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異世界料理道 [Isekai Ryouridou] (Light Novel) #1
Cooking with Wild Game: Volume 1
Chef Trainee Asuta Tsurumi was just a normal Japanese teenager, until one day the harassment against his family’s restaurant went too far. Desperate to save his father’s precious cooking knife, he dove headfirst into a sea of flames. Rather than waking up in the afterlife, though, he found himself in a whole new world entirely!
Fortunately for our hero, he soon gets picked up by the huntress known as Ai Fa. This guardian angel packs some attitude, though, so it won’t be all smooth sailing for Asuta! Plus his savior seems to have some issues of her own to worry about, too...
Just how well will our rookie chef be able to parlay his skills in this utterly unfamiliar world? And with all the danger lurking around, will he even be able to survive long enough to put them to the test?! Come learn a thing or two about Cooking with Wild Game!
Fortunately for our hero, he soon gets picked up by the huntress known as Ai Fa. This guardian angel packs some attitude, though, so it won’t be all smooth sailing for Asuta! Plus his savior seems to have some issues of her own to worry about, too...
Just how well will our rookie chef be able to parlay his skills in this utterly unfamiliar world? And with all the danger lurking around, will he even be able to survive long enough to put them to the test?! Come learn a thing or two about Cooking with Wild Game!
264 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 20, 2015
88 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 22, 2019
Pretty solid little work, though you could argue that it barely gets going this volume, a real introductory Slice of Life tale, this follows our hero Asuto as he travels from our world where he was an assistant chef to the world of a 17 yr old, lone, tribal member Ai Fa. Needless to say, this is a culture shock, but for Ai Fa, this change in lifestyle gives her a chance to repair her relationship with the rest of the tribe members (she was ostracized after refusals of marriage to other strong tribal leaders' sons). For Asuta, it's a chance for him to really challenge himself with his cooking ability despite being in a new world with entirely different food tastes and ingredients (though, conveniently, they all have some real world equivalent).
So this one opens with the introduction of our hero, his circumstances in his real world (which curiously features a named childhood friend along with his father... Two characters we seemingly will never see again passed the introduction), and how he gets to the other world (a very dumb action he takes leading to his death that even he acknowledges was stupid).
One thing I really liked was how, overall, Asuta is presented as intelligent and reasoning. He doesn't fall into the rom com oblivious trappings you're used to; he acknowledges when something someone says or does appears to have a potential hidden meaning, romantically or otherwise. He also doesn't hide who he is from others, Ai Fa and he deciding to be up front about his journey from Japan to this other world.
The name of the game for this one is in the title: "cooking" and "wild game". First, in a reversal of typical gender roles (even for Ai Fa's society), Ai Fa is the hunter and the male Asuta is the stay at home cook. Well, Asuta doesn't always stay at home; in fact, we first meet him when he stumbles into Ai Fa's traps upon entering this new world, Ai Fa being the tough motherly character who rebukes him but still ultimately helps him survive.
The cooking portion of that title refers to the real battle of the story, the battle of Asuta to cook dishes with strange fruit, spice, and meat he's never heard of or cooked with before. Almost every chapter features a new dish for him to conquer, be it stew, bread, burgers, etc. His excitement for cooking I think may be lost a bit on readers who aren't into food, but if you're even somewhat interested in cooking, the descriptions of the process of making the dishes may make your mouth water. =P
Ai Fa's weaknesses are shown in the story, mainly related to her role in the tribe and lack of family, friends, and disinterest in potential partners. If anything is going to keep the reader interested in coming back to this series, it's probably for Ai Fa's development in both forging bonds she thought were broken through the help of Asuta's cooking and how she and Asuta will someday acknowledge their need for one another. There's a clear end goal, Ai Fa and Asuta becoming partners, and her bloodline continuing with a child. The question is, how are we going to get there? How are the other families, especially the Suun family who are prone to fits of jealousy and violence, and the Ruu family who are fighting for control with the Suun, going to acknowledge Asuta as a marriage candidate for Ai Fa, and will there be any power struggle issue between the sides? And ultimately, is living on the outskirts of civilization with Giba meat as their primary food source, a solitary + uneventful existence in the world sphere, what our heroes will aspire to? Will there be harem? A lot of questions that one short / compact volume won't answer.
So this one opens with the introduction of our hero, his circumstances in his real world (which curiously features a named childhood friend along with his father... Two characters we seemingly will never see again passed the introduction), and how he gets to the other world (a very dumb action he takes leading to his death that even he acknowledges was stupid).
