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Great. Now I'm hungry.
This cook can whip up confections that make taste buds weep with joy, and make characters want to just stuff themselves, because the food is that good. Be warned though, this character takes insults to their art very personally!
Often the Team Chef. If there are more than one, a Cooking Duel is inevitable.
Naturally the best friend of the Big Eater, if they're not the same person.
Incidentally, being a Supreme Chef is generally part of the traditional stereotype of the Jewish Mother (even as she nags you to death, her brisket is to die for).
This chef may engage in Through His Stomach, but as a general expression of affection, not a particular sign of deep passion. Your Favorite is similarly not a profound gesture when made by this chef.
Compare Chef of Iron, Food Porn.
Contrast Lethal Chef.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
Comic Books
- Grandma Duck in the Disney Ducks Comic Universe is one of these; her famous cooking skills are central to many of the plots of the stories starring (or just featuring) her.
- Though it varies heavily from story to story, her grandson Donald Duck is often depicted as having inherited at least some of her skill around the kitchen. While some writers love to portray him as a Lethal Chef (and he probably shouldn't be allowed to experiment too much), the most common interpretation is that he's a very good cook and could probably have made a decent living as a professional chef if it hadn't been for his Hair-Trigger Temper, Miles Gloriosus tendencies and constant bad luck.
Fanfiction
Film - Animation
- The Other Mother in Coraline is shown to be able to whip out what is basically the very definition of Food Porn at a moment's notice.
- Po of Kung Fu Panda cooks the best noodles the Furious Five have ever tasted in their lives. His father is even better.
Film - Live Action
- Chu, from Eat Drink Man Woman. When he starts making school lunches for the little girl next door, she soon gets students mobbing her in the cafeteria with orders for the next day's meal.
- Wan from Flavour of Happiness.
- Martha and Mario from Mostly Martha; also Kate and Nick from the remake No Reservations.
Literature
- In Lois McMaster Bujold's novel Memory, Miles Vorkosigan hires his gate guard's mother as a cook, based on the elaborate gourmet box lunch she prepares for her son. He's right, she's one of these. Suddenly he starts getting visitors at mealtime. And attempts by his relatives - including his parents - to hire her away. General opinion is that Ma Kosti could make a meal fit for the Emperor if her base ingredient was cardboard.
- The main character in Joanne Harris' Chocolat and The Film of the Book is a chocolatier whose creations are mouth-watering enough to win over an entire town of strict Catholics during Lent.
- In Mur Lafferty's novel Playing For Keeps one of the characters has a superpower that makes her a Supreme Chef. She intuitively knows what kind of food everyone around her likes and exactly how to prepare it.
- The volatile and mercenary French chef Anatole in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories. He serves as a Living MacGuffin, with various Upper Class Twits constantly plotting to either obtain or retain his peerless services. The threat of being banned from sampling his gastronomic delights is often the club wielded by Bertie's Aunt Dahlia when he displays his unwillingness to commit his assistance to her latest Zany Scheme.
- The titular character of James White's The Galactic Gourmet ran out of professional challenges at the five-star restaurant he ran at a multispecies hotel, and was feeling bored until a Kelgian diner personally thanked him for a good meal, having just been released from Sector General. This led to the Great Gurronsevas heading for the Final Frontier - hospital food. He became the Chief Dietician of Sector General. (Since he effectively became a head of department without going through the hospital's usual screening and training procedures, Hilarity Ensues.)
- Dracula. Yes, that Dracula. In the original Bram Stoker novel, when Harker is staying at Castle Dracula, he notes in his journal that the food is very good. Later, it's revealed that there are no servants (it would be tough to get people to work for a, y'know, vampire) and Dracula has been doing all the work, such as cooking. Apparently, when you're an undying abomination you have time to pick up a culinary hobby.
- Charity Carpenter from The Dresden Files. According to Harry, "She could whip up a five-course meal for twelve from an egg, two spaghetti noodles, some household chemicals, and a stick of chewing gum."
- In David R. Palmer's Emergence, the eleven-year-old boy who calls himself "Adam" turns out to be this, among other skills unlikely for the son of wealth and privilege. Granted that he's a mutant super-genius, it's still odd, and protagonist/narrator Candy (also an eleven-year-old mutant super-genius) comments on it, that Adam chose to include world-class cooking among his skills. Susceptible readers may gain five pounds just from the description given of the "work of sheerest culinary artistry" he prepares for Candy in the course of one day.
- Polgara is one in David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean series, as well as in the prequels. Part of it may be that she's a sorceress, but it's mostly skill — and a couple thousand years worth of practice.
