How to Watch Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma In Order

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Anime expert Richard Moore shares the best way to watch Food Wars!

Co-authored by Richard Moore and Devin McSween

Last Updated: April 13, 2026 Fact Checked

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Release Order

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Chronological Order

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Where to Watch

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What is it about?

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Series Breakdown

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Extra Content

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More Anime Guides

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, also known simply as Food Wars!, is an action-packed cooking anime centered around students at a prestigious culinary school who participate in competitive food battles. The series is well-known for its interesting characters, delicious-looking dishes, and over-the-top visual gags when people taste food. Whether you’re interested in starting the show or curious what to watch after the first season, we’ve got you covered! We partnered with an anime expert to help us explain how to watch Food Wars! in release and chronological order, tell you where to watch it, and provide a breakdown of the series. Keep on reading to learn more!

The Best Order to Watch Food Wars!

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An illustration comparing the two recommended watch orders for the anime Food Wars!: the release watch order and the chronological watch order.

Anime expert Richard Moore says the best way to watch Food Wars! is in the order it was released:

Food Wars! Season 1
Takumi’s Downtown Battle
Erina’s Summer Vacation
The Second Plate (Season 2)
Autumn Moon’s Chance Encounter
Tōtsuki Elite Ten
The Third Plate: Part 1 (Season 3)
Erina at Polar Star Dormitory
The Third Plate: Part 2 (Season 3)
The Fourth Plate (Season 4)
The Fifth Plate (Season 5)

Section 1 of 7:

Food Wars! Release Watch Order

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Moore says the easiest way to watch Food Wars! is in chronological order. “Just go season by season and you’re good,” he says.^{[1]
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Expert Source

Richard Moore
Anime Expert

Expert Interview} The series finished in 2020 and includes five seasons, plus five Original Video Animations (OVAs) that provide fun side-stories to the main plot. So, this makes Food Wars! super easy to get into! Here’s the release order for the series:^{[2]
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- Food Wars! Season 1 — Episodes 1-24 (2015)
- Takumi’s Downtown Battle — OVA #1 (2016)
- Erina’s Summer Vacation — OVA #2 (2016)
- The Second Plate (Season 2) — Episode 1-13 (2016)
- Autumn Moon’s Chance Encounter — OVA #3 (2017)
- Tōtsuki Elite Ten — OVA #4 (2017)
- The Third Plate: Part 1 (Season 3) — Episodes 1-12 (2017)
- Erina at Polar Star Dormitory — OVA #5 (2018)
- The Third Plate: Part 2 (Season 3) — Episodes 13-24 (2018)
- The Fourth Plate (Season 4) — Episodes 1-12 (2019)
- The Fifth Plate (Season 5) — Episodes 1-13 (2020)
- Note: Erina’s Summer Vacation was technically released after episode 1 of The Second Plate, and Erina at Polar Star Dormitory was technically released after episode 16 of The Third Plate: Part 2. Feel free to watch them in the above simplified order, or in the actual release schedule mentioned here!
Meet the wikiHow Expert

Richard Moore is an anime expert, rapper, and content creator based in Dayton, Ohio. As @ohayokage, his social media content has over 386K followers.

Section 2 of 7:

Food Wars! Chronological Watch Order

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While the main series follows a linear timeline that matches the release order of the seasons, the various OVAs take place in between the events of the seasons. So, if you want to follow Food Wars! in complete chronological order, here’s how to watch:
- Season 1 — Episodes 1-19
- Takumi’s Downtown Battle — OVA
- Erina’s Summer Vacation — OVA
- Season 1 — Episodes 20-24
- The Second Plate — Episode 1-13
- Autumn Moon’s Chance Encounter — OVA
- Tōtsuki Elite Ten — OVA
- The Third Plate: Part 1 — Episodes 1-6
- Erina at Polar Star Dormitory — OVA
- The Third Plate: Part 1 — Episodes 7-12
- The Third Plate: Part 2 — Episodes 13-24
- The Fourth Plate — Episodes 1-12
- The Fifth Plate — Episodes 1-13

Section 3 of 7:

Where to Watch Food Wars!

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Seasons 1-2 are on Hulu, while Seasons 3-5 are on Crunchyroll. While no streaming service hosts all of the seasons of Food Wars!, the two main places you’ll find the anime are on Hulu and Crunchyroll. Hulu has Season 1 and Season 2, while Crunchyroll has Seasons 3-5 and all of the OVAs. To watch, you’ll need a subscription to both services.
- If you prefer physical media, you can find the Blu-rays of all seasons of Food Wars! on Amazon.

