The Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma Manga is written by Yūto Tsukuda and published by Shueisha in Weekly Shōnen Jump and Jump Giga! for its 3-part epilogue. It began as a one-shot in April 2012 and then began as a series in November 2012, ending in September 2019.
At Yukihira Family Restaurant, teenager Soma Yukihira aspires to someday beat his father Joichiro in a cook-off. A woman tries to persuade Soma to sell their property so her clients can build a high rise. She challenges Soma to cook for her a meat dish, but she has the place vandalized and the meat spoiled. Soma improvizes a near-meat dish that overwhelms her in taste. Later, Joichiro closes the restaurant to go on a worldwide cooking tour, and has Soma enroll in Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, an elite cooking academy. Erina Nakiri, the valedictorian of Totsuki’s junior high and a member of Totsuki’s Council of Ten Masters, presides over the transfer student entrance exam and has candidates cook an egg dish that would satisfy her. While other candidates flee because of Erina’s reputation of being the nation’s top food critic, Soma cooks a furikake dish that Erina discovers she really enjoys. However, because Soma is a commoner, she fails him anyway. At the school’s entrance ceremony, Soma appears as the sole transfer student representative and declares he will aspire to be the top student in his class, angering his classmates, and shocking Erina. In his first class, Soma is paired with Megumi Tadokoro, a shy girl who ranked at the bottom of her class and is on academic probation. Although some of their classmates sabotage Soma and Megumi’s beef bourguignon, Soma is able to save the dish and the teacher gives them a top grade.