History Main / CookingDuel

* ''Series/TheOddCouple'' episode "They Use Horseradish, Don't They?" had Oscar helping Felix in a cooking contest when Felix's back went out due to the stress of the competition.

* ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' episode "They Use Horseradish, Don't They?" had Oscar helping Felix in a cooking contest when Felix's back went out due to the stress of the competition.

* MonkeyNinjaPirateMonkey, using the ProseDescriptiveQuality system by AtomicSockMonkey can take almost anything into a duel, and even uses a cooking contest as an example.

* In ''RISUS'', anything can be a "fight", explicitly so, as long as it's [[RuleOfCool entertaining]] or [[RuleOfFunny funny]].

* The versus mode of the cooking-themed game, ''Overcooked''.

* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': In Chapter 5, Nino tries to get her sisters to go away so they can avoid studying with Fuutarou. She succeeds with all of them but Miku, who stays because she does want to study. When Nino realizes that Miku has taken a liking to him, decides to challenge her to a cooking duel to decide whether they study or not, with Fuutarou as the judge. Naturally, Nino is confident that she will win because she's a SupremeChef while Miku is a LethalChef, but it turns out [[BizarreTasteInFood he also finds Miku's cooking tasty]] (given how poor he is, he's not very selective about what he eats), much to Nino's chagrin and Miku's joy.

* ''Manga/{{Kannagi}}'' has a cooking contest between Nagi, Tsugumi, and Zange.

* In ''Comicbook/MuppetClassics Muppets King Arthur]]'', when Mordred (Robin) challenges his Uncle Arthur (Kermit) to single combat, Arthur says they should settle things the way they do back in the swamp -- with a pun duel.

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[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* In the comic strip ''Lucky Luke: Calamity Jane'' from 1967, Jane gets involved in a baking contest with the equally unqualified matron of the establishment, the unlucky witnesses have to eat the results at gunpoint.

Essentially, this is the EvasiveFightThreadEpisode made silly with plenty of silly TrashTalk. In shows where the CookingDuel is SeriousBusiness, expect many a MundaneMadeAwesome moment.

* ''Bistro Recipe'', which was {{Macekre}}d into ''Manga/FightingFoodons'' by Creator/FourKidsEntertainment, combined the CookingDuel with a {{Mons}} series, with the chefs summoning their previously-created "Foodons". Yes, it's as silly as it sounds.

* Manga example: Jan Akiyama, from ''Manga/IronWokJan'', deliberately attempts to make everything around him into a CookingDuel -- his catchphrase is "Cooking is about winning".

* ''Anime/KujibikiUnbalance'' is set at a HighSchool where the student body is set up in an enormous TournamentArc of [[CookingDuel Cooking Duels]]. (The first of which is literally a cooking duel.)

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' had a literal CookingDuel in one of its many, ''many'' {{Filler}} episodes.

* ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' took about half of its plots from this trope, ranging from gymnastics to fast food sales to a "martial arts marriage contest" in [[TheMovie one of the movies]], almost all of which had their own [[MartialArtsAndCrafts ridiculous fighting style devoted solely to it]]. The hot-headed Ranma was easily maneuvered into such contests - even, memorably, a CookingDuel to see who was more ''feminine''. At least two were ''literal'' cooking duels that didn't involve any unlikely fighting techniques (though one did include some [[ImplausibleFencingPowers impossible use of cooking knives]]).

* ''Manga/RealBoutHighSchool'', an anime series about a school where all of the student clubs are dedicated to ''fighting with lethal weapons'', features a CookingDuel between the female leads for the affection of a male student. [[spoiler:Both lunches make him sick enough to vomit grey foam.]]

* ''Manga/ShinaDark'' manages to make a CookingDuel out of [[http://www.onemanga.com/Shina_Dark/8/06/ bartering.]]

* The "YamatoNadeshiko Cup" from ''Manga/CheekyAngel''. Megumi and Genzo also fight an actual CookingDuel at one point.

* ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' has no CookingDuel, but it DOES have an entire mini arc devoted to an eating duel between the various rival teams.