One thing I really liked was how, overall, Asuta is presented as intelligent and reasoning. He doesn't fall into the rom com oblivious trappings you're used to; he acknowledges when something someone says or does appears to have a potential hidden meaning, romantically or otherwise. He also doesn't hide who he is from others, Ai Fa and he deciding to be up front about his journey from Japan to this other world.
The name of the game for this one is in the title: "cooking" and "wild game". First, in a reversal of typical gender roles (even for Ai Fa's society), Ai Fa is the hunter and the male Asuta is the stay at home cook. Well, Asuta doesn't always stay at home; in fact, we first meet him when he stumbles into Ai Fa's traps upon entering this new world, Ai Fa being the tough motherly character who rebukes him but still ultimately helps him survive.
The cooking portion of that title refers to the real battle of the story, the battle of Asuta to cook dishes with strange fruit, spice, and meat he's never heard of or cooked with before. Almost every chapter features a new dish for him to conquer, be it stew, bread, burgers, etc. His excitement for cooking I think may be lost a bit on readers who aren't into food, but if you're even somewhat interested in cooking, the descriptions of the process of making the dishes may make your mouth water. =P
Ai Fa's weaknesses are shown in the story, mainly related to her role in the tribe and lack of family, friends, and disinterest in potential partners. If anything is going to keep the reader interested in coming back to this series, it's probably for Ai Fa's development in both forging bonds she thought were broken through the help of Asuta's cooking and how she and Asuta will someday acknowledge their need for one another. There's a clear end goal, Ai Fa and Asuta becoming partners, and her bloodline continuing with a child. The question is, how are we going to get there? How are the other families, especially the Suun family who are prone to fits of jealousy and violence, and the Ruu family who are fighting for control with the Suun, going to acknowledge Asuta as a marriage candidate for Ai Fa, and will there be any power struggle issue between the sides? And ultimately, is living on the outskirts of civilization with Giba meat as their primary food source, a solitary + uneventful existence in the world sphere, what our heroes will aspire to? Will there be harem? A lot of questions that one short / compact volume won't answer.
September 25, 2020
I can't believe that a series about cooking wild boar can be so thrilling.
This isn't a thriller though, not suspense either. This is a genuine attempt to tell a realistic story how food and knowledge can change people and culture. While so many blustering Main Characters show their superiority towards their lessers by touting their strangely impeccable secondary school knowledge, this MC simply tries to improve his life and those around him by cooking. He's no savior though, he's not someone with the answers and not someone who bulldozes over tradition because "he simply knows best." No, the dude tries his best to cook, to listen and to make things better by doing both.
This isn't a thriller though, not suspense either. This is a genuine attempt to tell a realistic story how food and knowledge can change people and culture. While so many blustering Main Characters show their superiority towards their lessers by touting their strangely impeccable secondary school knowledge, this MC simply tries to improve his life and those around him by cooking. He's no savior though, he's not someone with the answers and not someone who bulldozes over tradition because "he simply knows best." No, the dude tries his best to cook, to listen and to make things better by doing both.
April 12, 2020
Although part of the premise was intriguing, the main character's voice was annoying, and observations sometimes cringe-worthy.
May 3, 2019
3.5 stars. I’m kinda struggling with what I want to say about this book. It was just fine. The writing style is really good and I appreciated the vivid descriptions especially of the food. They did make me quite hungry while I was reading. I also liked how the main character actually reminisced about his past life and family which I haven’t seen much of in the previous light novels I’ve read. My favorite part of this book though was the gorgeous art. I often found myself just spending some time admiring how beautifully the characters were drawn. I will be picking up the next volume but it won’t be a top priority.
April 15, 2020
Originalmente emepecé a leerlo porque me interesaba la premisa del isekai combinado con comida, pero la verdad es que los personajes son insoportables, no es que sen malos, pero el protaginasta es lo que llaman un beta y la coprotagonista una tsundere y para estas alturas ya estoy muy cansado de esos personajes y cuando llegamos a la parte de la cocina es hasta la mitad del libro y para este punto solo alcanzaba a leer un capitulo por día.
La narración es muy cansada porque le encantaaaaa repetir datos que ya nos había dicho, pero en fin, fue entretenido y por lo menos la parte de la cocina es lo suficientemente interesante, lastima que los personajes son tan aburridos al igual que el mundo.
Le daré una oprtunidad al siguiente libro porque a pesar de todo es entretenida y ligera, además que la introducción de más personajes hace más entretenida la lectura, lastima que sean más tropos y estos se presenten para el final del libro.
