You Should Watch Dungeon Meshi if You’ve Struggled With Disordered Eating
Before we begin, there are two things you must know about me. Firstly, I am vegetarian. I have been since middle school when I read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and swore off meat forever. I cannot stand the smell or sight of meat, often becoming nauseous at the mere description or discussion of it.
Secondly, I am a recovering anorexic. Starting in high school, I severely restricted my food intake in order to lose weight. To this day, I still struggle with disordered eating, body dysmorphia, and chronic pain due to the years spent starving myself. Coupled with the physical impact is psychological damage that’s difficult to describe unless you’ve experienced it for yourself. Planning meals, eating in front of others, trying on clothes, showering, and seeing or taking photographs of yourself—these innocuous, seemingly enjoyable everyday experiences can become excruciating for someone with or recovering from an eating disorder (ED).
Because healing is not a linear path, my journey to recovery is lined with constant triggers, reminders, and relapses. While my therapist often encourages me to push my boundaries, I have certain non-negotiables. One of those is engaging in media that revolves around eating, cooking, and food. When food comes on screen in TV or film, I literally look away.
Yet here I am, having devoured Netflix’s Dungeon Meshi (2024)—also Delicious in Dungeon—in just over a week. With 24 bite-size episodes, that’s honestly quite the speed run through the series, especially for someone who was vehemently opposed to the mere concept.
Still from Delicious in Dungeon
Somehow, though, the stars and circumstances aligned. I was bored one day after work, scrolling aimlessly through streaming services when Delicious in Dungeon popped up on my Netflix home page. I recalled my friends recommending the show to me since we all play Dungeons & Dragons and watch anime. I had also just eaten, so I was feeling alright about engaging with food-related content. I clicked play.
Dungeon Meshi opens with a huge party loss in a battle against a dragon. The brutality of the scene immediately garners viewer sympathy. Plus, dropping you in the middle of the story makes you ravenous for the context. By the time I got to the first cooking scene, I didn’t care that I was about to see food; I wanted to know if our heroes could get sustenance in order to rescue their fallen ally.
Because, most notably, Dungeon Meshi frames food as both a necessity and a communal activity. Senshi, the Dwarf and main chef, often emphasizes the value of a good and sturdy meal. The party members need to keep up their strength if they want to sling swords and magic spells at their enemies. Recalling my own loss of energy during my ED period, I nod along enthusiastically and root for Chilchuck and Marcille to try the monster meat. “Who cares if it’s a monster?” I think. “You have to eat.” You have to eat!
Senshi also values nutrition. He creates balanced meals that include even foods that Westerners especially tend to demonize (rice, bread, noodles, pizza, et cetera) for their carbs and calorie count. These types of foods were on my “bad list” when I was anorexic. Yet knowing their worth for the heroes’ mission forces my brain to recontextualize. Plus, they look absolutely tantalizing in the series.
Still from Delicious in Dungeon
That’s another piece of the puzzle. As with many animes, food is drawn and animated in the most gorgeous way possible. People tend to think of Studio Ghibli films or even Black Butler when they reference aesthetic anime food. Yet modern audiences should also give a nod to Dungeon Meshi for outdoing itself time and time again. Just as Senshi and Laois take the utmost care in preparing meals, it’s clear the artists don’t spare a single detail in drawing them.
Now, it’s important to admit that “fake” food is easier for me to look at than shots of meals you would see in actual life. Yet that wasn’t always the case. I worked my way up from turning away from drawn food to actually being able to stomach it on most days. So, sure, maybe I can watch Dungeon Meshi because the food isn’t “real.” It’s cute and sparkly, clean and colorful. But that also makes it the perfect stepping-off point for people recovering from EDs right now.
While I was watching Dungeon Meshi, I didn’t once consider skipping a meal. I didn’t berate myself for eating dessert. I started to recognize the importance of foods I previously struck from my grocery list. At one point, I contemplated eating meat again! That’s definitely not going to happen, but the idea coming into my brain at all was nonetheless so wonderfully unexpected and delightful—just like Dungeon Meshi itself.
And listen, Netflix just raised prices (again). Like you, I’m not happy about the cost. But because of the impact Dungeon Meshi had on me, no matter what, I’m sticking with the platform and the series. Eagerly anticipating Season 2 is already a massive step for me. And wherever you may be on your own path to recovery, I encourage you to add Dungeon Meshi as a side quest. Heroes do, after all, need to stop, rest, and drink or eat to regain their strength before slaying monsters . . . of both the physical and mental variety.
Still from Delicious in Dungeon