* One important plot element in the ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' series by Creator/PiersAnthony is the main character contending to win the prize in a competition known simply as "The Game" or "The Tourney." The contestants could end up in any potentially competitive contest; it could be something as conventionally sportsmanlike as running a marathon, or something as seemingly undramatic as blowing soap bubbles. A [[LampshadeHanging lampshade is hung]] over any situation that calls for it, pointing out that the rules of the game involve an element of luck that can lead to unusual results. In at least one case (a "friendly," rather than part of the Tourney) it was an actual CookingDuel, with humorous results given that neither contestant needed to eat, or had any idea what chocolate brownies were ''supposed'' to be like.
* In Creator/AlanDeanFoster's Mad Amos short story ''Witchen Woes'', Mad Amos has a literal CookingDuel (a chili cookoff) with a kitchen witch as a kind of exorcism.

** Food Network runs or has run several other CookingDuel-based shows, such as ''Throwdown'', where Bobby Flay challenges another famous chef at his own specialty, ''{{Series/Chopped}}'' and its MirrorUniverse counterpart ''Series/CutthroatKitchen'', and ''Date Plate'', where two guys compete for a date with a hot woman by cooking her dinner.

** The peak of the SupernaturalMartialArts ''Border of Kaleidoscopic Logic'' allows its user to create an illusory realm where she battles her opponents using a form of conflict she specifies, including CookingDuel.

* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'', [[BrattyHalfPint Princess Petape]] comes up with the idea to expose the impostor posing as her brother Tapeta by having the two engage in a CookingDuel. The player's involvement in this consists of plumbing a dungeon to gather the ingredients [[spoiler: (all of which happen to be ''boss monsters''). It's a shame that the odds were in favor to Kuwadora/Quadra, because he threatened the judges, and so he would be victorious. Even they had to be reluctant to the fact that one of the prepared food contained the valuable Golden Fly/Greenbottle]].

* In an {{Anvilicious}} episode of the 70s ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'', Fat Albert participated in a cooking contest. In a shocking (for the time) display of FlawlessToken, Albert was continually denigrated, insulted, and generally made fun of by the other competitors (all girls, of course). In accordance with the episode's {{Aesop}} that anyone can do anything if they want it bad enough and work hard to get it, Fat Albert wins.

* "WesternAnimation/Hero108": Many episodes conclude with this. Commander Apetrully tries to recruit animals, gets captured, calls First Squad for help, First Squad defeats animals in battle, animals demand a competition to win their loyalty. The first episode concludes with Jumpy Ghostface the Rabbit King being recruited to First Squad after they beat him in a jump-rope contest.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' once faced Neptune in a CookingDuel to see if [=SpongeBob=] was really worthy of "the Golden Spatula". The challenge: be the first to make 1000 Krabby Patties. Neptune uses his magical powers to make Krabby Patties by the hundreds, while [=SpongeBob=] just carefully makes one. It turns out Neptune's patties taste horrible, and the one [=SpongeBob=] made was the best Neptune had ever eaten. The difference between the patties was that [=SpongeBob=] cared for his patty (literally, tucking it into a lettuce bed and everything) and Neptune used his magical god-of-the-sea merman powers to whip up a thousand patties as quickly as possible. So it's more like a cooking aesop where love = good food, processed meats produced cheaply in large quantity = icky food, even if they look the same.

** The episode "[=SpongeBob=] vs the Patty Gadget" tells the same story.

* ''Manga/ShokugekiNoSoma'' has cooking duels or shokugeki to settle disputes. In this case, though, the trope is completely justified (the manga takes place at an extremely competitive cooking school) and the duels are heavily formalized. In order to be official, a Shokugeki must have an odd number of judges, and both participants have to stake something of equal value (to be agreed on) and the Shokugeki must be formally recognized by the school (though the school hasn't failed to recognize a Shokugeki brought to its attention yet). The stakes, however, [[AbsurdlyHighStakesGame can be anything]], and we have so far seen club rooms, {{Hollywood Restraining Order}}s, chef's knives, seats on the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil and even ''entire careers'' staked in Shokugeki.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': The second OVA is about Pixis ordering that Jean and Sasha have one of these to solve their quarrel is as over the top as expected.

* In the Chinese movie ''Jin yu man tang'' or ''The Chinese Feast'', the heroes fight the bad guys... in a cooking competition.

