Chūka Ichiban!

Chūka Ichiban! (中華一番!, lit. The best in Chinese (food)) is a manga created by Etsushi Ogawa. In 1997, it was adapted into an anime series directed by Masami Anno of the same name. The story is centered on a boy whose aim is to become the best chef he could be.

In 1995, Kodansha published the manga. From 1995 to 1997, it was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. However, during serialization, the character '真' was added, so from 1997 to 1999, it was serialized as Shin Chūka Ichiban! (真・中華一番!^?, True ver. - The best in Chinese (food)!) .

In some other countries, the anime adaptation was also called Cooking Master Boy.

Setting

The story 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. Chefs compete with each other in order to gain respect and even power, but also with the risks of losing everything.