Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Cooking Games- Cooking Master Boy

By Vlad Stivenson

You might not have heard of it, but 10 years ago, there was a show called Cooking Master Boy. The show took place in a fictional version of China, during an also fictional Era of the Cooking Wars, which is placed during the Quing dynasty. In this China, chefs, not warriors or priests, are the epitome of bravery, wisdom and skill, and they compete between each other to see who the best chef in China is. The show revolves about Mao, a 13 year old boy that has a gift for cooking and travels around China after his mothers death in order to learn more cooking techniques and prove to everyone that he is indeed Chinas greatest cooking master.

The style reminds me of programs and events, such as Dragon Balls martial arts tournament. Cooking Master Boy also features cooking tournaments, where they use techniques and cooking utensils that have names that sound like anime magical moves. For example, the Devil Cow Knife, or the Coiled Dragon Pot. Another funny thing about the show is that the main characters enemy is a secretive mafia organization of chefs called the Underground Cooking Society.

One interesting thing about the show, is that all recipes and dishes are pretty normal and can be prepared in real life by a real chef. Its the processes and reactions of the people who eat the dishes that are exaggerated to give the sense of super ability to the chefs. For example, a character may throw a potato up, use his or her super speed to slice the potato in mid-air, and then catch the sliced potato with a plate, using his or her other hand.

The person eating the prepared potato might like it so much that he or she will feel as if he or she were transported to a paradise, complete with musicians and fairies surrounding him or her. Yet, all he or she ate was a potato prepared in some way.

Of course, not all of us have the skill it takes to be a master chef, like Mao. In fact I can barely do anything useful in the kitchen. My friends and family have a joke about this. They say Im so bad at cooking that Im capable of burning water when I try to warm it up. Its a bit of a shame, because I really like watching cooking and I would like to be better at it. I tell myself its a matter of practice, and that someday Ill be able to prepare dinner for everyone.

So, what do I do instead? I play cooking games online. Yes, cooking games that I find on several sites. Theyre designed for children, but I can spend hours playing them. In fact, playing some of them that have anime type characters was what got me thinking about Chinas Cooking Master Boy. I may be a total dork in the kitchen, but with my computer, I can be a great cooking chef, just like the great Mao from China.

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