God of Cookery
Encyclopedia
The God of Cookery is a 1996
Hong Kong
comedy film
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
.
, where Stephen Chow was ordered and subsequently criticized Turkey's (Karen Mok
) Assorted Noodles for its lack of taste, terrible choice of ingredients and feces in the pig's colon, as she lashes out at him for his criticism towards her cooking. He tells her he is the God Of Cookery, this is where the story begins.
The God of Cookery is the story of celebrity chef
Stephen Chow (the Chinese character
s used for Chow's name in the movie is different from Chow's actual name), who knows very little about cooking and is willing to hawk any product for a price. The arrogant and cocky Chow is known as the "God of Cookery" and runs a successful business empire, as well as appearing as a judge for rigged culinary competitions.
When Bull Tong (Vincent Kuk), who poses as a fan, reveals to the world that Chow is a fraud when he was told to prepare Assorted Noodles for Bull Tong, and repeats the same failure of a dish that he criticized Turkey for ad verbatim (most iconically, the pig colon still had feces in the colon), Chow's business empire is taken away; in fact, Bull was conspiring with Chow's business partner (Ng Man Tat
) to overthrow him. Ruined, Chow lives on the streets in an area known as Temple Street
where the story continues with Stephen subsequently being assaulted by thugs, where two rival street vendors, Goosehead (Lee Siu-Kei
) and Turkey (Karen Mok
), conduct gang warfare to see which vendor could sell the two best-selling dishes: beef ball
s and "pissing" shrimp. Chow manages to unite the two rival vendors by combining the two dishes into a new dish, "Pissing Beef Balls", which the three of them could sell together. It becomes a huge success, and the vendors convince Chow to enroll in a culinary school in order to reclaim the title he lost, but not before he discovers that Turkey idolized Chow as the "God of Cookery", and received her scarred appearance due to her devotion.
The success of the "Pissing Beef Balls" alarms Bull, the new "God of Cookery", who arranges for Chow to be assassinated on the way to culinary school. Turkey, however, takes the bullet instead, and Chow, presumed dead, disappears.
One month later, Bull enters the "God of Cookery" competition (a parody of Iron Chef
) as the heavy favorite to retain the title. Chow arrives at the competition at the last minute, and reveals to Tong what had happened: Chow escaped the assassin's second bullet, and found his way to a Shaolin monastery, where head monk Wet Dream (a spoof on the Chinese word for nocturnal spermatorrhea
) nursed 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 made moot when it is revealed the culinary school he was going to attend was, in fact, the temple's kitchen —- the same kitchen Bull had trained for 10 years, but subsequently dropped out. While training, Chow continually mourned for Turkey, and was overcome with grief and remorse over his careless treatment of her. The depth of his feeling, which even caused his hair to grow white, convinced Wet Dream to allow him his departure from the monastery.
The competition between Chow and Tong begins in earnest, with the two attempting to make identical Buddha Jumping Wall
dishes. Each chef tries to sabotage the other's dish in a comedic wuxia
fashion by attacking the other using their ingredients and kitchen implements, but Tong prevails when Chow's ex-business partner makes Chow's container explode with a bomb. With few materials and little time remaining, Chow prepares the "Sorrowful Rice", a simple dish of barbecue pork on rice with an egg and onions, the same dish Turkey first gave to him while he was living on the streets. Although "Sorrowful Rice" is the better dish, Tong had already blackmailed the judge (Nancy Sit
) into rigging the contest. Through divine intervention
, Tong is apparently killed and Chow's former business partner is reverted back into his true form of a bulldog
. It is also revealed in a former life, Chow was an assistant to the Kitchen God
in the Imperial courts of Heaven, before being sent to Earth as punishment for revealing culinary secrets to mankind.
After the competition, Chow celebrates Christmas with his vendor friends in Temple Street, where Goosehead reveals that Turkey survived the assassination. She caught the bullet meant for Chow with her gold-plated teeth and a dentist reconstructed her dental work and even threw in a free plastic surgery on her face, making her pretty again.
and A Better Tomorrow
.
Another reference to A Better Tomorrow immediately follows when Stephen Chow lights his cigar using a Hong Kong bank note.
Hong Kong films of 1996
A list of films produced in Hong Kong in 1996:.-1996:-External links:* * Hong Kong films of 1996 at...
Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by acclaimed Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, Stephen Chow
Stephen Chow
Stephen Chow Sing-Chi is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.- Professional career :Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from...
, best known in the west
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
for his films Shaolin Soccer
Shaolin Soccer
Shaolin Soccer is a 2001 Hong Kong comedy film co-written, directed by and starring Stephen Chow. A former Shaolin monk reunites his five brothers, years after their master's death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses.In 2008 a...
and Kung Fu Hustle
Kung Fu Hustle
Kung Fu Hustle is a 2004 action comedy film directed and produced by, and starring Stephen Chow. The other film producers were Chui Po-chu and Jeffrey Lau, while the screenplay was written by Huo Xin, Chan Man-keung, and Tsang Kan-cheung...
