Happy Thanksgiving From the Gourmet Era!

Toriko is an amazing manga about epic battles and exploration all in the name of finding, capturing and preparing the tastiest, most incredible food in the world! Packed full of crazy battles and inventive monsters and food (or food monsters!), the series makes you believe in a future where food, not politics or ideology, is the most important thing in the world. That andToriko always makes me hungry when the characters start talking about a food’s unique and wonderous flavors!

Toriko, the lovable, blue-haired, scar-faced rouge, is one of the Human World’s four most accomplished Gourmet Hunters. Partnered with Komatsu, an up-and-coming world-class chef, they are constantly pushing themselves to usher in a new chapter in the Gourmet Era! One thing every Grourmet Hunter strives for is the completion of their Life's Full Course Meal! This is a menu composed of the greatest foods they've encountered and captured in their travels, and serves as a resume and scorecard for their lifetime of achievement!

With Volume 13 of Toriko coming out just after Thanksgiving (Dec. 4!), I decided to come up with my own Thanksgiving Full Course Meal using ingredients from the Gourmet Era that would make Toriko and Komatsu proud!

1st Course: Hors d’Oeuvre
Corn on the Bone
(Capture Level: 11)
Volume 13 

Corn is a Thanksgiving tradition, going all the way back to the First Thanksgiving, but you’ve never had corn like this! Next to BB Corn (Blue Blood Corn), this is the best corn that can be found in the Human World! Each bone of corn is going to weigh about 4 lbs, and is just bursting with sweet juiciness!

Komatus treated Toriko to corn on the bone and ginger pork after returning from a particuarly dangerous adventure, and rightly so, as this is certainly food worthy of a celebration!

2nd Course: Soup
Rainbow Littleneck Clam Chowder
(Capture Level: 2) 
Volume 11 

It is rumored that Rainbow Littleneck Clams are one of the ingredients of Chef Komatsu’s Century Soup! And it is easy to understand why! Their shells are multicolored, and the meat is full of flavor!

When Chef Komatsu recreated Century Soup, the world's best naturally occuring soup from high in the arctic plateau of Ice Hell, he spent months working on the right recipe. But only Chef Komatsu knows what that recipe is! So rather than trying to recreate yor own Century Soup, I would recommend a nice clam chowder, a celebrated dish enjoyed during Thanksgiving throughout the 20th Century.

First, get a big batch of clams and start scrubbing! Everyone has their own special recipe for clam chowder, but veggies and potatoes are really a must. For an added treat, try adding golden carrots, motor onions (both possible ingredient in Komatsu's soup!) and peach potatoes, or something truely exotic! Though these special ingredients are sometimes hard to come by, expensive, and may require special preparation, like was the case with Komatsu, you never know when you might accidentally discover a truely magnificent soup that could make you world famous in the Gourmet Era!

3rd Course: Fish Course
Crayfish Cod
(Capture Level: 1)
Volume 1 

Sometimes people forget that turkey wasn’t the only meat eaten at the First Thanksgiving—they also had venison, duck, cod and lobster. To recapture the culinary spirit of the First Thanksgiving, without cluttering up the table with too many different platters, might I suggest Crayfish Cod! The perfect combination of lobster and codfish!

Adult crayfish cod can weigh in at an excess of 4 tons! So if you buy it in a store you might want to try to find a young one for sale. If you really want to catch a live one like Toriko, then you'll probably want to use a rebar fishing pole, and a giant cricket for bait. Look out for seven tail hawks while fishing!

Serve your crayfish cod on a bed of the autumn salad or add them to the rainbow clam chowder.

4th Course: Meat Course
Honey Glazed Bear-Pig Ham
(Capture Level: 18)
Volume 5

No, it's not Man-Bear-Pig! It's Bear-Pig! And it is delicious!

But be warned! As happened to Toriko and Rin on Regal Island, the Bear-Pig might think you look delicious as well!

Bear-Pig is a really monstrous eater and is ferocious enough to be rated capture level 18. While some of you may find Ginger Pig to be more seasonal, or Crab-Pig to be more succulent, I prefer a lot of protein and savory flavour in my meat course! So on a day where excess is the rule, I'll take a Monster Ham! Bear-Pig is naturally low in fat and high in flavor. But, to really bring out the flavor of any type of pork, nothing beat's an apple-honey glaze an hour before it’s done roasting to really give it the flavor of the season!

5th Course: Entrée
Giant Turkey with Stuffing
(Capture Level: Unknown!)
Volume 7

Some people, as hard as it is to believe, don't have turkey on Thanksgiving! Some have goose or other large birds. But, in my opinion, Turkey Day wouldn’t be the same without turkey! While regular sized turkey (or turkey fruit for you vegetarian followers of the Gourmet Faith out there!) is magnificent, even more turkey is even better! In the Gourmet Era, many of the regular meats we know today, pig, chicken, beef, come in a huge variety of sixes and variations - from crab-pig, to garlic-chicken to cinderella beef! You should explore the Human World of the Groumet Era for the type of giant turkey or goose that is right for you!

While you Gourmet Hunters out there may be tempted to roast this majestic bird on a spit over an open fire, you should know that the best turkey is a stuffed turkey! That’s why you should bring it to your chef and have it stuffed with your favorite stuffing! It is really the best part of a Thanksgiving feast and, like Toriko himself, always reminds us to be thankful for the delicious bounty of this world!

6^th Course: Salad
Autumn Salad
(Capture Level: 2)
Volume 1 

Autumn Salad is best made with seasonable ingredients of autumn, hearty, late harvest vegetables that are savory and rustic! Autumn salad is best crunchy with subtle but complex flavors. In honor of these attributes, I’ve put together a Toriko autumn salad I'm sure you’ll all enjoy!

Start with fresh almond cabbage, chopped, add sliced banana-cubumbers, black grass and gori leeks. Toss well and garnish with bacon leaves. That's right! Bacon leaves! Add cocoa-mayo dressing, or your favorite vinaigrette.

7th Course: Dessert
Marshmallow Pumpkin Pie
(Capture Level: 34)
Volume 12

Pumpkin pie is an autumn holiday staple, you can’t have a Thanksgiving without it! Marshmallow Pumpkins are a recent discovery. These might be hard to get your hands on, but can you imagine how amazing a pumpkin-cream-pie would be with these small, soft delights?

Marshmallow Pumpkins grow high above the surface on a solified volcanic cloud called Vegitable Sky. That's right it's a garden—in the sky! Recently, Komatsu and Toriko ventured to this vegetarian paradise and found these miniature, sweet pumpkins so delicious they ate them raw.

8th Course: Drink
Mulled White Apple Cider with Bacchus Island Rum
(Capture Level: Less than 1)
Volume 7

White Apples are the sweetest apples in existence! White apples are considered a dessert all by themselves, even by heroic Grourmet Hunter (and RPG enthusiast) Zonge, who deemed to place white apples as his dessert course in his Life's Full Course Meal. Used as a base for a nice hot mulled cider, white apples will certainly add a strong sweet flavor. And, for special treat (for those of drinking age!) spike the mugs of cider with your favorite rum from the Bacchus Isle (the source of all of Director Mansam's favorite alcoholic beverages)!

Have a happy and delicious Thanksgiving! If you’d like to learn more about ingredients and recipes from the Gourmet Era you can pick up latest volume of Toriko or read it instantly at VizManga.com or on your favorite mobile device!

May the Food be With You!

Related Links:
Toriko
Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha

by Eric Rekow