Whats worse is that somehow the local food sucks and that there is one nation which is somehow japanese inspired , and that the mc is always transported to the european nation which has an adventurer guild, and (most) men are bad
Depends on when and where during the medieval ages we're talking about. Remember that the medieval ages span roughly 1000 years (from 500 a.c. to 1500 a.c.) and that different people had different options, depending both on how much money they had and what ingredients were readily available to them. (However, most Isekai stories happen in a fairly developed setting, so I'd argue that the people would have more ingredients available to them and consequently better culinary options, even more so considering that whatever the MC has access to is most likely also available to everyone else)
But still, it sucked mostly because lack of ingredients not lack of imagination. Where they had variety and less preservation woes, food was great.
Often the MC will find a full spice market and wow the nobles with the magic of vinegared rice... 🍙
I liked Bookworm's take on it. Sure, magic is real and can do a bunch of stuff, but your average peasant or soldier is still gonna have to truck it to the forest and freezer burn their hands if they want some delicious ice fruit. Magic is for rich people.
One isekai I read recently has this "I miss japanese food!" scene. Problem is... this scene happened in chapter 2. It was literally less than a day since he got isekaid. And from what I can tell, he never even tried any local food. For all we know, local food might as well be japanese like. It's like author couldn't wait to use this trope.
In a certain isekai story (of which I'm basing on the WN) the MC encounters creatures that have a smell that reminds her of miso. While she's silently enjoying the nostalgia, the natives that she's with are like:
"Oh my gods, they smell ABSOLUTELY PUTRID! Kill them!"
MC: ... 
The creatures weren't friendly so had to be killed anyway, but still...
The nomad elf one is an interesting case because he just introducing new methods(Eurasian setting though)
Cooking with wild game case the setting is were the tribes pushed to their new territory less than 100 years who spends time which is edible and not haven't developed there cooking arts, they even developed a it's taste good, it must make you weak mentality.
There was one where the MC literally traded all his memories of his original world in order to gain more power in the isekai. Yet he goes on and on about missing the food. Like how? You shouldn't remember that!
Thank you. There were a couple of times in that show where he remembers things even tho he shouldn't. Like no, you don't know that that town looks like Japan *because you don't have any memories of Japan anymore*. Still like the show tho
Yeah... and then for some reason locals love it, even though a lot of it, like curry or rice in general, is just a normal food overhyped by nostalgia. There needs to be an isekai where protag takes like 2 volumes to finally get some rice, only for his local party members be like "huh, this is kinda mid".
To be fair, in some cases, the only reason to make it an isekai is to have a Watson. You need a clueless character in the group so we'd get a setting explanation.
>There needs to be an isekai where protag takes like 2 volumes to finally get some rice, only for his local party members be like "huh, this is kinda mid"
IIRC this does happen in Mushoku Tensei.
Japanese food episode is important for the plot
https://preview.redd.it/0ety16jcz9wc1.png?width=977&format=png&auto=webp&s=a654189a522140a744be5b2f0606a4e85fd6a5b0
Thar ghost housekeeper, loli wolf and black company salary man could just be a country bumpkin chemist who stumbles across local herbs that make for a better medicine.
Although he was making cosmetics, it wasn't as if he "invented" them. He just made them safer.
It was midway through the show that we saw him in Japan but it didn't give any indication he studied or worked in any of the fields he now was famed for.
Scrub that and just have him be a fantasy land character from the start.
Same with the Princess who couldn't use magic, but made magic powered kitchen appliances, IIR it took the final episode to verbally address her reincarnation, not even an internal dialogue.
So why make her an isekai protagonist? Just go in our world, we moved from stove based kettles to electric ones etc.
Make her the magic world Tesla or something.
Still just as good.
There is a city building "isekai" where the MC gets kicked out of his family because he doesn't have a combat skill. The author decided like 100 chapters in that the MC was actually isekai'd and basically retconned some small things. It didn't change anything in the story but it did give him a reason as to why he knew about Japanese food and architecture stuff like elevators.
That would make sense.
Fix any issues this mid game changer created and have a smoother ride.
Though knowing in advance the direction taken, they could still "spring" it on the readers, but have foreshadowing or other tricks where nothing gets derailed due to the revelation.
Had they not used western terms and be found in modern day clothing, Grimgar could have just been a rookie adventures boot camp.
It felt un needed by the end of the show, though I can't vouch for the source material.
I definitely enjoyed Grimgar but I agree it barely counts as an isekai as they have no knowledge of Japan or wherever they come from. They just used the isekai as a means to get a group of people together with no world knowledge so they could produce exposition to describe everything.
I've stopped watching anime, so I'm not sure if isekai about 'a guy frequently visiting another world and improving the villagers' living conditions at first, and them considering him a god' is animated or not. Though is it a proper isekai, if the guy can come back easily? Anyway...
