Fighting Foodons, known in Japan as Bistro Recipe (格闘料理伝説ビストロレシピ), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoto Tsushima and serialized in Comic BonBon in 1998. It was adapted into an anime television series which aired on NHK-BS2 satellite channel from December 11, 2001 to June 25, 2002. It also received two Game Boy Color video games released in 1999 in Japan, as well as a WonderSwan game. In the United States the anime was dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment in cooperation with Enoki Films; Enoki Films held the license and contracted the dubbing to 4Kids. This show originally aired on the FoxBox on September 14, 2002, (later known as 4Kids TV) and was discontinued from their lineup on August 30, 2003. The Chinese version was premiered as Kung Fu Snacks (功夫小食神 Gōngfu xiǎo shíshén) and it aired on TVB Jade in Hong Kong. It had also aired on Fairchild TV in Canada starting on May 22, 2005. The series was released on DVD by Discotek Media on April 25, 2017. Its English dub's theme song is based on Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.

Plot

It all started some years ago when a culinary-confused king asked a question to his chefs. Which would be stronger: tofu surprise or stuffed duck? The king's chefs thought the king had "gone a little too heavy on the nutmeg". One mysterious chef knew what the king was talking about and presented him with magical cards called Meal Tickets which turns the food into monsters called Fighting Foodons. Since that day, regular food recipes have been turned into Foodons when the art of culinary combat is concocted. One day, King Gorgeous Gorge and his Gluttons cook up a devious plan to rule the world and they sprinkled an extra dash of destruction. They plan to rule the world by kidnapping the best chefs & forcing them to make powerful, evil Foodons. A boy named Chase, a young apprentice chef with an appetite for action, thinks he has what it takes to become an Elite Master Chef like his dad Chef Jack. Chase believes that he, his friends, family, and Foodons can change the world, one at a time, even if it involves going into battle against the Glutton Gormandizers, King Gorge's Big 4, and King Gorge's female cat-like servant Clawdia. Then, he'd have a final showdown with King Gorge.

Characters

Protagonists

Glutton Empire

Other characters

Media

Manga

Anime

Episodes

Reception

Neil Genzlinger of Food and Wine magazine wrote that it was "an exceedingly odd" and that "The show makes Iron Chef seem tame."