- Nero Wolfe's cook, Fritz Brenner is a supreme chef. Nero himself is pretty good, when he decides to exert himself.
- The Eternal Emperor of the Sten series is a spectacular chef. A major hobby of his is trying to recreate foods he remembers from his youth, thousands of years ago.
- Terry Pratchett's Discworld: Glenda Sugarbean who runs the Unseen University's Night Kitchen is so talented that Vetinari is willing to take her food untested — she would never poison anyone, not out of respect for him but out of respect for the food — and considers telling the guards to throw away her jammy devil bribes "a crime against high art". Apparently all of the Sugarbean women qualify: her grandmother Augusta used to be the cook at the Assassin's Guild where she made the world's best bubble and squeak (she left Glenda the recipe) and refused to let any of the students use her cakes for poisoning practice — and they obeyed because no one wants to upset a good cook.
- House-elves from Harry Potter, fitting their nature as the ultimate servants. Even Kreacher whips up excellent meals once he truly accepts Harry as his new master.
- Also Molly Weasley, who uses her magic wand in the kitchen and gives it a really good use according to Harry.
Live Action TV
- Babylon 5 Head of Security Michael Garibaldi is a very good cook besides being a top-notch cop and soldier. A subplot in Season 2 involves Garibaldi trying to get the ingredients for bagna cŕuda
(basically Northern Italian fondue) behind Dr. Franklin's back (he was concerned for Garibaldi's heart health). "A Distant Star" has Franklin finally agreeing to try the dish as long as Garibaldi takes care of himself.
- King Silas in the intrigue alternate-world drama Kings insists in cooking for his family every morning, and misses the time in which he went to the supermarket and "fought for the best melon", and still he goes to the grocery himself and buys his ingredients, yet they clear the shop. Because he is the King. This makes him this trope's paradigma.
- Vincent in Eureka, to the point that the diner has no menu, and some residents consider it a challenge to order something he can't do.
- Iron Chef revolves around the premise of having these kinds of chefs go against each other.
- Kamen Rider Agito's titular character, who is a great cook even with Laser-Guided Amnesia. He actually opens his own restaurant at the end of the series.
- LeBeau, the French member of the Hogan's Heroes team, is of course a good cook. The greatness comes in the fact that he can concoct excellent dinners and desserts with the materials available inside a POW camp, making him have almost MacGyver-esque cooking skills.
- Kamen Rider Kabuto: The Ace Tendou is most well known for being an excellent cook. He managed to get his cooking skills from working at his grandmother's oden shop revealed in Kamen Rider Decade.
- M* A* S* H episode "Too Many Cooks". A soldier who was a gourmet chef in civilian life is wounded and ends up at the 4077th. He's such a superb cook that he can make Army food delicious.
- Umemori Genta / Shinken Gold from Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. Subverted in that only Juzo and Kotoha says it's good. Everyone else thinks it's plain.
- Tomica Hero Rescue Fire once featured a Cook-off between Tama-chan and Chukaen. Tama won by making a delicious soup out of a fish-head and the remains of a leek.
- Sookie from Gilmore Girls. She's so obsessed with cooking that she catered her own wedding parties and was still putting icing on the cake on her wedding day.
- Monica Geller from Friends, who makes her living as a professional chef and offers a contrast with Lethal Chef Rachel.
- Reese from Malcolm in the Middle really knows how to cook, he even forces Hal to work for him by making Hal taste whatever he is cooking at the moment. He enjoys cooking so much that one of Lois' most effective punishments is to ban him from the kitchen.
- The Doctor appears to be a whiz in the kitchen, depending on incarnation. In "The Lodger," he manages to assemble a satisfying enough omelette for two from some eggs, stray cheeses, and salad dressing.
- Living as a bachelor for most of a thousand years you pick up a few things.
- Both Ben and Omar from Future Food are Supreme Chefs.
- Piper Halliwell from Charmed is an excellent cook and worked as a sous-chef. It's suggested that this was the primary reason that she was such a skilled potion-maker as well because the two skills compliment each other.
- Marie Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond is described as a spectacular Italian chef. It's the only leverage she has against her useless husband, and it is the source of a great deal of jokes at Debra's expense.
- Doc Martin: Martin himself. He might be uptight, a stick-in-the-mud, and unexpressive in every other aspect of his life, but his gastronomic creations show a singular passion and creativity. Notable that even during his relationship with Louisa he still insisted on doing the cooking for both of them.
- Waldo from Family Matters, is a excellent cook despite his Cloudcuckoolander moments.