Section 4 of 7:

What is Food Wars! about?

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Food Wars! is about a high schooler who attends a competitive culinary school. The comedy/slice-of-life anime follows 15-year-old Soma Yukihira, who aspires to take over as chef at his father’s restaurant. To help him out, his father enrolls him in the prestigious and rigorous Totsuki Culinary Academy, where students compete in heated food battles (called shokugeki). Soma sets out not only to be one of the few graduates of the academy, but also the very best chef.^{[3]
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- Naturally, the series involves a lot of cooking! It’s praised for the delicious-looking meals, as well as the diverse types of dishes shown and their authenticity.
- Soma meets a cast of characters on his journey, who become his friends, rivals, and antagonists.
- Note: Food Wars! does include a lot of fan service, with characters losing their clothes and reacting in a suggestive way when they eat a particularly amazing meal. While the gag is played for laughs, it’s a mature show suited for adults.

Section 5 of 7:

Food Wars! Series Breakdown

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Season 1 Season 1 follows Soma as he enters Totsuki Culinary Academy and meets a cast of characters, including the prideful daughter of the academy’s director, Erina Nakiri, and fellow classmates Megumi Tadokoro and Takumi Aldini. He participates in several cooking duels, with the season mostly focusing on the first-year students attending a rigorous training camp, and Soma participating in the Autumn Elections tournament.^{[4]
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The Second Plate (Season 2) Season 2 picks up with the Autumn Election finals, where Soma competes in food challenges against the other Totsuki students. After the tournament concludes, Soma and the first-year students start the Stagiaire training program, where the students are sent to work in real restaurants.^{[5]
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The Third Plate (Season 3) The Third Plate: Part 1 involves Soma challenging a member of the Elite 10, Terunori Kuga, to see who can make the most money at the school’s Moon Festival. The latter half of Part 1 and Part 2 deal with Erina’s father, Azami Nakiri, taking over the school, and Soma, his friends, and Erina rebelling against his rule.^{[6]
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The Fourth Plate (Season 4) Season 4 continues to follow Soma and the rebels against Azami, resulting in a huge food challenge tournament between the protagonists and the Elite Ten. Soma and Erina eventually win the challenge, and most of the main characters get spots on the Elite Ten.^{[7]
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The Fifth Plate (Season 5) The fifth and final season centers around the BLUE cooking tournament, which Soma, Erina, Megumi, and Takumi all participate in, and a new antagonist, Asahi Saiba. Soma and his friends make it to the top, and the anime definitely gets a happy ending!^{[8]
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OVAs The five OVAs are side-stories that take place during the events of the series, but aren’t central to the plot. They focus on various characters and provide context for some of the events that take place in between the seasons. Here’s the basic summary of each OVA:
- Takumi’s Downtown Battle: While on a trip to Tokyo, Takumi and his brother, Isami, are challenged to a food battle by a restaurant owner.
- Erina’s Summer Vacation: Erina and Alice go to the pool, while the students at Polar Star Dormitory cool off by the stream.
- Autumn Moon’s Chance Encounter: The Polar Star Dormitory students go to the hot springs, where they end up cooking in the inn’s kitchens.
- Tōtsuki Elite Ten: The Autumn Election finalists meet with the Elite Ten, and Soma challenges one of the members, Kuga, to a food battle.
- Erina at Polar Star Dormitory: Erina runs away from her father and goes to the Polar Star Dormitory for refuge.

Section 6 of 7:

More Food Wars! Content

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Before Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma was an anime, it was a manga. The manga is written by Yūto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki, and was first published in 2012. It concluded in 2019, with a total of 315 chapters.^{[9]
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Research source} There’s also a 4-chapter epilogue, called Shokugeki no Soma: ~Le dessert~, that gives a final ending to the characters.^{[10]
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Research source} Definitely give it a read if you’re not done with the Food Wars! world!
- Check out the spin-off manga, Shokugeki no Soma: L’étoile, too! It follows Kojiro Shinomiya after he attends Totsuki Culinary Academy, and there are 47 chapters.
- There are also 2 spin-off light novel series, called Shokugeki no Soma ~à la carte~ and Shokugeki no Soma ~Fratelli Aldini~.

Section 7 of 7:

More Anime Watch Order Guides

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Searching for a new anime to watch? We’ve got you covered at wikiHow! We’ve compiled the best watch orders for some of the most popular anime out there, including: