The God of Cookery
God of Cookery (食神 Sik san in Cantonese) is a 1996 Hong Kong comedy directed by acclaimed Hong Kong comedian, actor and director, Stephen Chow, best known in the west for his films Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.
Synopsis
God of Cookery is the story of celebrity chef Stephen Chow (Chow, although it is to be noted that the Chinese characters used for Chow's name in the movie is different from the one that Chow uses in real life), who, as it is later revealed, knew very little about cooking himself and was willing to hawk any product for a price. Because of Chow's apparent culinary skills, he was known as the "God of Cookery", and run not only a successful business, but appeared as a judge for (rigged) culinary competitions.
When rival businessman and accomplished chef Bull Tong, who had posed as one of Chow's fans, reveals to the world that Chow is a fraud, Chow finds that the business empire he had built being taken away from him. Ruined, Chow begins living on the streets, in an area where two rival street vendors were about to conduct gang warfare to see which vendor could sell which of the two best-selling dishes, beef balls and shrimp. Chow manages to unite the two rival vendors by introducing a new dish, titled "Exploding Shrimp Balls", that the two vendors could sell together. The dish becomes a success, and the two vendors convince Chow to enroll in a culinary school (in order to reclaim the title he had lost) - but not before he discovers that Turkey, one of the vendors, idolized Chow as the "God of Cookery", and was crushed to learn that Chow was a fraud.
The success of the "Exploding Shrimp Balls" did not go unnoticed by Bull Tong, the new "God of Cookery" - to the point that he believed that the success may unseat him from his position. Thus, he arranged for an assassin to kill Chow on the way to the culinary school. The assassin, however, does not succeed, thanks to Turkey's intervention, but led many to believe that Chow and Turkey had died on the way. It would be the end of the film before it is revealed that Turkey survived, but for Chow, his story continues.
Months later, Bull Tong enters the "God of Cookery" competition (a parody of Iron Chef) as the heavy favorite to retain the title (largely due to his clout over the judges). However, he is shocked to learn that Chow had apparently survived, and would be cooking in the competition. Chow arrives in time for the start of the competition, and reveals to Tong (and the audience) what had happened: Chow would eventually find his way to a Shaolin temple, where a monk by the name of Wet Dream would nurse him back to health. However, Wet Dream would not allow Chow to leave the temple until he was well-versed in the ways of the Shaolin arts - a point that was made moot when it was revealed that the culinary school he was going to attend was, in fact, the temple's kitchen - the same kitchen that Bull Tong had trained in for years.
While training, however, he continually mourned for Turkey, who he believed had died. This had caused Chow's hair to grow white, and eventually allowed him to leave the temple. The competition between Chow and Tong would afterwards begin in earnest, with the two attempting to make identical Buddha Jumping Wall dishes. Each chef would attempt to sabotage the other's dish in a comedic wuxia fashion by attacking the other using their ingredients or kitchen implements, but Tong would prevail when he causes Chow's container to explode. With few materials and little time remaining, he prepares a simple dish of char siu rice with onion, and an egg, known together as sorrowful rice - the same dish that Turkey first gave to him while living in the streets. Although Chow's "Sorrowful Rice" would be the better dish, Tong's clout over the judge led the judge to declare Tong the winner - before he is killed through divine intervention.
Shortly after the film's success in Hong Kong, Steven Chow entered into negotiations with Fox to create a remake of God of Cookery to be released in the West. It was to be co-written, co-produced, and directed by Chow, and to feature Jim Carrey in the lead role. Chow eventually backed out of the deal after becoming weary of Hollywood bureaucracy.
Cast
- Stephen Chow as Stephen Chow
- Karen Mok as Turkey
- Vincent Kuk as Bull Tong
- Nancy Sit as herself (cameo)
- Kin-yan Lee as the nose-picking transvestite (cameo)