Kitchen Princess, Volumes 1 and 2

Volume 1

The story opens with Najika in an orphanage proving she has a gifted palate. After her parents had died she was heartbroken but some young boy gave her some flan to eat and that raised her spirits. She now hopes to find him and become a pastry chef like her parents.

She had found a spoon he left behind and it's from Seika Academy so she's going to be going there to study cooking. She then runs into Daichi, or more precisely falls onto him. Later she meets his brother Sora. They don't get along at all. Daichi also doesn't get along with others.

She shows another girl how to make flan. Then trouble starts. All the girls have talents they brag of, and Akane is the worst, being a model. The only 'talent' Najika can talk about is her ability to win eating contests. That, plus the fact that Sora kissed her on her first day, turns the students against her.

She then gets a job at a diner that's rather run down. She manages to get the two brothers to the diner and stop arguing long enough to eat something special she's fixed. At the school, though, the basic rule seems to be that the better she does the more the other students hate her. She plans to leave the academy but the brothers stop her.

Volume 2

Najika goes to the brothers' house and can tell what tea something is just by smelling it. (Reminds me of one of the tests used on Hell's Kitchen when Gordon Ramsey tries to determine if the competing chefs can tell what something is by tasting it while blindfolded. Most don't do well, by the way.)

Najika has 'an absolute sense of taste.' When she returns to the academy the other girls still seem to hate her. Akane is particularly nasty. The suggestion is made that a professional chef be brought in to test Najika's cooking skills.

The contest is heavily weighed in the professional chef's favor. Najika wins the contest, though. Most of the other girls say they now accept Najika at the academy. Najika sees Akane while out walking and Akane is doing a photo shoot but collapses from lack of eating. She wants to be super-model thin. She eventually does eat something, but ends up throwing it up on purpose.

Akane is jealous of Najika and is worried she will take Daichi away from her. She actually hits Najika. Najika tells the brothers that she thinks Akane has an eating disorder. Najika makes an apple pie for Akane just like the ones Akane's grandmother had made and she actually eats some. She and the brothers also are sure to let Akane know that they are there for her.

There's also six recipes, various notes from the author and a preview of volume 3.