.
Synopsis
The story begins in medias resIn medias res
In medias res or medias in res is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, rather than at the beginning In medias res or medias in res (into the middle of things) is a Latin phrase...
, where Stephen Chow was ordered and subsequently criticized Turkey's (Karen Mok
Karen Mok
Karen Joy Morris, known more commonly in the Sinosphere as Karen Mok or Mok Man-Wai, is a three-time Golden Melody Award-winning Hong Kong-based actress and singer-songwriter.- Biography :...
) Assorted Noodles for its lack of taste, terrible choice of ingredients and feces in the pig's colon, as she lashes out at him for his criticism towards her cooking. He tells her he is the God Of Cookery, this is where the story begins.
The God of Cookery is the story of celebrity chef
Celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...
Stephen Chow (the Chinese character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s used for Chow's name in the movie is different from Chow's actual name), who knows very little about cooking and is willing to hawk any product for a price. The arrogant and cocky Chow is known as the "God of Cookery" and runs a successful business empire, as well as appearing as a judge for rigged culinary competitions.
When Bull Tong (Vincent Kuk), who poses as a fan, reveals to the world that Chow is a fraud when he was told to prepare Assorted Noodles for Bull Tong, and repeats the same failure of a dish that he criticized Turkey for ad verbatim (most iconically, the pig colon still had feces in the colon), Chow's business empire is taken away; in fact, Bull was conspiring with Chow's business partner (Ng Man Tat
Ng Man Tat
Ng Man Tat was born on 2 January 1952. He is a veteran actor in the Hong Kong film industry, with dozens of awards under his belt, including Best Supporting Actor at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in A Moment of Romance.-Biography:...
) to overthrow him. Ruined, Chow lives on the streets in an area known as Temple Street
Temple Street, Hong Kong
Temple Street is a street located in the areas of Jordan and Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is known for its night market and one of the busiest flea markets at night in the territory. The night market is in the Yau Ma Tei, Jordan part of the street and not the Mong Kok part of the street...
where the story continues with Stephen subsequently being assaulted by thugs, where two rival street vendors, Goosehead (Lee Siu-Kei
Lee Siu-Kei
Lee Siu-kei is a Hong Kong actor, film director, scriptwriter and producer. He is a former triad member and has served as consultant for many Hong Kong triad movies.-Selected filmography:* God of Gamblers II * Fist of Fury 1991...
) and Turkey (Karen Mok
Karen Mok
Karen Joy Morris, known more commonly in the Sinosphere as Karen Mok or Mok Man-Wai, is a three-time Golden Melody Award-winning Hong Kong-based actress and singer-songwriter.- Biography :...
), conduct gang warfare to see which vendor could sell the two best-selling dishes: beef ball
Beef ball
Beef ball is a commonly cooked food in southern China and overseas Chinese communities. As the name suggests, the ball is made of beef that has been finely pulverized. They are easily distinguishable from fish balls due to the beef balls' darker color...
s and "pissing" shrimp. Chow manages to unite the two rival vendors by combining the two dishes into a new dish, "Pissing Beef Balls", which the three of them could sell together. It becomes a huge success, and the vendors convince Chow to enroll in a culinary school in order to reclaim the title he lost, but not before he discovers that Turkey idolized Chow as the "God of Cookery", and received her scarred appearance due to her devotion.
The success of the "Pissing Beef Balls" alarms Bull, the new "God of Cookery", who arranges for Chow to be assassinated on the way to culinary school. Turkey, however, takes the bullet instead, and Chow, presumed dead, disappears.
One month later, Bull enters the "God of Cookery" competition (a parody of Iron Chef
Iron Chef
is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1992, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient. The series ended...
) as the heavy favorite to retain the title. Chow arrives at the competition at the last minute, and reveals to Tong what had happened: Chow escaped the assassin's second bullet, and found his way to a Shaolin monastery, where head monk Wet Dream (a spoof on the Chinese word for nocturnal spermatorrhea
Spermatorrhea
Spermatorrhea is a condition of excessive, accidental ejaculation.It is a recognized disorder in Traditional Chinese Medicine, in which certain patterns of involuntary ejaculation reflect problems with kidney qi....
) nursed 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 made moot when it is revealed the culinary school he was going to attend was, in fact, the temple's kitchen —- the same kitchen Bull had trained for 10 years, but subsequently dropped out. While training, Chow continually mourned for Turkey, and was overcome with grief and remorse over his careless treatment of her. The depth of his feeling, which even caused his hair to grow white, convinced Wet Dream to allow him his departure from the monastery.
