Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma: Season 1

Soma Yukihira has been working at his father Joichiro's diner since a young age, establishing an interest in cooking and vowing to beat his father in a cooking battle someday. One day while Joichiro is away, Yaeko Minegasaki, an urban life planner, arrives and threatens to demolish the restaurant. Yaeko orders Soma to make her a tasty meat dish, promising to never disturb him again should the dish satisfy her. Soma uses potatoes and the bacon he bought while shopping to create an imitation roast

Upon arriving at Totsuki, Soma is shocked by its grandness and how famous it really is. He meets many other chefs, all of whom are descendants of gourmet chefs or heirs to high-class food businesses, who have also come to take the transfer exam. Due to his background as a low-class diner chef, Soma is looked down on. When it comes time for the examination, most of the participants flee upon hearing that Erina Nakiri, a legendary food genius with the most selective palate known to mankind (nickna

At the entrance ceremony, Soma is introduced as the only student who managed to transfer into Totsuki's high school division. He declares that he will become the top student at Totsuki, instantly earning the ire of the entire student body. Soma meet Erina again with Erina confuse how Soma was here despite rejecting him deciding that Soma is only here as mistake believe he couldn't match up the student in Totsuki but Soma unphase by the intimidation having twelve years experience in the kitchen d

Soma is sent to Polar Star Dormitory, a dorm for students whose home is far away from the school. He is greeted by Fumio Daimidō, the caretaker, and instructed to cook a dish that satisfies her to become a resident. Soma creates a mackerel burger meal using leftover ingredients in the kitchen, impressing Fumio. Soma meets the other first-year residents in his welcoming party: Yūki Yoshino, who specializes in wild game; Ryōko Sakaki, who specializes in fermentation and alcoholic beverages; Shun I

Soma presents his dish, mackerel onigiri chazuke. Everybody is impressed, and the cookoff is declared a draw. Wanting to be a member of the Elite Ten, Soma challenges Satoshi for his seat but finds that it can only be obtained through a high-stakes cooking duel called a Shokugeki, and Soma has nothing to wager that is of equivalent value to a seat in the Elite Ten. Meanwhile, Erina challenges the Chanko Research Society president Kiyoshi Godabayashi to a Shokugeki for the rights to his clubroom,

After a morning working in the Polar Star Dormitory's farm, Megumi helps Soma look for a research society, the equivalent of a high school club, to join. They stumble upon the Don Research Society, which is being targeted by Erina for her expansion project. Ikumi Mito, one of Erina's lackeys known as "The Meat Master", challenges club president Kanichi Konishi, telling him no matter his dish, it will never beat her A5 grade meat. Soma volunteers to compete in Kanichi's place, with the challenge

At the Shokugeki, Ikumi wows the audience with her A5 grade beef, while Soma is mocked for using discount supermarket beef. Ikumi completes her A5 Japanese Beef Roti Don first, and the judges are extremely impressed with the taste and quality of the meat. Soma then presents his Chaliapin Steak Don, which the judges initially refuse to taste. Once they do, they are unable to stop eating, resulting in a unanimous win for Soma. Soma points out that Ikumi misunderstood the concept of donburi by plac

The first year students at Totsuki Academy go to a training camp as their first major challenge, during which about half of the first year students usually receive a failing grade and are expelled. The students are given various challenges by alumni from the school, who are brought in to serve as judges. The first challenge for Soma's group, which includes Megumi and the Aldini twins Takumi and Isami, is to make a dish that can be served at a Japanese restaurant using ingredients gathered from t

Soma takes Inui's kaki peanuts on the understanding that any ingredient found in the area can be used. He and Megumi gather ingredients and make the Char Okakiage dish with their remaining 15 minutes, using the peanuts as a crust for the fish. Inui expresses her satisfaction and passes Soma and Megumi, but she does not declare a winner between Takumi and Soma. Takumi vowes to challenge Soma to a Shokugeki should they meet again. The students return to the hotel where they are ordered to each coo

Soma apologizes for knocking Erina over, but Erina refuses his help. In the bath, Soma meets alumnus and Totsuki Resort head chef Gin Dojima, who is surprised that Soma has finished the challenge so quickly. Dojima wishes Soma good luck as Takumi Aldini enters the bath, and Takumi is shocked to see Soma having casual conversation with a legend like Dojima. The next day, Soma and Megumi are assigned the task of making the Nine Vegetable Terrine by alumnus Kojiro Shinomiya. This time, they must co

Shinomiya initially refuses Soma's challenge, however, Dojima and Inui overhear and pressure him into accepting. Thus, Soma and Megumi battle Shinomiya in an unofficial Shokugeki under the condition that Megumi is the lead chef and Soma is her sous-chef. While Shinomiya makes his dish, Megumi starts to panic. Soma tells her to relax and focus on making a dish representative of herself. Shinomiya presents his dish first, the Chou farci, and the judges give overwhelming praise to the dish. However

Megumi manages to impress the judges with her Rainbow Terrine, which emphasises the maturity of vegetables. However, all three judges vote for Shinomiya's dish as it is more superior. Just then, Dojima gives his own vote towards Megumi's dish. Dojima says that Shinomiya has allowed his cooking to become stagnant, and that his status as a world famous chef has prevented him from developing his skills further. Shinomiya's climb to fame is revealed to have involved ensuring his dishes were made exa

