For Chinese who grew up in the 80s and 90s, Japanese anime had a profound impact on their lives. You can walk along any Chinese university and see someone wearing a Rukawa Kaede basketball jersey from the basketball anime Slam Dunk. Walk down to some young hangout areas, and you'll see Chinese girls wearing Arale-chan from Dr. Slump's winged hat.
Now in China, one young man from the post-80s generation is awakening the generational nostalgia by bringing to life culinary creations from the Japanese anime Chuka Ichiban! (中華一番) .
Chuka Ichiban! was an anime about a young Chinese chef, Mao, who lived in the late 19th century and wanted to become one of China's top chefs. Throughout the show, there would be cooking "battles" (think Iron Chef but animated and exaggerated) in which Mao and his compatriots would make unique dishes in Chinese cuisine. One interesting bit about Chuka Ichiban! was the fact that many, if not most, of the recipes can be made in real life.
That's where PlumeStreet (雨前羽街), a user of Chinese social media site Douban, comes in. Following the anime's instructions step by step, PlumeStreet has recreated 16 different dishes from the show itself, all of which edible. According to the user himself, most of the dishes are delicious. Some of the dishes featured on his Douban account are catfish noodles, a huge dumpling, milky fried lobster and mapo tofu. Each of the dishes that he shows are accompanied by screen shots of the anime instructions.
An amateur chef from Tianjin (east of Beijing) who has studied in Europe, the 20-something PlumeStreet is now looking to improve on the shows creations. He cites that some of the methods depicted in the anime don't work in real life. PlumeStreet's culinary exploits have gained him sudden net fame as well as spammed his inbox with loads of letters from female admirers looking for a boyfriend who can cook.
80后男孩还原动画片美食 女网友争相求交往 [China News]
Plume Street Douban homepage [Douban]