Manga can make everything look cool for example cooking manga makes cooking look insanely dramatic, awesome and also makes you kind of hungry.
So, today we are going to explore best cooking manga titles.
There are obvious titles like Shokugeki no Soma, but what are some other great manga about cooking?
I included new cooking manga and also some older cooking manga like cooking papa in this list to cover every awesome cooking manga possible.
Updated June 4, 2024, by Shagun Singh: A great food manga captures at least two out of four elements that readers seek when searching for manga centred around food:
- The presentation of food should be visually appealing and incredibly detailed or stylized to create a strong craving.
- Food should play a central role in shaping the story. Food plays a crucial role in shaping world events and character development, always maintaining its significance.
- Food has the power to bring about profound transformations in characters, shaping their destinies and altering their very essence.
- The process of growing, preparing, buying or selling, and cooking food has a significant impact on our world.
A popular manga about food skillfully addresses all four or hones in on two aspects with great success. Discovering gourmet quality food manga can be a bit of a challenge, but the effort is definitely worth it. Here’s an updated list with some additional food manga to assist you in your pursuit.
Here Are Some Of The Best Cooking Manga Of All Time
29. Muteki Kanban Musume
This cooking Manga is about Miki Onimaru who is a poster girl that works at her mother’s Chinese ramen restaurant.
She appears to be a normal girl, but she can become very violent if provoked.
She picks a fight with her mother and accquaintances as a result on an almost daily basis, causing a series of troubling mishaps in their otherwise normal lives.
28. Kuu Neru Futari Sumu Futari
This cooking Manga is about Non-chan and Ritsuko, lovers for many years, facing problems that can not be avoided like “night life,” “meal” and “children.”
Love story drawn from the perspective of two.
27. Oogui Koushien
Hungry for success! An appetite for glory!
Momotaro High longs to triumph in the Chow Down Championships, but always end up bottom of the bowl.
The arrival of a new coach, Kutaro Moriyama, could be just the boost they need.
But does he have what it takes to lead them to victory? Or will his past come back to haunt him?
26. Kuimonodokoro Akira
This cooking Manga starts in Tomoko Yamashita’s Dining Bar Akira, romantic passions battle with cool logic behind kitchen doors.
There’s always drama when you’re trying to run a busy bar and restaurant.
Akira Koji, the manager, is stuck in the middle of it all, trying to keep his cool. Then he gets a late night confession from one of his employees.
Not only that, it’s a very attractive male employee a full six years younger than him, 26-year-old Torihara.
Akira has never considered a homosexual relationship before, but things start to change when he can’t get the young man out of his head.
Will the two of them be able to remain professional when things start to get serious?
25. Tsukiji Uogashi Sandaime
This cooking Manga is about Shuntaro Akagi who works as an elite businessman at a general trading company.
Quite by chance, he ends up helping out at the fish-trader shop, “Uotatsu” which is located in the Tsukiji Fish Market and is owned by his girlfriend’s family.
In this place where long-standing traditions have developed amidst idiosyncratic rules, Shuntaro has to struggle earnestly to get through the days.
However, encountering various Tsukiji people and working with them, Shuntaro becomes aware of something he had forgotten at some point in his life.
In Tsukiji, he encounters a forthrightness in human relations that is neither trendy nor sophisticated, but a mutual co-operation and warmth that links their hearts.
24. Tenshi no Frypan
Japanese cooking manga series written and illustrated by Etsushi Ogawa.
It was serialized in Kodansha’s Comic Bom Bom, which was aimed at elementary-aged boys.
Tenshi no Frypan received the 2007 Kodansha Manga Award for the Kodomo category.
23. Hana no Zubora-Meshi
This cooking manga features the daily life of a young woman named Hana, who lives alone while her husband is away long-term for work.
She’s a little chubby, and she often cooks sloppy, but delicious, meals to eat in her sloppy, solitary home!
22. Shota no Sushi
A comedy cooking manga about the young and talented Shota who set a goal of becoming the no. 1 sushi chef in Japan to save his father’s sushi shop.
To learn the art of making sushi, he became an apprentice at the famous Otori Sushi.
Each episode sees him picking up a new skill, and going a step towards his goal.
However, many obstacles stood in his way, including a harsh and cold senior who was jealous of his talent.
