pasta) and Eggs Benedict (an egg-enhanced breakfast).
With her fine palate, she rivals Sōma Yukihira and only uses high quality ingredients to cook with perfection. Her skill level is already that of a professional chef that one of her tasters even commented, “[Erina’s dishes] make you feel a hundred years younger.”
5Eishi Tsukasa
As the former holder of the 1st seat in the Elite Ten Council, Tsukasa’s natural ability lies in flavour where he is able to craft comprehensive but unique flavours while blending them in multiple ingredients.
One of his main strengths in cooking is “paradoxically placing himself in his dishes without intending to”. This also parallels his title as The White Knight of the Table (only the flavours of the food are present in front of the taster, but it feels as if its cook is located elsewhere).
In addition, Sōma Yukihira stated that his Nine Course Meal during the Moon Banquet Festival is “fun and satisfying” as Tsukasa blended and created unique flavours while extracting the ingredients’ best aspects.
Tsukasa is one of the best chefs at Engetsu as he won against the president of the Chinese Cuisine Research Society (Chinese Cuisine RS).
4Kojirō Shinomiya
Known as The Légumes’ Magician, he is well known to have casted a spell on his whole dish of vegetables to entrance tasters and judges on his French cuisine.
As a world-renowned Japanese chef, Shinomiya won his very first French award that cemented his status in the elite society: the coveted Pluspol award.
As a sole proprietor, he won the Michelin Star upon opening his own restaurant in Paris after graduating from Engetsu.
Since he was also the former 1st seat holder of the Elite Ten Council, he acquired culinary logic, live cooking adaptation, and ingredient knowledge to heighten his already incredible cooking skills.
Interestingly, he’s even earned a spin-off manga Shokugeki no Soma: L’étoile (The Star) from the creators.
3Jōichirō Yukihira (birth name: Jōichirō Saiba)
Known as a nomadic but Master of cuisines chef globally, Jōichirō loves cook-off challenges — he never even once lost a Shokugeki.
While only a few people know of Jōichirō’s short-lived fame in the past, it’s clear that he’s looked up to and admired by those people due to his prodigious chef persona.
His knowledge with various ingredients, along with his multiple cooking styles, enabled him to formulate the Yukihira Style, which he passed down to his son, Sōma Yukihira.
In addition, due to his live cooking adaptation and culinary logic & creativity, he created the Jōichirō Special Rich Ramen that is said to revitalize the body and make one feel and look younger.
2Asahi Saiba
What makes Saiba stand out from the rest are two things: he defeated Jōichirō (a world class chef), and he collects knives.
But not just any knives, he collects only those he won from cooking competitions (he wagers with his opponents to give him their culinary knives because they lost on multiple cook-offs with him, which amplifies Saiba’s natural power).
On another note, Saiba is not very picky when it comes to his own cooking style. Rather, he bases his ability on Cross Knives, a superhuman ability that increases the knives’ skill of essence absorption.
Saiba is influential and respected because he is one of the greatest chefs in his generation. But many also feared him because he is a member of the Les Cuisiners Noirs (The Midnight Chefs), a group of chefs employed by criminals or criminal groups.
One of his chicken dishes is a batter-fried chicken with boudin noir, a sausage half of which contains rice and the other half containing ground beef.
1Sōma Yukihira
Soma Yukihira is the best chef in Food Wars series. Even if he’s only a 15-year old second-year high school student, Sōma’s unrivalled passion for cooking is due to his resourcefulness and unbridled creativity in the improvisation of unheard-of-recipes on the spot (particularly, during cook-offs).
His expansive culinary knowledge and various food ingredients only complements his ability in the kitchen. Sometimes, he wows judges using simple and affordable ingredients one can find in the supermarket.
For Sōma, Engetsu is only a stepping-stone to his endeavours. His cooking style is the Yukihira Style (a cooking style developed by his father, Jōichirō Yukihira).
Since he grew up in a Japanese family diner (Yukihira Diner), he is an excellent sous-chef and is very skillful in preparing and serving Japanese cuisine to several customers. His father’s French cuisine knowledge is also very influential in his taste palettes.
About Food Wars
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma is a Japanese shōnen manga series written by Yūto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki.
Sōma is the son of the owner of a small eatery in Japan. For his age, Sōma is very talented and can quickly cook up some new dishes.
His father leaves the family business to work with his friend, and Souma’s restaurant is on the verge of closing. To improve his cooking skills and to save the restaurant, Sōma begins studying in Engetsu Teahouse Culinary Academy, which is regarded as Japan’s top culinary academy.
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