Akira Hayama

An assistant of Professor Jun Shiomi, Akira comes from overseas; they met when he was an orphaned child and warned her about adultered spices in a market (presumably in India). Jun recognized the dormant talent in him and brought him back to Japan, where he was adopted by her teacher, Hayama. Akira quickly learned Japanese and studied spices and aroma under Shiomi. Jun became a mother figure for him, and his motivation to succeed at cooking stems from wanting to give something back to Jun. Akira specializes in curry dishes, with a wide knowledge of spices and aroma. He is a tall and handsome man with tanned skin and silver hair. Like Sōma, he aims to be at the top of the Elite Ten. His nose is very sharp when it comes to spices, capable of identifying ingredients and grade of cooking by the first smell, considered a worthy match of Erina's God's Tongue and being identified as an "Aroma Master". Although Jun and Akira are both experts in spices, she uses theoretical knowledge while he depends on his sense of smell. In contrast to Jun's naive, ditzy, easily angered and dependent persona, Akira is mature, reliable, street smart, cool and down-to-earth.