La narración es muy cansada porque le encantaaaaa repetir datos que ya nos había dicho, pero en fin, fue entretenido y por lo menos la parte de la cocina es lo suficientemente interesante, lastima que los personajes son tan aburridos al igual que el mundo.
Le daré una oprtunidad al siguiente libro porque a pesar de todo es entretenida y ligera, además que la introducción de más personajes hace más entretenida la lectura, lastima que sean más tropos y estos se presenten para el final del libro.
October 30, 2021
E, devo ir ler o mangá. A arte da novel é maravilhosa, mas em alguns momentos eu fiquei entediado com a descrição das coisas. Como o mangá é o mesmo artista, devo apreciar mais.
May 1, 2023
Simple plot, but entertaining enough.
January 4, 2025
Masakan, isekai, dan suku pedalaman.
March 9, 2022
A bit of a slow paced introduction to a new world together with the mc chef intraining. No overpowered characters, no magic and a rather bleak setting (food shortage, refugees and a rather chauvinistic culture even though the mcs are most definitely not), but endearing characters who succeed at making things a better place for themselves despite the opposition.
While it is slow paced with no big over arching plot that should not come as a complete surprise. It is a Japanese light novel after all. It is missing many of its common tropes though. The setting seems well thought out and intrigues me. I am curious about the next part, but I can see this book is not for everybody.
While it is slow paced with no big over arching plot that should not come as a complete surprise. It is a Japanese light novel after all. It is missing many of its common tropes though. The setting seems well thought out and intrigues me. I am curious about the next part, but I can see this book is not for everybody.
January 22, 2019
I read this in the wee hours of the morning to help pass some insomnia and it's an interesting one! Rather than the usual isekai medieval Western fantasy setting, Asuta finds himself saved by a hunter-gatherer tribeswoman and living on the outskirts of a jungle. While there's a lot of (understandable) focus on cooking, the exploration of Ai Fa's culture and the relationships between characters and families also plays a big part in the story. The writing is very tactile and there's a lot of time devoted to describing the ways things smell, feel or taste. This is mostly a good thing but if you're a squeamish person, you might struggle with the long and detailed description of Asuta preparing the giba carcass! The volume ended mid-way through a certain event which felt a little strange so it might be better to read this when volume 2 is out.
October 20, 2020
Quite an interesting story, Cooking with Wild Game is not the usual Isekai. Normal Isekai is usually about a person who dies and gets reincarnated into a European-type world, but in this case, our hero, after dying in a fire trying to save his father's chef knife, finds himself in a world where people are tribesmen living at the edge of a forest.
Their way of cooking is rather bland, but our hero, being an apprentice chef soon shows them a way to make food more palatable. He also has to learn the etiquette and customs of the people in this strange new world.
This book is an enjoyable Food Isekai and if you like light novels like Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, you will love this.
Their way of cooking is rather bland, but our hero, being an apprentice chef soon shows them a way to make food more palatable. He also has to learn the etiquette and customs of the people in this strange new world.
This book is an enjoyable Food Isekai and if you like light novels like Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, you will love this.
April 6, 2019
Read the mind of a chef
When serving important people who do you serve first? Yourself because you wouldn't something that tastes bad. That is the rules of a good cook
When serving important people who do you serve first? Yourself because you wouldn't something that tastes bad. That is the rules of a good cook
April 30, 2022
A slow burner, but charming and has potential.
So I decided to check this out because it seemed different from other isekai (transported to another world) stories. Instead of revolving around an overpowered main character that slays enemys, we get a puny guy who cooks instead. I was intrigued.
I was surprised at how invested I was in the main character's story at the start. We get this whole emotional build-up before his transportation, which I really liked.
As for this new world itself, we don't learn a ton about it, but from the information we're given, it sounds really interesting. I really want to know more about this world and it's culture. It's probably the thing I am most interested in so far.
We're introduced to a whole cast of characters. While they don't come across as anything special, they are interesting enough for me to want to know more about them.
I also became inspired to improve my cooking skills while reading this. If your into cooking, you might have fun with this.
That sums up what I liked, but there is stuff I didn't like.
The main character is somewhat bland. The only real thing that stands out about him, so far, is that he loves to cook. I just don't see him going through a crazy character arc or changing much in the future. I picture him being the exact same character by the end of the series, which isn't a good impression to have. Could be wrong though, who knows?