- Chef in Star Trek: Enterprise is He Who Must Not Be Seen, He Who Must Not Be Heard, and He Who Must Not Be Named, but not in the Speak of the Devil context. Yet, he is such an amazing Chef that hardly an episode plays without the main characters dropping his name, or rather his title, at least once and usually with fawning admiration. This makes him a sort of Overused Running Gag in the same way the non-speaking Morn on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is said to be a chatterbox.
Tabletop Games
- The Food College of magic in GURPS can make you into this, especially once you can cast Essential Food, which creates good food in its purest elemental form. That might be cheating, though.
Theater
- Cyrano de Bergerac: Ragueneau has a successful bakery at Act II, with various assistants and apprentices and at act I he mentions he could prepare "Chicken a la Ragueneau". Everyone enjoys his pastries, but the problem is that would be not great feat because the poets at Act II and the cadets at Act IV are starving when they do.
Video Games
- Pictured above: Cooking Mama from the titular game, she knows exactly how to make each dish and (usually) walks you through the process. If your dish is really good, people will stuff themselves.
- Elzam from Super Robot Wars fit this trope as well, an excellent commander as well as an excellent chef. The first thing he does when transferred to a new post is cook up a gourmet meal for all the soldiers stationed there. He's also able to survive Kusuha's "energy drinks" without fainting and identify all the ingredients used based on the taste. His Paper-Thin Disguise is even named Ratsel Feinschmecker, which means "mystery gourmet".
- Chef Shmi of Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door says this of himself. Not that anybody disagrees.
- In Tales Of Symphonia, Genis has a reputation as a Supreme Chef in Iselia and has several scenes in the beginning of the game with characters praising his cooking... Though considering his older sister Raine, it's almost a necessity for him. Genis is not the altogether best chef in the game, however: That would be Regal, who earns the special title "God of the Kitchen" in a late-game sidequest.
- For Tales Of The Abyss; in the short time you have him, Asch is shown to be a great chef via skit, in contrast to Natalia and Luke who are his fiance and replica, respectively, both of whom are no good in a kitchen.
- Tales Of Vesperia has their protagonist Yuri Lowell. When he says his secret ingredient was "Love" Hilarity Ensues. Of course, it turns out he didn't really use anything special.
- Saki Nijino in Tokimeki Memorial 1 : her bentô (lunch boxes) are so delicious, they are, according to Bromantic Foil Yoshio, one of the most valuable items among guys at Kirameki High
; plus, she plans to hone her skills at a culinary institute once she graduates.
- And in Tokimeki Memorial 2, while she's not as skilled as Saki, there's Kaori who happens to be one once you get to know her more.
- TokiMemo Girl's Side also has a Supreme Chef; this time it's Madoka Kijyo, who explains away his excellent cooking skills as being the result of living on his own.
- Girls Side 2 has Teru, The Ace, who works at a cafe and gives the heroine delicious homemade cookies for White Day if he likes her enough.
- In Mitsumete Knight, Gene happens to be excellent at cooking, and her speciality, the gateau, is supremely delicious.
- Patty in Fire Emblem : Seisen no Keifu.
- Likewise, Lowen in Fire Emblem : Rekka no Ken. Justified Trope as his grandfather and his father worked as cooks for the Pheraean royal family, so he was taught by the best from an early age.
- Rebecca the Archer too. In her B support with Lowen, she actually makes him lunch to thank him for saving her at the beginning of the game. No wonder they can be paired up.
- As is Oscar in Fire Emblem Tellius, from taking care of his little brothers Boyd and Rolf. He stopped being the Team Chef of the Greil Mercenaries to let Mist have a go, though Ike wasn't so keen on the idea. He offers to help Tanith with cooking, in their POR support.
- In Star Ocean: The Second Story, while all main characters can become Supreme Chefs thanks to the Skill System, Chisato, Rena, and Yarma are those who canonically apply.
- In Star Ocean: Till The End Of Time, you have Sophia who's Skill level in cooking is 43, she can even work on a budget and in a hurry as her Cost and Time modifiers might show. Nel is about as handy in the kitchen as she is with a blade and Mirage isn't half bad either.
- As for NPCs you can recruit, you have Rigel, Mayu, The Killer Chef and Damda Mooda. Mayu and Damda might raise doubts for their skill level, but canonically speaking they're still exceptional chefs.
- The main character of Persona 4 is implied to be an excellent chef, especially for his age. He apparently makes most of the food at home, and can (if the player knows a little about cooking) make some very good school lunches to share with friends. One social link (Yukiko's) involves helping the character get better at cooking (though she refuses to be directly tutored if you offer).
- The MC's actually an odd case; he's a supreme chef if you make the right choices. Make the wrong ones and he's a Lethal Chef; thankfully, the truly horrible blunders just give you bait for fishing.
