WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chapter #3 of Shokugeki no Sanji by Yuto Tsukuda, Shun Saeki, Yuki Morisaki, Adrienne Beck, and Annaliese "Ace" Christman, available in English now from Viz Media.
Chapter #3 of Shokugeki no Sanji shows what goes into preparing a meal for the Straw Hat crew. Well, more so for their Captain, Luffy. The chefs in the kitchen of the Alabasta palace thought everything would be fine because they had a whole group of new chefs coming in to help with the celebration feast, but Luffy's appetite and a broken wagon axel puts them to the test, creating something of a (funny) tragedy in the One Piece spinoff.
Luffy's appetite is the thing of legends. He's able to scarf down pounds of food with little trouble, especially when it comes to meat. During the chapter, he even grabs food off the plates of other people to try and satiate his seemingly endless stomach. Sanji, as the Straw Hats' lone chef, is the one who has to fight a daily battle with Luffy's stomach, sometimes three times a day. On top of feeding Luffy, he's also responsible for making sure the nutritional needs are met for the other members of his crew and himself. Truly, he is a master chef for just being able to manage that.
The chefs of Alabasta underestimate the depths of Luffy's appetite and spend the chapter scrambling to make enough food to feed him, the Straw Hats and the others attending the celebration of Alabasta's royal family's return to power. Led by Head Chef Terracotta, they try to make sure each plate is beautifully set and cooked to perfection. However, their artistry goes mostly unnoticed, since the majority of the food just goes to Luffy. He just takes the next plate and scarfs it down with little care for how much work went into preparing it and what the different flavors are.
Sanji is accustomed to cooking large amounts of food for his captain, but the chefs of Alabasta never truly understood what it means to cook for someone with an endless appetite. They worry about making sure each course is full of different flavors and colors and try to make each plate sent out looks like a work of art. Normally, this would be commended. However, tragically, all of their skills are wasted on a lunkhead like Luffy, who doesn't care about presentation or whether a meal is cooked to perfection. He just cares if there's meat and if there's enough to make him feel full.
Of course, it has to taste good, but the type of meals presented at the celebration banquet are too high brow for what Luffy's used to and just like any other meal to him. Thankfully, Sanji steps in to relieve some of the load in terms of quantity, showing that he's just as capable of making beautiful plates as well.