21. The Chef
This cooking Manga is about Ajizawa who is a renowned master chef, but he doesn’t have a restaurant.
He is a “fixer,” a man who travels from place to place fixing menus and restaurants much like Gordon Ramsey, and he charges a fortune to do it.
If your menu must be perfect to impress a foreign client, a head of state, or just a neighbor, Ajizawa is the man to do it.
But why does he do it? Is it only the money, or is his mission much deeper…
20. Aji Ichi Monme
The cooking Manga series chronicles the lives of the staff and customers of a restaurant called Fujimura, owned by veteran chef Kumano.
In 1995, Aji Ichi Monme has been adapted into a drama staring Nakai Masahiro.
In 1999, it won the 44th Shogakukan Manga Award in the seinen manga category.
19. Shinya Shokudo
A cooking Manga that revolves around an old-fashioned all-night food stall, the various dishes that the stall owner prepares to suit the tastes of different customers, and the joys, griefs, trials and tribulations of his faithful patrons.
In 2009, Shinya Shokudou was nominated for the 2nd Manga Taisho Award.
In 2010, the series won the 39th Japan Cartoonist Awards Grand Prize and the 55th Shogakukan Manga Award in general catergory.
18. Koufuku Graffiti
This cooking Manga is about Ryou, a junior high school student, lives alone.
She cooks well and builds warm relations with everyone through her cuisine.
There will be 4-frames full of minute and accurate depictions of cooking and cuisine, as well as appetizing dining scenes, with tantalizing eroticism during meal time.
When lonely, why not eat rice and be warm together?
17. Delicious!
This cooking manga is about Ringo Nonohara who is a cheerful girl who dreams of becoming a TV celebrity.
Although knows nothing about cooking, she is chosen to host a cooking program called “Delicious Time.”
She is really excited about this job and has the full support of her childhood friend, Kazuomi, who is a great cook.
Kazuomi is always on Ringo’s side, cheering her up and helping her out. With Kazuomi’s help, Ringo gradually learns how to cook and “Delicious Time” becomes a great success.
Ayami Hanamori has a crush on Kazuomi and tries to get in Ringo’s way and generally be nasty. Ringo isn’t bothered and always manages to create new dishes for the show with Kazuomi’s help.
Ringo decided to go into show business because she is a great fan of a teenage superstar Masato Ishizuka. One day, something unbelievable happens: Masato asks Ringo to go out with him.
So here starts a complicated love triangle between Kazuomi, Masato and Ringo.
16. Kinou Nani Tabeta?
This cooking manga is about Shirou Kakei, who is a straitlaced lawyer, cooks gourmet dinners for himself and his longtime gay lover, Kenji Yabuki, a carefree, hippie-ish hairdresser.
The story is told through the lens of dinner preparation.
15. Oishinbo
This cooking Manga revolves around the offices of Tozai News, Shiro Yamaoka has a reputation for being over-blunt, under-ambitious, and generally an all-around slacker.
So why has he been given the important job of coming up with the “Ultimate Menu” to celebrate the newspaper’s 100th anniversary?
Because he possesses qualities his other colleagues don’t: an exquisitely discerning palate, an encyclopedic knowledge of food and drink, and a masterful touch in the kitchen.
14. Delicious in Dungeon/Danjon Meshi
After the Golden Kingdom is sunk underground by an insane magician, its king emerges, promising all of his treasure to any who defeat the magician, before crumbling to dust.
Guilds are spurred on by this promise, traversing the labyrinthine dungeon in search of the magician.
Laios, the leader of one such guild, encounters a dragon that wipes out his party and devours his sister Falin.
Despite having lost the entirety of their supplies and belongings, Laios along with Marcille, an elven healer, and Chilchuck, a halfling thief, immediately reenter the dungeon, determined to save Falin.
Time being of the essence, Laios suggests the taboo of eating the monsters of the dungeon as a means of gathering supplies.
Upon the preparation of their first meal in the dungeon, they are stopped by an onlooking dwarf named Senshi.
An enthusiast of monster cooking, he helps them prepare their monster ingredients for safe consumption.
After learning of Laios’ circumstances, Senshi expresses his desire to cook a dragon and joins their guild, thus beginning their food-filled foray into the dungeon together.
