Recently I've been watching Kakuriyo -- Bed And Breakfast For Spirits, and it's an enjoyable break from all the serious stuff I normally watch. As the story progresses, however, it's obvious that (so far) it's fallen into a trope common in stories involving a skilled cook: characters tend to automatically like whatever food is made by the skilled cook, regardless of individual preferences.
Here are a few brief responses and proposed solutions to this trope:
Let some taste testers dislike the food. Everyone has different tastes. Some things are so gross to me that I can't imagine them tasting good to anyone, like this really bitter tea I had once. But then someone else near me tried it and liked it. This can be a challenge when writing good cooks because it is necessary to show how skilled they are. And the easiest way to do that is to show everyone loving their food.
It's not necessarily 'bad' to depict characters that are so skilled their food is always perfect for whoever eats it. But to make the story more realistic and deep, the author can also show what happens when someone doesn't like what the skilled cook prepares. Such a thing could be an opportunity to explore and address ways of politely telling someone 'I don't really like this'. Or maybe to show how the cook handles criticism and learns from it.
The taste testers don't have to dislike the food very often, but it would be realistic for that to happen once or twice. For a real life comparison...when people go to a fancy restaurant, all the food is made by competent chefs, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'd enjoy every single thing on the menu.
Allow skilled cooks to mess up now and then. Of course this shouldn't happen very often. These cooks have to appear competent after all. But allowing them to mess up now and then can provide good character building moments. Are they distracted by worries or excitement? If so, they may accidentally burn a batch of whatever they're making.
Are they learning to make something completely new and out of their realm of expertise? Show that they are skilled enough to make good guesses when it comes to cooking this new thing(which could be an entirely different genre/culture of food) But also show them making a mistake that causes the dish to be lower quality than their food normally does.
Have them receive input from another skilled chef. This can be someone on the same level as them, or someone more advanced. Even if the skilled cook's food is normally good, that doesn't mean they do everything completely right and could still benefit from another's chef's tips and tricks.
To address the taste and personal preference aspect of this... If a professional chef dislikes a certain type of food, they might still be able to tell if it is well cooked or well prepared. This might not always be the case, but in some instances at least, the professional will understand the 'standard' for common dishes and judge the dish based on that criteria, rather than their own taste buds.
So, yeah, just my two cents and observations on the matter.
Have you noticed this trope yourself? What are your thoughts on it? Are there any other cooking story tropes that come to mind?
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