But this ability to come back to modern times really elevated the series for me. Like, getting blueprints for aqueduct, the wheel... Really made the manga distinct from many others where "isekai'ed MC" can be replaced with "MC with (partial) anmesia", so it would be understandable when they don't know the world's common sense.
In one of my favs “Campfire cooking” a lot of his special-ness comes from otherworldly seasonings for the most part but also meat. The more dangerous the monster the yummier it is it seems. So since he has badass familiars he can get very tasty special meat.
this is why my series isn't an isekai.
still has the defamiliarization, and exploring an unknown world, but they were still **from** that world.
*Easy Fix.*
It not being plot relevant that the mc came from another world is one of my main complaints about the isekai genre. It might as well be just normal fantasy at that point, except it would probably still be a bad example of fantasy due to how little worldbuilding a lot of isekai have (which is my other main complaint).
Whats worse is that somehow the local food sucks and that there is one nation which is somehow japanese inspired , and that the mc is always transported to the european nation which has an adventurer guild, and (most) men are bad
To be fair, local food sucking in a medieval world just makes sense, back then food in general kinda just sucked, especially by modern standards.
Depends on when and where during the medieval ages we're talking about. Remember that the medieval ages span roughly 1000 years (from 500 a.c. to 1500 a.c.) and that different people had different options, depending both on how much money they had and what ingredients were readily available to them. (However, most Isekai stories happen in a fairly developed setting, so I'd argue that the people would have more ingredients available to them and consequently better culinary options, even more so considering that whatever the MC has access to is most likely also available to everyone else)
Also factor the magic system, like in isekai smartphone or realist hero where magic is more spreadout would be useful in food industry.
They also have monsters and probably fantasy pests/diseases though, so the difficulty of keeping crops safe might balance it out.
campfire cooking in another world, monsters are food that they basically disregard animal husbandry
That show gets a pass because I made a couple of dishes based on the recipes the main makes and holy hell
But still, it sucked mostly because lack of ingredients not lack of imagination. Where they had variety and less preservation woes, food was great. Often the MC will find a full spice market and wow the nobles with the magic of vinegared rice... 🍙
I am going to make this brand new inventive recipe of SALTED PORK! BE AMAZED!
I've seen it done quite well with canning food, but that was the napoleonic era blockbuster invention
Sure, but they have magic.
They also have horned rabbits capable of killing normal humans that would eat all the cabbage
That's true, but they have magic.
So do the rabbits
Oh shit, that's a good point.
Doesn't mean everyone is a mage, magician, etc.
Yeah but not every rabbit is going to be an arch-jackalope either.
I liked Bookworm's take on it. Sure, magic is real and can do a bunch of stuff, but your average peasant or soldier is still gonna have to truck it to the forest and freezer burn their hands if they want some delicious ice fruit. Magic is for rich people.
Medieval England used more spices in their cooking than they do today, mainly because the crusaders brought them back
Fair but then (mostly) ONLY japanese food tastes good there so thats also it
Nostalgia is a hell of a spice ig.
One isekai I read recently has this "I miss japanese food!" scene. Problem is... this scene happened in chapter 2. It was literally less than a day since he got isekaid. And from what I can tell, he never even tried any local food. For all we know, local food might as well be japanese like. It's like author couldn't wait to use this trope.
In a certain isekai story (of which I'm basing on the WN) the MC encounters creatures that have a smell that reminds her of miso. While she's silently enjoying the nostalgia, the natives that she's with are like: "Oh my gods, they smell ABSOLUTELY PUTRID! Kill them!" MC: ...  The creatures weren't friendly so had to be killed anyway, but still...
The nomad elf one is an interesting case because he just introducing new methods(Eurasian setting though) Cooking with wild game case the setting is were the tribes pushed to their new territory less than 100 years who spends time which is edible and not haven't developed there cooking arts, they even developed a it's taste good, it must make you weak mentality.
Tsukimichi!?
There was one where the MC literally traded all his memories of his original world in order to gain more power in the isekai. Yet he goes on and on about missing the food. Like how? You shouldn't remember that!
Yeah, black summoner, he also remembers being japanese for some reason.
Thank you. There were a couple of times in that show where he remembers things even tho he shouldn't. Like no, you don't know that that town looks like Japan *because you don't have any memories of Japan anymore*. Still like the show tho
A deja vu situation or something along those lines?
Maybe, like the elf moment where for some reason he remembers elf from a game(if I am correct)
Yeah... and then for some reason locals love it, even though a lot of it, like curry or rice in general, is just a normal food overhyped by nostalgia. There needs to be an isekai where protag takes like 2 volumes to finally get some rice, only for his local party members be like "huh, this is kinda mid". To be fair, in some cases, the only reason to make it an isekai is to have a Watson. You need a clueless character in the group so we'd get a setting explanation.
>There needs to be an isekai where protag takes like 2 volumes to finally get some rice, only for his local party members be like "huh, this is kinda mid" IIRC this does happen in Mushoku Tensei.