** Ditto for ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}''.

* ''Anime/GalaxyFrauleinYuna'' takes this to even sillier extremes: the opening scene is a ''literal'' cooking duel between giant mecha! The protagonist wins by cooking eggs by the heat of atmospheric re-entry.

* An episode of ''VisualNovel/KoihimeMusou'' had an eating contest. And one of the participants was a professional eating competitor.

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': The second OVA is about Pixis ordering that Jean and Sasha have one of these to solve their quarrel is as over the top as expected.
* ''Manga/BinboGamiGa'', pictured, has a duel between [[BornLucky Ichiko]] and [[DisabledDeity Momiji]] that ends when Ichiko [[LethalChef incapacitates]] the [[OurGodsAreDifferent god]] Kuroyuri who was serving as a judge.

* In an {{Anvilicious}} episode of the 70s ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'', Fat Albert participated in a cooking contest. In a shocking (for the time) display of PositiveDiscrimination, Albert was continually denigrated, insulted, and generally made fun of by the other competitors (all girls, of course). In accordance with the episode's {{Aesop}} that anyone can do anything if they want it bad enough and work hard to get it, Fat Albert wins.

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** The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Spongebob vs the Patty Gadget" tells the same story.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' once faced Poseidon in a CookingDuel to see if Spongebob was really of "the Golden Spatula". The challenge: be the first to make 1000 Krabby Patties. Poseidon uses his magical powers to make Krabby Patties by the hundreds, while Spongebob just carefully makes one. It turns out Poseidon's patties taste horrible, and the one Spongebob made was the best Poseidon had ever had. The difference between the patties was that Spongebob cared for his patty (literally, tucking it into a lettuce bed and everything) and Poseidon used his magical god-of-the-sea merman powers to whip up a thousand patties as quickly as possible. So it's more like a cooking aesop where love = good food, processed meats produced cheaply in large quantity = icky food, even if they look the same.
** The episode "Fry Cook Games" has Spongebob and Patrick compete in fry-cooking themed athletic events like ice-cream high-diving and bun wrestling.

* ''Manga/KujibikiUnbalance'' is set at a HighSchool where the student body is set up in an enormous TournamentArc of [[CookingDuel Cooking Duels]]. (The first of which is literally a cooking duel.)

** An early two-parter in [[Anime/YuGiOhArcV]] took this trope quite literally when Yuya faced a Duelist who was not only a cooking prodigy, but also used monsters that stuffed his monsters full to bursting. No, really.

* An event in the ''Manga/BlackButler'' manga, in which the title BattleButler Sebastian will face FunnyForeigner Battle Butler Agni in a curry competition. [[spoiler:Slightly unfair as Agni can enhance the taste of curry ''just by touching the ingridients'' while demon Sebastian finds human food (at least desserts) distasteful.]] Also happens in the anime, three quarters into the first season. As is common with anime events, much of it is changed; for starters, Agni is simply exceptionally skilled at picking the spices to make the best curry, while Sebastian lacks the disinterest in human food of his manga counterpart. In both cases, Sebastian ultimately wins with two innovations; adding chocolate to his curry (which Agni notes is a very valid ingredient, but it's a combination of spices most English wouldn't consider adding to their curries) and then turning his curry into curry buns. His cooking is so good it can actually counter the Kali Ma "demon spice".

* Shane Strickland and ACH's dance off prior to their match and the International Wrestling Cartel's Twelfth Super Indy Tournament.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' also gets one of these, putting the party member of your choice up against [[LethalChef Flynn]] to earn cooking titles for your party members.

* In ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', nearly everything is decided by ballet ([[CaptainObvious I bet you couldn't tell from the title]]). Many of the dances actually ''don't'' fall under this trope since they aren't duels, instead focusing on characters revealing their true feelings through dance. But there's several that ''do'', including any sword fight in the series (which usually mixes ballet moves with sword fighting), and the first season's finale where the titular MagicalGirl and her DarkMagicalGirl rival end up dancing to determine who gains control of the Prince.

* The ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' sourcebook ''Swords at Dawn'' details the various types of duels the Courts use to resolve disputes, split along lines of Physical, Mental, Social, and Mystical. Sure, two members of the martial Summer Court could engage in a fist-fight to first blood... but they could also easily decide on a duel where each argues a case before an impartial judge and tries to make the best argument.