13. Tetsunabe no Jan
This cooking Manga is about Jan Akiyama, who is a cocky arrogant teenager wants to fulfill his grandfathers wish of defeating his arch nemesis Mutsuju Gobancho.
When he arrives at the Gobancho restaurant he meets his granddaughter, Kiriko Gobancho.
Their rivalry is easily compared to their grandfathers, for Jan believes cooking is about competition and Kiriko believes cooking is about heart.
12. Cooking Papa
The story of this cooking Manga revolves around a salaryman (Kazumi Araiwa) who can cook well.
He shares his love of cooking with his friends, co-workers, and family.
Cooking Papa won the Special Award in the 39th Kodansha Manga Awards.
The first chapter was published in English in the educational publication Mangajin’s issue #44 in April 1995.
11. Curry naru Shokutaku
This cooking manga begins with a young schoolgirl named Sonezaki Yui. One day she encounters what looks like a half dead man in the middle of the road.
Not knowing what to do she throws some food at him (so he can at least survive) and runs away.
She then returns to her home, which is also her father’s Ganesha Curry restaurant.
The man who Yui encountered was Koenji Makito, who knew Yui’s father Souichiro and was actually looking for him.
Following Yui’s scent Koenji finds her and the restaurant. Yui initially thinks Koenji is going to kill her for throwing food at him, but after they talk she finds out that he knew her father.
Koenji then finds out that the restaurant is going out of business and that Yui’s father go on journey to improve his curry cooking techniques.
To repay Yui’s father for helping him out Koenji decides to team up with Yui to save the curry restaurant.
10. Mr Ajikko
This cooking Manga is about Ajiyoshi Yoichi who is a culinary prodigy who manages the eating house together with his mother.
One day, Murata Genjirou appears in the eating house and is surprised at the delicious taste and delicate culinary skills of the katsudon prepared by Youichi.
Subsequently, Youichi is being invited to the Ajiou Building in which he is involved in a spaghetti match with the in-house Italian chef, Marui.
Youichi’s novel culinary ideas, coupled with his enthusiasm of serving the best for his guests, allow him to defeat Marui in the match.
From then on, Youichi begins to compete with other rivals in the race for the best tastes and dishes.
9. Bambino!
This cooking Manga is about Shogo Ban, who is a college student from Fukuoka, likes to cook.
Thanks to the owner of the restaurant where he works part-time, he finds himself working at Roppongi’s best Italian restaurant.
Trattoria Baccanale, and discovers that the real deal isn’t quite as easy as he’d thought.
The manga follows Ban as he struggles to keep up with the hectic workload and his co-workers, along with issues outside the kitchen like his relationship with his girlfriend Eri, who he left behind in Fukuoka.
8. Toriko
This cooking Manga starts in a world where the taste and texture of food are an extremely important part of life, a man with superhuman skills is regularly hired by restaurants and the rich as a hunter of precious foods.
With the “help” of his timid accomplice, inspired by Toriko’s greatness to accompany him, he travels to capture the evasive and ferocious animals he needs to create the ultimate dinner course.
7. Kitchen no Ohimesama
This cooking Manga is about Najika Kazami who is a girl who is passionate about food, whether it comes to eating or cooking.
She treasures the place she calls home, an orphanage in Hokkaido called Lavender House, as well as its owner, Hagio.
But as much as Hagio and the fellow orphans love her, Najika decides to leave the orphanage to attend a special academy in Tokyo, hoping to achieve her dreams of being a pastry chef.
She hopes to find the boy she calls the “Flan Prince”—a boy who touched her heart with a cup of flan seven years ago.
Now 13 years old, Najika finds that the spoon that he left behind with the flan shares its emblem with the school she has been accepted to—the prestigious Seika Academy.
While unpopular with her fellow classmates due to her love of eating, she seems to find support from two boys who recognize her culinary talents—the popular brothers Daichi and Sora Kitazawa.
Will Najika be able to find her place in the academy with her cooking, and perhaps also reunite with her Flan Prince?
6. Yumeiro Patissiere
This cooking Manga is about Amano Ichigo who is a 14-year-old cake lover.
After meeting a lecturer, Henrie Lucas, at a cake buffet, she enters St. Marie Academy—a school that raises and cultivates future pâtissières.
