The God of Cookery

The God of Cookery is a 1996 Hong Kong comedy directed by Stephen Chow and Lik-Chi Lee, with a screenplay by Chow, Lo Man-Sang and Tsang Kan-cheong. Chow stars as the title figure, a celebrated chef whose fame rests as much on marketing as on skill. His arrogance and the dealings of those around him bring about a public humiliation and the loss of his standing, leaving him to rebuild from the bottom, aided by allies he would once have dismissed.

Chow appears alongside Karen Mok, Vincent Kok, Ng Man-tat, Lee Siu-Kay and Tats Lau Yee-Tat, among a credited cast of twenty-one. The film runs 95 minutes and blends comedy and drama with fantasy elements. It arrived in cinemas on 21 December 1996, produced by Raymond Chow Man-Wai through Star Overseas.

It was the second of eleven films Stephen Chow directed, following From Beijing with Love in 1994 and preceding Forbidden City Cop the same year; Lik-Chi Lee's directing credits place it among the films he made in the mid-1990s. Audiences have received it well: on IMDb it holds 7.2 out of 10 from around 11,000 votes, and on TMDB it stands at 7.2 out of 10 from roughly 234 votes. Both figures are consistent and reflect a durable following for the film three decades on.