I’m not looking for novels or comics where manga is a byproduct of the book’s plot, but where cooking food is the main subject of the plot. Hopefully interesting battle, romance, and of course comedy will follow, but cooking is the main element. I can read any type of novel so to speak, it doesn’t matter if the lead is male, female, gay/lesbian, in a harem, or etc. The ones I have read are: Gourmet in Another World Gourmet Cooking Supplier A Stay-at-home Dad's Restaurant In An Alternate World Reincarnated vs Transmigrator
Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi Isekai desu ga Mamono Saibai shiteimasu Shokugeki no Soma Dungeon meshi
Forgot to mention that one, one of my personal favorites. That one is A Stay-at-home Dad's Restaurant In An Alternate World. I like the heartwarming fluff of the father and daughter’s interactions together.
Fields of Gold It’s more slice of life with age progression, so the romance is pretty much non existent right now. The food and the dishes described is really detailed
I really like Isekai Shokudo and Isekai Izakaya Nobu but I lean more to the slice of life genre so I dunno if this is going to be interesting for you but... If you don’t mind manga: “Papa to Oyaji no Uchi Gohan” 2 divorced dads decide to live together to raise their kids (it’s not BL) and it revolves about bonding over the dishes they cook as a family. Very cute! “Amama to Inazuma” A widower and his daughter meet a high school girl with a passion for cooking, they grow up and overcome traumas while learning to cook various dishes! ToT)/ I love the friendship between the girls~~~ so lovely!!! “Maikosan chi no makanai-san” Makanai is the “staff meal” or “family meal” served for employees. In this story, a middle schooler from the northern area of Japan moves with her best friend to Kyoto to become a geisha apprentice. She ends up showing no talent for the entertainment arts but becomes responsible for the kitchen in the lodging. Every chapter features a different food related to one of their memories together or daily life events of geishas and maikos! Super interesting! The chapters featuring their other childhood friend and granny back home are so heartwarming! And one Jdrama - “Hondana Shokudo” Two guys are grouped together by an ambitious female editor and become a superfamous Shojo manga artist! But they actually wanted to draw gourmet manga! When they become overwhelmed by the pressure of releasing chapters, they drift to the “Bookshelf Cafeteria”, digging deep into Japanese novels and mangas to reproduce dishes! The actors took cooking lessons to make the meal prep look very authentic! I think there’s also one called Kamogawa Shokudo... IIRC it’s a detective agency that finds the “lost flavor from your memories” and it was a series of novels adapted into a live action drama...
Novels: Isekai Izakaya Nobu Isekai Shokudou Gourmet of Another World (CHN, Qidian) If you don't mind mangas/animes: Cooking Master Boy (JFYI 2nd part of the series anime just started this Fall 2019) Cooking Papa (I think the manga translation stopped?) Amaama to Inazuma Mister Ajikko Toriko (food fight, literally) Yokohama Chinatown Fantasy (not sure if this is translated to English or not + the manga stopped due to author's death) Different World Hospitality Meal Gal Gohan Shinmai Shimai no Futari Gohan Dungeon Meshi Isekai de Cafe wo Kaiten Shimashita Bambino