The 10 Best Cooking Anime

Anime is just one of those things that have continued to grow more and more popular over time. It used to be for the group of outcasts known as weirdos or nerds, but thankfully things have changed recently; more people have grown to see Anime as just another form of entertainment just as good as Hollywood movies, as it should be! 

Anime genres have a massive range. There are so many genres and subgenres that it's extremely easy to find Anime that cater to your specific area of interest. It's not all fights and explosions, there is so much more, and if you're a fan of food and cooking, Anime has certainly got you covered.

In no particular order, here's a list of Anime's top ten cooking Anime to watch.

Top 10 Cooking Anime:

• Silver Spoon
• Ben-to
• Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits
• Yumeiro Pattissiere
• Cooking Papa
• Restaurant to Another World
• Yakitake Japan!
• Isekai Izakaya “Nobu”
• Ristorante Paradiso
• Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars)

SILVER SPOON

Silver Spoon is one of many Anime set in a school. School life is a popular genre in Anime for obvious reasons too. A school environment is a place that most young people, the largest demographic of anime viewers, can identify with and relate to. A school environment is definitely a great place for storytelling as it is a place where many people gather, and they each bring so much to the table.

Although the school is a popular setting in Anime, there aren't that many Anime where the plot revolves around a cooking school. If you have a yearning for this, then Silver Spoon is the right Anime for you. The story is set in a fictional Ooezo Agricultural High School in Hokkaido, and it depicts the daily life of Yuugo Hachiken.

Silver spoon anime is more slice-of-life/cooking focused. 

BEN-TO

Ben-to is an action, comedy, harem anime- wait! Don't go yet! It is also about food! Ben-to is just one of those really decent action anime out there that still revolves around food. It's similar to Toriko but better, but that's just personal preference. The main protagonist, Yo Sato, gets drawn into an all-out brawl between customers for the half-priced bento. Things just escalate from that point. Give it a try.

KAKURIYO NO YADOMESHI: BED & BREAKFAST FOR SPIRITS

This Anime is different as regards the setting. It is set in the spirit world. Aoi Tsubaki possesses the ability to see spirits, a power she inherited from her grandfather. After her grandfather's death, Aoi finds herself in trouble when an ogre god kidnaps her and tries to force her to marry him as a means to repay her grandfather's debt. Aoi refuses and instead decides to open a restaurant in the spirit world and earn enough to pay back the debt.

YUME-IRO PATTISIERE

Yumeiro pattisiere is an anime about Ichigo Amano, a clumsy young girl who is absolutely obsessed with eating cakes. Though she's terrible at basically everything, a chance encounter with a famous pâtissier allows her to discover her extraordinary abilities. This allows her to be enrolled in the prestigious culinary school, St. Marie Academy. This is an anime about food-centric Anime through and through, so be sure to add it to your list of Anime to watch.

COOKING PAPA

This one is a hidden gem. Made in the 90s, it's one of those Anime that deserves way more recognition than it actually got. Thankfully it's not too late. The Anime is inspired by one of the longest-running manga of all time. The story is about Mr. Araiwa, a salaryman and model employee, and his family and his passion for cooking delicious food for his wife, who is usually working as a journalist, and their young son. This Anime is all kinds of wholesome and heartwarming. It's definitely worth your time if you're looking to relax.

RESTAURANT TO ANOTHER WORLD

It is a beautiful anime that made waves back in 2017. It is somewhat different from most isekai Anime as it transports multiple characters from another world to the Western Restaurant Nekoya. The restaurant's location is somewhat ordinary, in an undisclosed corner of Tokyo. The restaurant is usually open during normal business hours and is closed during weekends, but that's only for outsiders. The restaurant is open Saturdays, but not too regular. Portals open to another world inhabited by mythical creatures like elves, dragons, beastmen, and dragons.

All of these come to try out the exotic foods that Western Restaurant Nekoya offers, and many of them become regulars with their own favorite meals. We learn about the characters through their experiences in the other world, and these make up the main driving force of the plot. 

YAKITAKE JAPAN

The keyword here is 'bread.' This Anime is proof that you can make Anime out of almost anything. Yakitake's main focus is on baking, baking bread, to be specific. That must've gotten your attention, you're wondering how it's possible to make baking exciting, but this Anime manages to do that just fine. Kazuma Azuma is a young kid who discovered his passion for making bread at a young age and had set the sole aim of baking a national bread for Japan, just like France, England, and Germany.

Read more: What is Japanese Hamster Bread?

ISEKAI IZAKAYA “NOBU”

Nobuyuki and Shinobu both run a Kyoto izakaya called “nobu”. Three months before the start of the plot, Shinobu goes to an inari shrine to pray for the success of their restaurant. Being the mischievous trickster god that they are, they answered by making the front door of the restaurant open into a fantasy world named Aitheria. The various inhabitants flock to the restaurant to try out the new and interesting flavors that they have to offer. The Anime is incredibly informative; at the end of each episode, it teaches you how to make some of the dishes featured in the Anime, and it also leaves a review about the food.

RISTORANTE PARADISO

Also known as Rispara, this Anime follows the daily life of Nicoletta and a group of older gentlemen who work as staff of a restaurant in Rome. She initially goes to Rome to get revenge on her mother, who abandoned her when she was a kid, but she is quickly seduced by the allures of the romantic life in Italy.

SHOKUGEKI NO SOMA (FOOD WARS)

You CANNOT talk about food anime without mentioning Shokugeki, no Soma. Food Wars is the so-called 'GOAT' of cooking animes. It's got it all! Food, comedy, slice-of-life, and ecchi *wink wink*. The manga made its debut on November 26, 2021, but the anime adaptation wasn't made until April 4, 2015, and it aired until 2020. The main character, Soma, wishes to surpass his father's cooking skills, but at the start of the series, he has lost over 400 times against his father. The Anime is exciting, the graphics are good, and the plot is top-notch. Objectively speaking, this is one of the best Anime on this list.

ZenPop Japan is an Anime lover's haven. You get the chance to get Japanese snacks, stationery and anime merchandise!
 

This article was originally written by our freelance writer Umm-Kulthum Abdulkareem, and edited by us.