Time to make you crave food!
This time, instead of recommending anime, I'll share some manga with you!
Ever since the anime Wakako-Zake and Koufuku Graffiti came out, I've been diving into the genre of cooking manga!
Unfortunately, Koufuku Graffiti's manga didn't get translated until the end, only around 10 chapters have been translated into english, so I had to look for alternatives.
Shinmai Shimai no Futari Gohan
Which led me to Shinmai Shimai no Futari Gohan, a manga about two step sisters bonding after their parents married each other. Their interactions went from awkward and short to loving and full of fun, while enjoying the food either the youngest sister made or the food they made together. I never expected a manga about food could be this heartwarming, it quickly became one of my favorites.
While it's impressing you with the beautiful visuals of said food (making you very hungry), it also includes said recipe in the same chapter, so you can make it at home! The manga started in 2015 and is still ongoing. I hope it will get an official translation so I can buy the physical volumes and reread them in my spare time.
Isekai Omotenashi Gohan
Another example of making cooking look truly amazing and enjoyable is this isekai cooking manga one of my friends recommended to me, Isekai Omotenashi Gohan.
I had some doubts about it being an isekai at first. Also the fact they use non existent ingredients made me afraid I wouldn’t relate to the series at first. However it turns out they use ingredients that got isekai'd with them together with the new fantasy food, which made it fun to read!
The manga starts with two sisters who only have each other, after losing their family, who suddenly get transported (along with their entire house) to another world. "Why?" you ask? Because the little sister is the only one who can be the purifying priest to save the world!
Or well, purify the impure area's in the world. The older sister has no duty assigned, so she gets a bodyguard called Jade. While trying to bond with said bodyguard, she starts cooking. While explaining the cooking progress to all the people that she met during the manga, she starts changing people's lives and even saves a few along the way. This manga also shot right into my top 10 since I couldn't stop reading it.
Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san
The last manga that’s completely about food, that I unfortunately put on hold, is Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san.
This one is my least favorite of these three that I've shown.
The premise is basically about a mysterious and good looking girl in highschool, who doesn't talk with her classmates and keeps everything to herself.
One of her classmates, Oosawa Yuu, decided she wanted to know more about the girl she definitely developed a crush on. (not officially mentioned but it's definitely there)
Koizumi rejects all attempts and Oosawa basically starts stalking her and finds out she eats a lot of ramen at a lot of different restaurants.
More characters join in during the run of the manga.
Unfortunately the translations have stopped at chapter 24.
Well, there’s more translated than that but it jumps from chapter 24 to chapter 31, so I decided to put it on hold for now.
Another reason I put the manga on hold is because I just couldn't stand Oosawa Yuu being this incredibly annoying character.
Cooking manga always makes me feel at ease and makes me imagine all the delicious food I could make if I printed out all the recipes. Might even try them out when I have the motivation for it. I hope I can discover more soothing cooking manga like this.
If anyone has more recommendations like these (excluding Shokugeki No Soma and Toriko) please comment down below!
