Written by Joe Chan
Television has had a long fascination with food and cooking. Dozens of shows have aired throughout the years with the intent to make millions of viewers salivate. Anime, too, contributes to this feeding frenzy.
Yumeiro Patissiere is the notable newcomer in the genre, and it follows a long line of other, palatable productions.
So, why is it that so many of us subject ourselves to this grand Pavlovian experiment? What is it about such succulent spectacles that leave us craving for more? Is there some deep-seated, insatiable hunger that we are trying to fulfill? The answers to these esculent questions may lie hidden within the history of culinary entertainment, waiting to be devoured. We're going to try to find out, so grab a snack and steel your taste buds; that sound you hear is the sound of your stomach growling.
The World's Food Fetish:
Perhaps the British are to blame for the TV world's food fetish. It all started on January 21, 1937, when the French Chef, Marcel Boulestin, demonstrated how to prepare an omelet on the very first televised cooking show, Cook's Night Out, on BBC. America didn't showcase cooking on TV until the advent of comedian Ernie Kovacs in 1949.
However, it is Julia Childs who can be said to have pioneered televised cooking shows. Her award-winning program, The French Chef, started in 1963, still a full 30 years before The Food Network went on air. Since that time, dozens of actor-chefs have entertained fans around the world, with the likes of Martin Yan (Yan Can Cook), Anthony Bourdain (No Reservations), Alton Brown (Good Eats), and Emeril “Bam!” Lagasse (Emeril Live) on multiple television and cable stations such as PBS, Bravo, The Food Network, and the Travel Channel. Reality TV has also gotten its hands on gastric entertainment with the restaurateur competition Hell’s Kitchen, hosted by Gordon Ramsey.
Japan’s own contribution to gourmet pageantry is significant in its own right, most notably with its introduction of Iron Chef to the world. Its over-the-top cooking battle format, often exploiting exotic ingredients, not only ran for over 300 episodes, but also achieved unprecedented popularity. Multiple parodies and spin-offs have been seen across all forms of entertainment.
With so many illustrious personalities, themes, and shows feeding the world’s lust for gluttonous programming, it’s little wonder why people always hunger for more.
Anime’s Contribution to Culinary Performance Arts
Iron Chef isn’t the only culinary media sensation to come out of Japan. Multiple food-themed anime have been produced there as well, and their themes are widely varied: from the decidedly shounen flair of Cooking Master Boy, to the josei appeal of Ristorante Paradiso, to the saccharine shoujo sweetness of Yumeiro Patissiere; from the comedic antics in Yakitate!! Japan to the dramatic underpinning of Oishinbo, there’s an entertainment entrée for everyone.
Cooking Master Boy (Chuuka Ichiban) is set in 19th century China. 13-year-old Mao is a cooking prodigy seeking to follow his mother’s footsteps to become a master chef. His unique sense of taste allows him to perfectly recall every dish he has ever tasted, and discern the ingredients used to prepare it. The series’ combat cooking action is accented with over-the-top special effects including crashing waves, soaring flames, and Marcellus Wallace’s soul, and that’s just in the first episode.
Oishinbo, on the other hand, targets an older audience with this dramatic slice-of-life series depicting culinary journalist Yamaoka Shirou’s mission to create the Ultimate Menu – a meal that is to embody the very essence of Japanese cuisine. Though he possesses a highly refined sense of taste and an incomparable knowledge of food, he is also a hardened cynic who lacks the ambition to do anything.
Yakitate!! Japan is a hard-kneading action comedy of pastry proportions. Kazuma Azuma is a bread-baking genius who possesses the legendary Solar Hands – hands that are warm enough to accelerate the fermentation process in dough – and he’s out to create Japan’s own national bread. This pun-filled series is a riotous romp through the highly competitive world of bread-making, whose outrageous recipes are overshadowed only by the very characters that bake them.
Ristorante Paradiso is far more serene, and the food is merely a backdrop for the complex romance between a young woman and an older man. Nicoletta is a 21-year-old woman who travels to Rome in search of her estranged mother. Nicoletta finds her married to the owner of a restaurant designed to suit her fetishist tastes, and Nicoletta ends up working there and eventually falling in love with the head waiter.
To be fair, Korea has also contributed its own Jang Geum’s Dream to the list of animated cooking shows, spun off of a historical drama. Jang Geum is a young girl who aspires to become a palace chef, and the story covers the trials and tribulations she goes through to achieve her goals.
Yumeiro Patissiere:
The newest series in the line of eatery entertainment is Yumeiro Patissiere, currently being simulcast on Crunchyroll. Ichigo Amano is a 14-year-old who unknowingly demonstrates a particularly discerning sense of taste to Henri Lucas, a top-ranked patissier who was demonstrating some of his creations at a culinary exposition that she happens upon. She is granted a recommendation to enroll into the prestigious Saint Marie Academy for budding pastry chefs, where she is assigned to the top group in her class due to Henri’s endorsement. Unfortunately, she has never so much as baked a cake before in her life.
Though she encounters many hardships, she remembers the happiness that her late grandmother’s sweets brought to her, and it is her desire to bring those same smiles to others that drives her to succeed. That, and she just so happens to have teamed up with a legendary Sweets Fairy to aid her in her quest.
With the support of her friends; the Sweets Princes Kashino, Hanabusa, and Andou – her teammates in Group A – and the Sweets Fairies Vanilla, Chocolat, Cafe, and Caramel, Ichigo’s inner strengths begin to truly shine. In addition to her excellent sense of taste, she reveals an innate talent to be able to design sweets that appeal to the emotions as much as it does to the senses.
The Conclusion:
Cooking has always been a common theme in anime, and not just with food-themed shows. Oftentimes, it is a rite of passage for young heroines, who fuss over whether they can be a better bride. It is an effective tool used to win over the hearts of loved ones, and many shows use the ability to prepare a meal as a thematic archetype for characters – there are those who excel at the art, and those whose culinary creations are lethal bioweapons.
So, we come back to our original question: What makes these shows so popular? Maybe it’s because we all have to eat. Every day. It’s something we have to do, and many of us even enjoy it. These shows ultimately aim to appeal to our baser instincts, and many succumb to its siren call.
Perhaps it’s because eating is also a social activity that can be enjoyed with friends and family, and watching these kinds of shows serves as a sort of psychosociological proxy in times of loneliness and solitude.
Maybe I’m just pulling these out of the air, and it’s because cooking shows are just that cool.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some choux puffs to take out of the oven.
