Food Wars: Food of the Masses vs Food of the Elite
- Ricesome
- May 19, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 15, 2023
I want to get two things clear before you start reading this article:
No. 1 is that this article is purely opinionated. I don't have any evidence supporting this nor I could find on the Internet. I just thought this would be interesting to study and point out. I am not trying to reinforce stereotypes, just like with anything there are good and bad versions and sometimes they are both sides of the same coin. We should be aware of both.
No. 2: Please don't read this if you are under 18. I am writing about an anime in this article and the anime consists of um.....pretty......uh-it has a lot of........situations where one can see one in a state of being unclothed without any undergarments. (with all the right parts covered in my opinion) If you read this article, you might be interested in watching it, so I am putting a disclaimer saying beforehand if you are gonna watch it, make sure you are 18 and above. But, on the bright side you can read this article even if you are not because there is never going to be any nudity on here.......(I hope so)...
Alright, let's jump into it.
So what is this anime? It's called "Shokugeki No Soma" or in English, "Food Wars". It takes place in Tokyo where Soma who is the son of a diner owner enrolls in a top-tier culinary academy in all of Japan known as Totsuki Culinary Academy. The story is about the challenges Soma faces throughout and the people he meets and how he innovates himself and his cooking. It is a fun anime to watch and I would recommend it to any culinary enthusiast who is above 18 years old. (Trust me) There is a recurring theme throughout the show, a rivalry between the food of the common people and the food of the high-class society. I have seen a similar kind of rivalry in a movie called "Cook Up a Storm". (If you haven't seen this as well, I recommend it. For all audiences this time...)
The theme of an underdog competing and winning against a high-class body or belief isn't a new concept, it has been shown in different ways and in different stories, but this is regarding culinary arts. So I am obviously interested and I think you should be too. Why? Well, let's see. I will explain some occurrences in the show with illustrations. I will try not to give any spoilers but if I do, I kinda don't care.... so read at your own risk.
Soma's restaurant "Yukihira" is approached by a businesswoman who wants to buy it and then construct a residency in its place. Soma refuses and he says that they will close the place when they are convinced that they can't satisfy their customers anymore. Later in the episode, she destroys Yukihira's meat storage to cripple them and then asks him to prepare a juicy meat dish, thinking that if he can't do it, then he has to give up his restaurant. Soma prepares a "Pork Roast" to her surprise. He explains to her that it is kind of a pork roast, it is mashed potatoes wrapped with bacon and roasted in the oven. He calls it "Gotcha! Pork Roast". (the dish became viral online after the release of this episode, btw) The woman scoffs at Soma's dish and says that successful chefs only exist in high-end restaurants, like the ones she helped set up. But soon, she is mesmerized by the dish and agrees not to bother Soma's restaurant anymore....... in a pretty normal manner if you ask me........... MOVING ON!
In the next episode, Soma is forced by his father to enroll in Totsuki to improve himself. The first person he meets is a rich student with a butler on either side, who degrades Soma's restaurant and tells him that this is no place for a chef who works at a diner. As you can presume, this was Soma's reaction.
So far, the show sets up the premise that Soma enters into something that is bigger than his perception of what cooking is and he is humiliated rather than humbled by this perception. He is challenged by Nakiri Erina who is the female protagonist of the show to make a dish with eggs for his entrance exam into the academy. Just like with the guy, Erina presumes Soma to be a B-grade cook since he comes from a diner and humiliates him. She is also annoyed by Soma's confidence.
He whips up her a dish that is inspired by "Furikake Gohan", which translates to rice with seasoning. However, he introduces some twists in the dish and elevates it to create interest and curiosity. Although Erina likes his dish, her pride and ego forbid her to pass Soma and approve the dish. She fails Soma, who later is passed by the director of the academy.
Soma faces an Ikumi Mito later in the season, who is well-versed in cooking meat. They face off in a battle of Donburi (a rice bowl with meat or seafood and other ingredients) and she brings A5 Wagyu beef, which if you didn't know, is the topmost quality beef available in the market. She claims that no kind of cooking technique can beat the value of a premium ingredient. Soma disrespects her by saying that feeling content just because you have premium ingredients is a disgrace to the role of a chef. Soma decides to prove his point by taking a cheap cut of steak available and tenderizing it using onions to beat the A5 Wagyu beef.
He serves a dish that is inspired by the "Chaliapin Steak" and they explain in the show what a Chaliapin Steak is and how it's an one of a kind steak that can only be found in Japan and nowhere else. Yukihira beats her in the competition by making a dish that is more well-balanced in flavor than hers. The dish he makes is called "Yukihira Style Chaliapin Steak Don". (all his dishes are named like this btw)
Fast forward to season 2, here is where I was fascinated by this concept of the food of the commoners being looked down upon by the high class. Soma is facing Mimasaka Subaru, who is also a student at Totsuki, in a Shokugeki. Their theme for the competition is Beef Stew.
Some days before the competition, Soma asks Erina to taste his Beef Stew and give her verdict. She even identifies the secret ingredient he uses in the stew and tells him that it might be good enough for an ordinary diner but not for a competition like this. Later in the show, it is explained that diner-style beef stew tastes good in the third bite to keep customers wanting more whereas, in high-end restaurants, it tastes good in the first bite and has a stronger flavor in comparison because that is what customers anticipate.
Another reason that high-end restaurants usually serve small portions is that they don't want their customers to get tired of the dish's flavor. Soma makes a Beef stew that knocks the socks off of the judges........literally.(hehe...if you know what I mean) He explains that the inspiration for the dish came from a common and general dish called "Chikuzen Stew". Soma states that although it is a common dish, a professional chef makes it differently and balances it well. Soma wins against Mimasaka Subaru in the competition and advances to the next round.
Throughout the anime, Soma represents the side of the common people like us, and the food he cooks(which can be considered his specialty) is also the food that we eat daily. They added this characteristic to the protagonist to make him more relatable I think. But, Soma is not the protagonist just because he has an underdog story, he is the protagonist because he keeps innovating his cooking and himself, he never stops trying and never gives up even after multiple failures. The reason he succeeds in battles is not just because he is representing diner food, it's because he elevates and shows people its potential. Soma beats the perception of his opponents of him coming from an ordinary diner almost every single time, even in the battle he fails. His inspiration for his dishes comes from ordinary food that people eat every day.
As said earlier, the backstory of a hero coming from an ordinary background and reaching extraordinary places isn't a new one. I think food comes under those small categories of things that don't necessarily get better with the more money you spend on it. I am sure many high-end restaurants offer spectacular food with their own stories, but the best food or best memories associated with food are often the ones that you eat on the road, in your home, or in a diner. Even great chefs who work in world-class restaurants have humble backgrounds and their favorite meals can be as simple as bread and butter.
Every character in the show has a different backstory and the audiences choose their favorites accordingly based on whom they relate to the most. But, you are rooting for Soma in the show because he comes from an ordinary place like most of us, he never backs away from a challenge, and he helps his opponents see the light at the end. These qualities make him the hero of the show, and also the representative of the common man's food, a style of food that was innovated in the midst of struggle and hardships.
That's it for this week. OSOMATSU!
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