

During his journey, he meets great friends and fierce rivals who wish to challenge him in the field of cooking. 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. In the manga, the country of China is divided into four major regions: Beijing, Sichuan, Shanghai, and Guangdong.Īfter the death of Mao's mother, Pai, who was called the 'Goddess of Cuisine', Mao becomes a Super Chef in order to take the title as Master Chef of his mother's restaurant. Chefs compete with each other in order to gain respect and even power, but also with the risks of losing everything.

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 bad as usurpation of authority. 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 also during a fictitious era called "The Era of the Cooking Wars". The story takes place in 19th century China during the Qing dynasty, where the Emperor was weakened and the country was close to chaos. A second season aired from January to March 2021. In November 2017, Ogawa started a sequel entitled Chūka Ichiban! Kiwami, published in Kodansha's Magazine Pocket app.Īn anime television series adaptation of Shin Chūka Ichiban!, or True Cooking Master Boy, produced by NAS and Production I.G, aired from October to December 2019. In some other countries, the anime adaptation was also called Cooking Master Boy. The story is centered on Liu Mao Xing, a boy whose aim is to become the best chef he could be.Īn anime television series adaptation by Nippon Animation aired on Fuji TV from April 1997 to September 1998. Both series' overall chapters were collected in seventeen tankōbon volumes. The best in Chinese (food)!), was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from January 1997 to May 1999. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Magazine Special from October 1995 to November 1996 a follow-up sequel, Shin Chūka Ichiban! ( 真・中華一番!, True ver. Chūka Ichiban! ( 中華一番!, The best in Chinese (food)) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Etsushi Ogawa.