Because there's a big focus on cooking, a lot of the time you will be reading descriptions on how a meal is being prepared. If you aren't that big on cooking or are looking for a lot of action, you might find this boring.
It took me quite a while to get through. It's longer than other light novel volumes I've read. It's definitely a slow burner, so if your looking for something fast past, this ain't it. Because it's pretty slow, I don't think it's a good series to binge. It's probably best read, now and again, between the reading of other series.
Honestly, I had fun with this. I enjoyed it more then I was expecting. It's flawed, but my expectations coming into this weren't super high.
I don't know what direction this series will go in, but it did make me want to check out more, at the very least.
So I decided to check this out because it seemed different from other isekai (transported to another world) stories. Instead of revolving around an overpowered main character that slays enemys, we get a puny guy who cooks instead. I was intrigued.
I was surprised at how invested I was in the main character's story at the start. We get this whole emotional build-up before his transportation, which I really liked.
As for this new world itself, we don't learn a ton about it, but from the information we're given, it sounds really interesting. I really want to know more about this world and it's culture. It's probably the thing I am most interested in so far.
We're introduced to a whole cast of characters. While they don't come across as anything special, they are interesting enough for me to want to know more about them.
I also became inspired to improve my cooking skills while reading this. If your into cooking, you might have fun with this.
That sums up what I liked, but there is stuff I didn't like.
The main character is somewhat bland. The only real thing that stands out about him, so far, is that he loves to cook. I just don't see him going through a crazy character arc or changing much in the future. I picture him being the exact same character by the end of the series, which isn't a good impression to have. Could be wrong though, who knows?
Because there's a big focus on cooking, a lot of the time you will be reading descriptions on how a meal is being prepared. If you aren't that big on cooking or are looking for a lot of action, you might find this boring.
It took me quite a while to get through. It's longer than other light novel volumes I've read. It's definitely a slow burner, so if your looking for something fast past, this ain't it. Because it's pretty slow, I don't think it's a good series to binge. It's probably best read, now and again, between the reading of other series.
Honestly, I had fun with this. I enjoyed it more then I was expecting. It's flawed, but my expectations coming into this weren't super high.
I don't know what direction this series will go in, but it did make me want to check out more, at the very least.
April 23, 2020
Cooking with Wild Game felt like an extremely slow paced title, with too much of details, and common 'MC transferred to parallel universe and meet a girl blablabla' stuff.
But if we put aside those weakness, this title has some good things such as:
- Main Character, Asuta, was a chef in-training instead of common salary worker / even not working teen like any other title.
- as a chef in-training, the MC will give you out the point of view of a chef when seeing stuff such as ingredient, or even any other people. It's kind of those experience you can't easily obtain often on any other titles.
- The girl who live with the MC itself, is an interesting one. from many point of view, because she is not like any other common girl like any other titles that will give you a sweet experience during reading. Things she did always make me wonder why and suddenly grin out of nowhere.
- The other characters is so fun either, and the amount of characters mentioned on first volume is memorable.
- The plot is interesting, I kinda have hard time to predict where the plot is going to go since lot of area haven't mentioned in details.
Being too much details, lead to to hard to digest this artwork for me myself. I wanted to read the rest volumes, but I don't think I will read it right away since it's not an easy read for myself.
But if we put aside those weakness, this title has some good things such as:
- Main Character, Asuta, was a chef in-training instead of common salary worker / even not working teen like any other title.
- as a chef in-training, the MC will give you out the point of view of a chef when seeing stuff such as ingredient, or even any other people. It's kind of those experience you can't easily obtain often on any other titles.
- The girl who live with the MC itself, is an interesting one. from many point of view, because she is not like any other common girl like any other titles that will give you a sweet experience during reading. Things she did always make me wonder why and suddenly grin out of nowhere.
- The other characters is so fun either, and the amount of characters mentioned on first volume is memorable.
- The plot is interesting, I kinda have hard time to predict where the plot is going to go since lot of area haven't mentioned in details.
Being too much details, lead to to hard to digest this artwork for me myself. I wanted to read the rest volumes, but I don't think I will read it right away since it's not an easy read for myself.
April 17, 2020
When I see the cover I feel pessimistic about this book. I can imagine the content of the story will be about the MC cooks something crazily delicious and make girls fallen to him left and right.
Apparently, it is not like what I fear at all. This book is mainly about how someone coming from another world that brimming with pleasantries try to live in a world where they have to hunt to live.
And because our MC is a chef-in-training in his past life, rather than hunting he decided to man the stove and cook instead.