Before the students have a chance to sleep for the night, Dojima announces the next task, in which the students must prepare a buffet-style egg dish to be served at breakfast the next morning. As everyone spends the night trying to come up with a recipe, Soma decides on a soufflé omelette, which is met with silent criticism from some of the other students. The next day, it is revealed the judges are the hotel's guests and staff, and students must hand out 200 servings of their dish to pass. Whil

Due to the specific timing required for his soufflé omelette, Soma struggles to get any customers to try his dish before they end up deflating. With half an hour left, Soma changes his approach, cooking in front of his customers to attract a crowd while delivering the dish in its peak condition. Optimizing his preparation time to cook his omelettes as quickly as possible, Soma manages to complete his 200 servings with mere seconds to spare. Afterwards, Soma is introduced to Erina's cousin, Alice

As the students make their way back to Totsuki, Soma ends up missing his bus and hitches a ride back to school with Erina, who explains the next event, the Autumn Festival. Returning to the Polar Star Dormitory, Soma is surprised to see his father, Joichiro, and finds that he is an alumnus and former member of the Elite Ten who went by the name Joichirou Saiba. As Joichiro treats the residents to a meal, Fumio explains that Joichiro and Dojima were once fellow Polar Star residents who were respo

With Fumio, Megumi, and Satoshi as judges, Soma and Joichiro are challenged to use ingredients from the kitchen to make a light yet energizing breakfast dish. Soma presents an apple risotto, which provides a crisp taste that changes with the addition of black pepper. Joichiro presents an unusual ramen that, despite its heavy appearance, turns out to be a mellow and warming vegetarian dish, providing powerful flavor without meat or fish. The judges unanimously vote Joichiro's dish the winner, tho

Returning home, Soma temporarily re-opens Yukihira Diner to serve his loyal customers, including his childhood friend, Mayu Kurase, who has a crush on him. He learns that the Sumire Shopping District has been doing poorly lately due to the arrival of a popular karaage chain shop, Mozuya. Wanting to help revive the shopping district, Soma decides to come up with a competing karaage recipe, calling in Ikumi as his meat expert while Mayu winds up as his taste tester. The three do some recon at Mozu

Noting that the shopping district focuses more on walk-and-eat food, as opposed to Mozuya's packaged approach, Soma shifts his focus towards creating a karaage that can be enjoyed straight out of the fryer. Opting to go with chicken thigh meat with a chilli-based marinade, Soma is inspired by a bento shop owner to serve his karaage in rice flour wraps with salad, providing enhanced flavor, portability, and appeal. This brings a large amount of business, which helps the rest of the shopping distr

The contestants and rules for the Autumn Elections are announced: sixty selected contestants are split into two groups which they must top to advance to the tournament phase. Megumi is approached by Miyoko Hojo, who is interested in her Shokugeki with Shinomiya, but is disappointed when she hears Megumi was helped by Soma. After learning the first dish of the elections is curry, Soma and Megumi visit to Jun Shiomi, an instructor and Polar Star alumna who specializes in curry and spices. Using Ju

Having received the challenge of creating a curry dish, many of the contestants set off to visit their families and study up on spices during the remainder of the summer. Soma stays at the dorms to try out various spice combinations. The Autumn Election preliminaries soon arrive, and the contestants find that only the top four from each group will make it to the tournament phase. As the contestants begin cooking, Soma appears to have fallen asleep.

Soma awakens from his nap when he senses that his spice and vegetable infused rice is cooked to perfection. Meanwhile, Megumi brings out a monkfish for her dish. With the cooking period over, the evaluation begins with a harsh panel of judges giving most contestants low scores. In Group B, Nao Sadatsuka, a creepy girl with an obsession with Erina, presents a pungent laksa dish made with kusaya that has a delicious flavor under its strong odor, and scores 84 points. Then Erina's secretary and chi

Miyoko scores 87 points with her pineapple cha-han, and Yuki gets 86 points for her wild game curry. Afterwards, the Aldini brothers face off against each other, with Isami presenting a curry calzone that scores 87 points while Takumi presents a curry pasta dish using tamari soy sauce and cheese filled pasta, and scores 90 points. Alice then presents her deconstructed curry dish that leaves the judges bewildered and amazed, earning 95 points and taking the lead. Finally, Megumi presents her dish

Back in Group A, contestants are struggling to score as one of the judges, Natsume Sendawara, keeps giving zero points. This streak of zeros breaks when Ryo Kurokiba, Alice's aide, presents a lobster curry with a cognac base, earning 93 points. Next, Ikumi presents a Dongpo pork curry, using what she learned from her Shokugeki with Soma to impress the judges and earning a score of 86. Afterwards, Ryoko presents a Dal curry made with charcoal-grilled natto and soy sauce rice malt, also scoring 86

Akira's dish, which has a powerful fragrance and uses the power of holy basil and yogurt, earns a score of 94 from the judges. Finally, Soma presents his own dish, combining his past two failures into a fragrant curry risotto omurice containing a mango chutney. The dish earns Soma 93 points, landing him second place behind Akira. However, it is noted that although Akira received a higher score overall, three of the five judges ranked Soma's dish higher than Akira's, with the implication being th