This is it: your big day!
For the past couple of weeks, your small hometown of Applewood has been abuzz with excitement. All the local shops, as well as many of the homes, have been redecorated, the corner diner has introduced all new cow-girl specials, and an Ingredient market has been set-up in the town square.
The reason for all this is simple: for the first time in several decades, a Food Wars tournament is going to be held in Applewood! Despite the town’s strong home-cooking culture, it has never received much notice from the culinary world, likely due to its lack of a dedicated Chef Academy. But, seemingly out of the blue, the network decided that your tiny town is deserving of being the center of one of its preliminary tournaments. While that is nowhere near as glamorous as the actual competition, these ‘entrance exams’ are what determine who gets onto the main stage in the legendary Meatcraft stadium.
And that is where you come in: brought up a member of the Cuisine family, which traces itself back to the first culinary masters, you’ve heard from your grandfather time and time again of how the name of Cuisine has been disgraced by their rivals: the aforementioned Meatcraft clan. When you were little, your father traveled off to enter the Food Wars, but never returned. Since then, your mother and grandmother have trained you in all the methods of your ancestors, hoping that you will be the one to return glory to your family.
All of this does not completely explain why you are standing outside of the Applewood High School, where the tournament is being held, dressed in your father’s apron and chef cap, neither of which quite fit, and carrying his collection of knives and other cooking utensils. You just graduated from this… institution, and now, you are returning for yet another test.
Two lines wait ahead of you, with every single person in each Que looking nervous. The line on the left has a sign that marks it as “Chef Registration," while the one on the right is marked “Ingredient Registration.”
Your grandpa made it quite clear to you that, should you back out of entering as a chef, you’d be better off turning yourself in as an ingredient rather than going home…