The world building is really good with a few hint of future development and the author able to describe the process of cooking in such a way that I can't help but feel hungry as well.
There is a thing though, the side story is not that interesting to me, maybe because the side story is a character that only appeared a short while in the book
Apparently, it is not like what I fear at all. This book is mainly about how someone coming from another world that brimming with pleasantries try to live in a world where they have to hunt to live.
And because our MC is a chef-in-training in his past life, rather than hunting he decided to man the stove and cook instead.
The world building is really good with a few hint of future development and the author able to describe the process of cooking in such a way that I can't help but feel hungry as well.
There is a thing though, the side story is not that interesting to me, maybe because the side story is a character that only appeared a short while in the book
May 3, 2025
Going into another world and learn about their culture and now he is going to teach them how to cook tasty food which they don't see anything like it before. He is passionate about cooking and he doesn't know how he get here and met a beautiful tsundere girl who is always pointing the blade at him but as they get to know each other she treats him like a family and he is not going to leave her alone too. Adventure of hunting giba and also battling with a snake, lots of adventure that they go through but I can't spoil it you will have to read it to find out.
Can't wait to read the next book.
Can't wait to read the next book.
January 25, 2025
THe premise was interesting but it was so poorly developed. I was incredibly bored. Not sure why the author gives a simple description of their MC but then waste a page describing the female character. Also, if I woke up in a strange place, the least of my worries would be how beautiful someone was or wasn't. I feel most of these light novels have an original great idea but when it comes to the story itself, is lazy and full of the same copy paste troupe all other novels are about. Not for me, dropping the series. Onto my next adventure, Happy Readings!!!
August 11, 2020
Slow burn light novel. Slice of life.
The story focuses on how Asuta's cooking influenced the village and Ai Fa to be better. Before Asuta introduced proper cooking, the village people only eat to have energy for every day life. For the whole volume 1 and succeeding volumes, you will follow along on how the entire village's politics, structure and external relations changed with Asuta's influence and cooking.
This is one of the few light novels that tackles the details of cooking.
The story focuses on how Asuta's cooking influenced the village and Ai Fa to be better. Before Asuta introduced proper cooking, the village people only eat to have energy for every day life. For the whole volume 1 and succeeding volumes, you will follow along on how the entire village's politics, structure and external relations changed with Asuta's influence and cooking.
This is one of the few light novels that tackles the details of cooking.
March 29, 2021
One of my favorite isekai
I was disappointed with the lack of world building. But instead they opted for a more compact setting where the story is taking place. I think this was a good decision since it allows the author to focus on character development instead writing a world the MC may never explore. Plus it tells a richer story since we all pretty much know what a ideal world looks like.
I was disappointed with the lack of world building. But instead they opted for a more compact setting where the story is taking place. I think this was a good decision since it allows the author to focus on character development instead writing a world the MC may never explore. Plus it tells a richer story since we all pretty much know what a ideal world looks like.
April 9, 2022
It's a really interesting premise finding yourself transported to not only another world, but living among people who are hunter gatherers. There's some worldbuilding and some gradual understanding of the dynamics of the people living there. I'm curious what happens next. There's a volume 17 coming soon!
May 23, 2020
Another fun twist on the isekai formula. This one felt better written than most web novels turned light novels, more like Overlord than the simple straight forward writing of say Lazy Dungeon Master and many other web novels turned in to light novels.
April 29, 2021
A clever isekai were you see a small part of the world (at least in this volume) and start to learn it's customs through the eyes of a Jr. Chef. The characters is the book interesting and you can start to see a little change. Great read.
April 7, 2019
Slow yes,great yes
If you like light novels read this has everything you want from the genre.If you don’t like it it just means you haven’t read enough of them yet that’s all.
If you like light novels read this has everything you want from the genre.If you don’t like it it just means you haven’t read enough of them yet that’s all.
July 31, 2020
Great Start
Interesting way to end up in another world. Can’t say I have ever read about a character willingly dying in such a way.
Interesting way to end up in another world. Can’t say I have ever read about a character willingly dying in such a way.
December 17, 2020
Great relaxing read. This story makes me really like light novels.
October 23, 2021
Great Isekai novel
April 2, 2022
Not for me. Dnf 34%.
June 16, 2024
Very slow pace, nothing happens.
March 31, 2025
Một bộ chủ đề khởi nghiệp nấu ăn sau khi xuyên không vào thế giới giả tưởng
December 31, 2025
Very slow pace, nothing happens.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews