Isekai / reincarnation / fantasy mangas have been huge these past couple of years. There are many interesting mangas with various topics and themes out there, but “cooking” is one theme that I can’t get behind.
I love cooking mangas in general. I’ve read Mister Ajikko, Chuuka Ichiban, Yakitate Japan, Shota no Sushi, Oh! My Konbu, Shokugeki no Soma, and many more. In these mangas, no matter how ridiculous it gets, it is usually based on real world ingredients. The final product is often exaggerated but the flavor is something I can actually imagine. I’ve actually attempted to make some of them and read about others who have done the same.
But this is often untrue for cooking scenes in fantasy mangas. For example, cooking is a major part of Drifting Dragons. They would make dragon meat dishes that are similar to real world dishes and go into details about how it tastes. In Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, Mukoda would make real-world dishes but isekai monster meat, and how great they taste. But… so what? No matter how much you describe the taste to me, I don’t know and will never know how a dragon or orc taste.
I’m not saying those mangas are boring. I actually really enjoy both Drifting Dragons and Campfire Cooking, but I just can’t get into the food part of it. I would probably enjoy them even more if they glossed over the food and spend more time on other things.
Poor Dungeon Meshi getting called out here… However it’s one of the best series’ I’ve read for years and I would highly, highly recommend it - I love all the insane food it somehow invents. And in fact it somehow remains the focal part of the story, despite the ridiculous twists it takes.
I didn’t hear about that one until after I started avoiding isekai cooking mangas. I’ll give it a shot.
I can tell you now, if you start reading it, the story will go places you could never guess! Great manga, lots of likeable characters and a fun story.
Seconding Dungeon Meshi. Actually one of my favorite mangas right now, with an anime by Trigger coming up. Much like a good meal it is incredibly well put together.