The competition between Chow and Tong begins in earnest, with the two attempting to make identical Buddha Jumping Wall
Buddha jumps over the wall
Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, or fó tiào qiáng, is a variety of shark fin soup in Cantonese and Fujian cuisine. Since its creation during the Qing Dynasty , the dish has been regarded as a Chinese delicacy known for its rich taste, usage of various high-quality ingredients and special manner of cooking...
dishes. Each chef tries to sabotage the other's dish in a comedic wuxia
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...
fashion by attacking the other using their ingredients and kitchen implements, but Tong prevails when Chow's ex-business partner makes Chow's container explode with a bomb. With few materials and little time remaining, Chow prepares the "Sorrowful Rice", a simple dish of barbecue pork on rice with an egg and onions, the same dish Turkey first gave to him while he was living on the streets. Although "Sorrowful Rice" is the better dish, Tong had already blackmailed the judge (Nancy Sit
Nancy Sit
Nancy Sit Ka Yin is a Hong Kong actress on the TVB network. Her acting career dated back to the 1960s, when she was a popular teen idol alongside Connie Chan Po-chu, and Josephine Siao...
) into rigging the contest. Through divine intervention
Deus ex machina
A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
, Tong is apparently killed and Chow's former business partner is reverted back into his true form of a bulldog
Bulldog
Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
. It is also revealed in a former life, Chow was an assistant to the Kitchen God
Kitchen God
In Chinese folk religion and Chinese mythology, the Kitchen God, named Zao Jun or Zao Shen , is the most important of a plethora of Chinese domestic gods that protect the hearth and family with the addition of being celebrated...
in the Imperial courts of Heaven, before being sent to Earth as punishment for revealing culinary secrets to mankind.
After the competition, Chow celebrates Christmas with his vendor friends in Temple Street, where Goosehead reveals that Turkey survived the assassination. She caught the bullet meant for Chow with her gold-plated teeth and a dentist reconstructed her dental work and even threw in a free plastic surgery on her face, making her pretty again.
Film references
The scene in which Stephen Chow declares, "I don't mean to show other I'm capable. I just want to tell others that I can get back what I have lost." is a homage to Chow Yun-fatChow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
and A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow is a 1986 Hong Kong action film which had a profound influence on the Hong Kong film-making industry, and later on an international scale.Directed by John Woo, it stars Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung and Leslie Cheung...
.
Another reference to A Better Tomorrow immediately follows when Stephen Chow lights his cigar using a Hong Kong bank note.
Cast
- Stephen ChowStephen ChowStephen Chow Sing-Chi is a Hong Kong actor, comedian, screenwriter, film director and producer.- Professional career :Stephen Chow began as a temporary actor for TVB. He entered TVB in early 1980s, and was trained there, although he had few opportunities to appear in films. Chow graduated from...
as Stephen Chow - Karen MokKaren MokKaren Joy Morris, known more commonly in the Sinosphere as Karen Mok or Mok Man-Wai, is a three-time Golden Melody Award-winning Hong Kong-based actress and singer-songwriter.- Biography :...
as Turkey - Vincent KokVincent KokVincent Kok Tak-Chiu is a Hong Kong actor, scriptwriter and film director.Kok is best known for his frequent collaborations with Stephen Chow, acting and co-writing with him the films Forbidden City Cop, From Beijing with Love and The God of Cookery in addition to producing and co-writing Chow's...
as Bull Tong - Christy ChungChristy ChungChristy Chung is Chinese-Canadian actress. She was born in Montreal to a Chinese father and a Vietnamese mother.Chung grew up in Brossard, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal, with French and Vietnamese as mother-tongues...
as the girl in the dream sequence (cameo) - Nancy SitNancy SitNancy Sit Ka Yin is a Hong Kong actress on the TVB network. Her acting career dated back to the 1960s, when she was a popular teen idol alongside Connie Chan Po-chu, and Josephine Siao...
as herself (cameo) - Lee Kin-yan as the nose-picking transvestite (cameo)
- Ng Man-tat as Uncle
- Stephen AuStephen AuStephen Au Kam-tong is a Hong Kong actor for TVB . He was formerly an actor for ATV .He played David Mo in TVB sitcom Best Selling Secrets...
- Lam SuetLam SuetLam Suet is a Hong Kong actor.-Biography:Lam was born in Tianjin, and came to Hong Kong as a youth in 1979 to receive inheritance money left by his grandfather. Soon after all the money had been squandered and Lam had to work various odd jobs to make a living.In the mid-eighties he got employment...
- Tats LauTats LauTats Lau Yee-Tat is a songwriter, musician and comedy actor in Hong Kong.- Music career :During the 1980s, Tats Lau was active in Hong Kong's independent music scene...
- Law Kar-yingLaw Kar-YingLaw Kar-ying is a Hong Kong-based actor. He was originally a Cantonese Opera artiste. In 1990 he turned to acting in movies. He became popular after being cast in From Beijing with Love, which also starred Stephen Chow, as Da Vinci, an inventor whose list of gadgets include a solar-powered...
as competition host - Lee Siu-keiLee Siu-KeiLee Siu-kei is a Hong Kong actor, film director, scriptwriter and producer. He is a former triad member and has served as consultant for many Hong Kong triad movies.-Selected filmography:* God of Gamblers II * Fist of Fury 1991...