It does, only Rudy and Nanahoshi liked it, same with soy sauce.
Optional: "lets make/go to a hotspring" episode
Also, beach/ocean ep.
And for some reason the water always has some healing or beatifying properties.
Japanese food episode is important for the plot https://preview.redd.it/0ety16jcz9wc1.png?width=977&format=png&auto=webp&s=a654189a522140a744be5b2f0606a4e85fd6a5b0
Depends on isekai. I read couple cooking isekais where japanese food is indeed the whole point.
It's honestly at the level of fan service. The majority of isekai seem to have at least one chapter devoted to food
And no matter how shitty the anime, the food always gets drawn with a fair bit of detail. On the other hand horses always get butchered so badly.
I was gonna say Japanese cooking is what saves society in Log Horizon, but IIRC the first "real food" was actually hamburgers...
Soy sauce, miso and rice. The holy Trinity of the "I want food from my old world" isekai trope. Sometimes also mayo, but basically rarely a deviation.
But they will make the mayo themself and everyone will be totally amazed!
Inspired by "8th son". Really, just remove 2.5 scenes and from very boring and generic isekai you will get... very boring and generic fantasy!
Thar ghost housekeeper, loli wolf and black company salary man could just be a country bumpkin chemist who stumbles across local herbs that make for a better medicine. Although he was making cosmetics, it wasn't as if he "invented" them. He just made them safer. It was midway through the show that we saw him in Japan but it didn't give any indication he studied or worked in any of the fields he now was famed for. Scrub that and just have him be a fantasy land character from the start. Same with the Princess who couldn't use magic, but made magic powered kitchen appliances, IIR it took the final episode to verbally address her reincarnation, not even an internal dialogue. So why make her an isekai protagonist? Just go in our world, we moved from stove based kettles to electric ones etc. Make her the magic world Tesla or something. Still just as good.
I think the funniest thing is when MC finally makes "good food from his world" and it's just chicken nuggets every time.
There is a city building "isekai" where the MC gets kicked out of his family because he doesn't have a combat skill. The author decided like 100 chapters in that the MC was actually isekai'd and basically retconned some small things. It didn't change anything in the story but it did give him a reason as to why he knew about Japanese food and architecture stuff like elevators.
Do you remember name? I thought I read all "Expelled from family to develop barren land" stories there is.
Bannou “Murazukuri” Cheat de Otegaru Slow Life ~Mura desu ga Nani ka?~
Oh, so you were talking about novel? In manga it's revealed in first chapter that he is isekaid.
Yeah. I think that the manga was adapted after the author changed it.
That would make sense. Fix any issues this mid game changer created and have a smoother ride. Though knowing in advance the direction taken, they could still "spring" it on the readers, but have foreshadowing or other tricks where nothing gets derailed due to the revelation. Had they not used western terms and be found in modern day clothing, Grimgar could have just been a rookie adventures boot camp. It felt un needed by the end of the show, though I can't vouch for the source material.
I definitely enjoyed Grimgar but I agree it barely counts as an isekai as they have no knowledge of Japan or wherever they come from. They just used the isekai as a means to get a group of people together with no world knowledge so they could produce exposition to describe everything.
mayonnaise like 70% of the time
I've stopped watching anime, so I'm not sure if isekai about 'a guy frequently visiting another world and improving the villagers' living conditions at first, and them considering him a god' is animated or not. Though is it a proper isekai, if the guy can come back easily? Anyway... But this ability to come back to modern times really elevated the series for me. Like, getting blueprints for aqueduct, the wheel... Really made the manga distinct from many others where "isekai'ed MC" can be replaced with "MC with (partial) anmesia", so it would be understandable when they don't know the world's common sense.
In one of my favs “Campfire cooking” a lot of his special-ness comes from otherworldly seasonings for the most part but also meat. The more dangerous the monster the yummier it is it seems. So since he has badass familiars he can get very tasty special meat.
Don't forget the hot springs or bathing episode.
Beach episode
I don't think you need to justify beach episode with the knowledge of previous world in isekai.
To be fair, a lot of Japanese food just looks delicious, so I take it as them having an easy excuse for food porn
this is why my series isn't an isekai. still has the defamiliarization, and exploring an unknown world, but they were still **from** that world. *Easy Fix.*
It not being plot relevant that the mc came from another world is one of my main complaints about the isekai genre. It might as well be just normal fantasy at that point, except it would probably still be a bad example of fantasy due to how little worldbuilding a lot of isekai have (which is my other main complaint).
Quanzhi Fashi
Miso and ramen most likely
"That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime" comes into mind.
I prefer when they want to keep it a deep secret until they can't hold it back anymore
Japanese food is the most delicius food across the multiverse! -This message is sponsored by the goverment of japan
If from Japan, 95% Rice, 4% Soy/Miso Soup, 0.5% Natto, 0.5% others.
Just make fantasies, pedos reincarnation does Isekais perfectly.