Nobunaga No Chef is based on the manga by Nishimura Mitsuru and Kajikawa Takuro (a manga is a form of Japanese comic book), this drama is about time travel.  A French chef by the name of Ken, somehow manages to go back in time to the brutal Sengoku period (otherwise known as the Warring States period which lasted from 1467-1603).  During the time travel Ken loses his memory in the process.  He is thought to be a spy by all of the warlords, and in his haste to escape capture, he dives into the river.  He is saved by Natsu, a swordsmith.  He doesn’t remember his own past, or the fact that he came from the future, but he remembers cooking well. He is soon recruited by Oda Nobunaga to be his Head Chef (Oda Nobunaga was one of Japans great warlords that was known for his ruthlessness, cunning and guile who also united much of Japan before he was killed in a coup by one of his retainers).

What makes the show really interesting is that Ken is given a task or command by his boss (Oda) to relay some sort of message to a third party by using his polished French-Japanese fusion cooking skills in the dishes he prepares as well as providing a positive nutritional breakdown of the food Ken has created.  These messages can by complicated and take a great deal of knowledge to transition into food.  Before cooking Ken always lets out his battle cry “Come On Warring States Cuisine!”

The show is another Asian example of the producers airing a limited number of episodes (9) instead of the typical larger number of episodes that America is known to milk a series for all its worth so that by the end of its run the show has degraded to nonsense that you want to put out of its misery.  We’ve posted on this before here at JPFmovies concluding that we here in the west could learn from this Asian practice. Moreover I don’t think Holly Wood has the creativity left to come up with a show like Nobunaga No Chef.  If you get a chance to watch it go for it—it inspired me to cook dinner.