Not only is she placed in the elitist group with three princes of sweets, but she also meets sweets spirit Vanilla on her first day of transfer.
Ichigo is air-headed, a total klutz, and a complete novice at cake making, but she’s trying her best to master one at a time in order to make her eaters happy.
5. Chūka Ichiban!
The story of this cooking Manga takes place in 19th century China during the Qing Dynasty, where the Emperor was weakened and the country was close to chaos.
It is also during a fictitious era called “The Era of the Cooking Wars.” It was an era in which top chefs with different cooking styles tried their best to improve their skills and to become the best chef in China.
It is a country where insulting a high-grade chef or fooling around with cooking could land a person in a jail, and impersonating a top-chef is as good as usurpation of authority.
After the death of Mao’s mother, Pai, who was called the ‘Fairy of Cuisine,’ Mao becomes a Super Chef in order to take the title as Master Chef of his mother’s restaurant.
However, before he takes his mother’s place as Master Chef, he continues to travel China in order to learn more of the many ways of cooking, in the hopes of becoming a legendary chef, just like his mother.
During his journey, he meets great friends and fierce rivals who wish to challenge him in the field of cooking.
4. Nobunaga no Chef
This cooking Manga is about a dazed young man is woken up by a stranger, and they soon discover that they are stranded in 16th-century Japan, in the midst of the Warring States Period.
The other man laps up his injuries, but both of them are quickly discovered, suspected of being spies and chased by several militia soldiers.
As his friend is shot by an arrow before his eyes, the dying man says that he, Ken, should live on and return to the Heisei Era from whence they came.
Ken manages to escape and is found by Natsu, a kind woman who works as a metalsmith, and she agrees to take him in.
The young man realizes that while he has no recollection of where he came from or who he is, he still possesses the cooking skills and knowledge from his previous life.
Even more, he remembers fragments about the tumultuous Warring States Period and some of the historical events that are yet to happen.
Staying at Natsu’s place, the chef quickly becomes the talk of the town and soon attracts the attention of a prominent historical figure: Oda Nobunaga.
3. Hells Kitchen
Dogma, the Earl of Poor eating comes to train high school student Satoru into the perfect chef. But what awaits Satoru at the end of his training is only death.
His teacher is not an ordinary noble but a demon from hell who promises to eat his soul, spiced with a lifetime of cooking expertise.
Will Satoru abandon his normal life to become the puppet of this demonic earl? How will he cope with his life’s expiry tag?
Let’s have a taste of this Heresy Gourmet!
2. Yakitate!! Japan
Yakitate means “fresh baked”, but the word “Japan” is actually a pun; pun means bread in Japanese, so Kazuma is out to make Japan, a unique Japanese bread to compete with the best bread from around the world!
His sister yelled that their family should start having bread for breakfast sometimes, but their grandfather refused to even consider it, as he would only eat natto, miso soup, and rice for breakfast.
Kazuma agreed, saying he didn`t like bread, but his sister kidnaps him and takes him to a bread store to show him the wonders of fresh-baked bread.
Not only is Kazuma converted, but the owner discovers that Kazuma has the magical “Hands of the Sun” whose warmth makes them particularly suited to making bread.
The owner packs up shop and goes to Tokyo to fulfill his dream of making Japan, but Kazuma continues his bread-baking dream as well, and ends up going to Tokyo himself when he`s sixteen, to compete for a spot at the foremost bread store in Japan – Pantasia!
1. Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma
Souma Yukihira, a determined fifteen-year-old, aspires to surpass his father’s culinary prowess and eventually become the chef of their cosy family diner.
Unfortunately, his dreams are dashed when his father delivers the news that their restaurant will be closing due to his upcoming overseas cooking commitments.
Meanwhile, Souma’s father encourages him to enrol in Tootsuki Culinary Academy, a prestigious school known for its high standards and frequent expulsions of underperforming students.
Thanks to the challenging curriculum, every student who successfully completes the programme is acknowledged as a highly skilled chef.
With some hesitation, Souma decides to go to Tootsuki’s high school division for the entrance exam.
Unknowingly to him, he is about to embark on a new chapter of his life. This chapter will bring new companions, thrilling competitions, and restless nights.
