Cook up a Storm (Photo : Movieclips Film Festivals & Indie Films/YouTube)
Celebrity chef battles are one of the fares offered on television. The Chinese movie “Cook up a Storm” brings the chef duel over cuisines to the big screen.
Experiments to Select 19 Best Dishes
The movie, which premiered in China on Feb. 10, stars celebrity chef Nicholas Tse, with Ge You, Jim Chim, Bai Bing, Du Haitao, Ocean Hai, Wang Taili and South Korean actor Jung Yong-hwa. At the premier ceremony held in Beijing on Wednesday, director Raymond Yip said that Nicholas Tse chose 19 dishes for the chef battle after repeated experiments on dozens of cuisines.
Yip promised that the eyes, ears and mouth of moviegoers would be satisfied when they watch “Cook up a Storm.” While Nicholas Tse said that his Chinese food travelogue show “Chef Nic” is the inspiration for the movie, the film has a completely separate storyline that made it a real feature movie about a kitchen battle between two chefs instead of a TV show or a food documentary.
Best Cook in the World
It casts Nicholas Tse as an unknown chef from Guangzhou City, Gaungdong Province, which is China’s food capital. He would place his cooking skills to a test through a kitchen battle with a three-star French Michelin chef. The two would become friends and participate in a global chef contest to determine the best cook in the world.
The movie was originally scheduled to premiere on Spring Festival, but the expected fierce competition from other films being shown during a national holiday, such as Jackie Chan’s “Kung Fu Yoga” and Stephen Chow’s “Journey to the West: Demons Strike Back,” made Yip decide to delay showing “Cook up a Storm” to the eve of the Lantern Festival instead. China.org reported. To make the food and dishes featured in the film more enjoyable, the producers used 3D technology, Global Times reported.
