Holy shit. This is the kind of crap that gets mythologized. The man cooked literally untouchable meat. Like, if this was shinto folklore, he'd be know the chef of morning mist.
FOr how he saved his daughter's life, grasping drifting spirit as if mourning mist with the wisp of a good homecooked meal.
Also.
I really hope some academics stop by this restaurant and realize that he's casually cooking and serving MONSTER MEAT. In an impressive display of academic experimentation and know how.
Like. I know it's going to stay comfy style, but i have this hilarious image of the Dungeon Chef closing the restaurant for a month, taking his dragon daughter on work-vacation in a far off elven academy where he gives a series of lectures on how he discovered and invented methods of preparing food.
like the freeze dryer alone from the last chapter is revolutionary. he and dogdog would be copilots.
imagine being a student a hundred years from now and this random chef keeps on popping up everywhere. culinary magazines, agricultural studies, citations on the magizoology of dungeon animals, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, what do you mean his creation of rations helped stave off disease!? what do you mean he founded nutritional studies!? what doesn't this man do?
of course, that's just me being dramatic, but he's done a lot.
sorry. i'm an academic. i like imagining things and debates on world-building.
food really is important when you think about it. they say a country collapses if the people starve for 3 days. arcs in one piece are often centered around food.
i really enjoy japanese cooking manga. cooking shows in america are often aggressive, loud-and-fast, in your face. but japanese cooking manga, even the whacky ones like shokugeki no soma and yakitate no japan, have a deep respect for food underneath all the gags.
where in american and western shows, the kitchen is the backdrop for the drama, japanese cooking manga center the drama around the food. that's fucking beautiful. imagine food as a metaphor for love, grief, care, and forgiveness.
there's such a deep appreciation for life in how food is prepared, how we see the struggle to understand, and the joy in the success of a smiling face after a good meal.
whelp. i'm done. night folks.