Cinderella Chef (萌妻食神, Méng Qī Shí Shén, meaning roughly "Cute Wife Who's a God of Cooking", also translated as "Adorable Food Goddess") is a 2018 Chinese historical romance series starring Chong Dan Ni and Bie Thassapak Hsu (credited under his Chinese name, Xu Zhi Xian). It's loosely based on the novel of the same name by Yin Zi 281. The novel has also been adapted into a manhua and donghua, both titled Adorable Food Goddess.
Ye Jia Yao, a chef in the present day, travels back in time, is kidnapped by bandits, and has a fake marriage to Xia Chun Yu, one of the bandits. Unknown to Jia Yao, Chun Yu is actually an undercover agent investigating a plot to overthrow the king.
The series can be watched on Viki
and YouTube with English subtitles (though the YouTube subtitles are very poor quality and some episodes are unsubtitled).
Contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Jin Xuan's father says he wants to kill her himself.
- Actor Allusion / Celebrity Paradox: Jia Yao says Chun Yu looks like "that Thailand star Bie" — meaning Bie Thassapak Hsu, who plays Chun Yu.
- Anachronism Stew: Played for laughs. Jia Yao recreates modern fashions, modern cooking, and rap in ancient China.
- Ash Face: Jia Yao and Yi Yi get covered in ash after Yi Yi accidentally starts a fire.
- Attempted Suicide: Jin Xuan jumps off a cliff. One of her pursuers catches her as she falls.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: The YouTube subtitles fall victim to grammatical errors and strange phrasing, like "how dare you are" and "I must revenge". The most blatant (and hilarious) mistake is translating "干爹" (godfather) as... sugar daddy.
- Candid Camera Prank: Referenced when Jia Yao first arrives in the past. She assumes the people around her are actors and asks where the camera is.
- Catch a Falling Star: Jin Xuan attempts suicide by jumping off a cliff, but one of her pursuers catches her in time.
- Combat Hand Fan: Chong Ye uses a fan as a weapon.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Jia Yao is very eager to see Chun Yu shirtless.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: Exploited. When she thinks she's going to be sacrificed Jia Yao yells that she sees a mouse, and while Song Qi's distracted she runs back into her cell.
- Eye Scream: The murder victim in episode one is found with her eyes gouged out.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Jia Yao is surprised to see the past isn't the way it was portrayed on television, and the people around her are just as surprised by her behaviour.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Ding Qi beats a man up with a frying pan.
- Gorgeous Period Dress: All over the place, on both men and women.
- Gratuitous English: Jia Yao occasionally throws English phrases like "no way" into her speech.
- Groin Attack: Ding Qi threatens to castrate a man with a meat cleaver. He doesn't go through with it, but the man faints anyway.
- Henpecked Husband: Jin Xuan's father. His wife publicly slaps him and insults him.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: All of the men have long hair and most of them are very pretty.
- MacGuffin: The pearl. Every time it's found someone tries to steal it, and the people who find or steal it usually end up dead.
- Marriage of Convenience: Jia Yao and Chun Yu's marriage starts out as this.
- Mental Time Travel: Jia Yao time-travels into the body of Ye Jin Xuan.
- Missing Mum: Zhen Zhu's mother died when he was young.
- Mistaken for Murderer: A group of soldiers find Chun Yu beside a corpse. They assume he's the murderer, but actually he had just discovered the body.
- Not What It Looks Like: Jin Xuan's father finds his daughter — actually Jia Yao in Jin Xuan's body — with Chun Yu and Chong Ye and assumes they kidnapped her.
- Right Behind Me: Jia Yao gives a very unflattering description of Chun Yu, unaware that he's standing behind her and can hear everything.
- Runaway Bride: Jin Xuan runs away on her wedding day.
- Slashed Throat: Chong Ye cuts a man's throat with his fan.
- Stab the Salad: Ding Qi threatens a man and pretends he's about to cut off a certain part of his anatomy. He raises the knife, brings it down, and then reveals he only cut a vegetable.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Jia Yao dresses as a man because that always works as a disguise on television. Then she discovers no one is fooled by her disguise.
- Time Machine / Time Travel: In the present day one of the customers at Jia Yao's diner has invented a time machine. Jia Yao uses it to go back in time.
- Through His Stomach: Jia Yao's cooking skills are part of the reason Chun Yu falls in love with her.
- Toplessness from the Back: Only Jia Yao's back is shown when she stands up after taking a bath.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Played for laughs. Jia Yao recreates modern fashions and goes around wearing short skirts and low necklines, but even though she's in ancient China no one says anything about her clothes.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
- Jia Yao tells Chun Yu she isn't afraid of anything except snakes. For obvious reasons she isn't happy when she sees a snake near her while she's in the bath.
- Chong Ye is afraid of dogs. When he comes across a group of dogs while trying to escape, he immediately forgets about subtlety and runs away screaming.