- Shinjiro Aragaki in Persona 3 proves capable of cooking restaurant-quality dishes (while lecturing Fuuka at the same time). With a little prompting from the female protagonist, he makes a lavish dinner for the team, with every dish described as looking like a picture out of a cookbook and tasting delicious. In the PSP remake, the female protagonist herself specializes in sweets which can be given as gifts, and can even remedy some of Fuuka's cooking blunders.
- Sengoku Rance has a few: Oda Nobunaga (dango), Kikkawa Kiku (general cuisine), and Imagawa Yoshimoto (imagawayaki).
- In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Bowser reluctantly admits that Fawful's cooking is amazing.
- in Fallout: New Vegas, you character can become one if he or she has high enough survival skills. Being able to turn a rotten piece of meat from an mutated animal into a first-class gourmet dish. Strangely enough, Cook-Cook of the Fiends is noted as a highly skilled cook despite being a drug-addled pyromaniacal rapist.
- The 'main' Ann in most Harvest Moon games shows signs of this. Ironically, in her first game she was a Lethal Chef.
- One of the targets in the Dark Brotherhood questline in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a legendary chef known only as "The Gourmet". Certain members state that his recipes indeed live up to their reputation and are actually somewhat disappointed that he's to be assassinated. He keeps his identity a secret with only the chef of Markarth knowing who he is: Turns out he's an Orc.
Visual Novels
- Unlike her Lethal Chef sister Hisui, Kohaku from Tsukihime is a spectacular cook. When she isn't purposely drugging the food to make you go insane. Well, even then it tastes fantastic.
- Shirou Emiya of Fate/stay night cooks to the degree that the Let's Play commentators are more turned on by Food Porn than the sex scenes. Much of which ties into his tutoring Sakura as a cook ... who he admits is probably better than him now. Then Rin gets her competitive streak fired up. And dammit, now I'm hungry.
- Umineko no Naku Koro ni has Magical Gohda Chef. Ronove as well. In The Stakes' Valentine's Day, Gohda is so impressed when Beelzebub gives him some of Ronove's chocolate that he immediately leaves for Belgium to train to be a better cook.
- Gohda shouldn't be left out either. There's a reason Beelzebub gave him the chocolate and it wasn't out of love; she wanted something good in return on White Day.
- Toyed with in Katawa Shoujo. Hisao notes that Hanako is a pretty good chef... but according to Lilly, she's good if she doesn't start experimenting.
Web Comics
- Dont Look It Sucks has Mandew, who can cook food so good, that it often takes on magical properties and can even come to life. One of the secondary characters is born this way.
- Girl Genius has a spark who specializes in making pies that alter people's mood when thrown at them.
- Piffany in Nodwick can end wars with a brownie.
- Jamie in Leftover Soup can turn Rice Crispies back into rice.
- In The Order of the Stick, the Token Evil Teammate Belkar is an astoundingly good chef. He's got skill points and feats based around cooking (he's a ranger/barbarian), and at one point he convinces a recurring villain to let him, Haley and Roy go using a stew which he made using a demon roach to cook. Being who he is, he also threatens to cook people into his dishes, and even offers Miko the dish of her own lungs on a plate.
Western Animation
- In an episode of Futurama, Lethal Chef (among other things!) Bender seeks out one of these to improve his skills.
- Parodied in that he actually wins an Iron Chef like contest against master chef Elzar apparently by spiking his food with LSD.
- In SpongeBob SquarePants, Spongebob is the ultimate frycook, even beating Neptune himself in a cook-off on one occasion.
- Though Jim, the Krusty Krab's previous fry cook is the Always Someone Better. Jim admits that Spongebob is a pretty good fry cook — but he'll only become a great one once he works up the nerve to get away from the Krusty Krab and Mr. Krabs.
- In Kung Fu Panda, Po, who had already earned the respect of most of the Furious Five for his tireless Heroic Resolve, truly ingratiates himself to them with some great cooking for their dinner
- Tiana, from The Princess and the Frog.
- Remy, from Ratatouille.
- Canonically, Ron Stoppable from Kim Possible is a pretty good chef, especially compared to borderline Lethal Chef Kim. Fanon of course exaggerates both.
- Even though she's not stated outright to be this, Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic works as a baker/candy maker, and is pretty great at it.
- Only so long as she doesn't have a sleep-deprived or immature helper. Also from the series in question: Cup and Carrot Cake, Gustave le Grand, Mulia Mild, and Doughnut Joe.
- Applejack herself can cook, but only when she isn't tired. And so far, it is an Informed Ability.
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