葉山 アキラ

An assistant of Professor Shiomi Jun, Akira comes from overseas, and met her when he was a kid, warning her about *****ered spices in a market. Akira specializes in curry dishes, with a wide knowledge in various spices and aroma. He's a tall and handsome man with a tanned skin and silver hair. Like Soma, he also aims to be at the top of the Ten Master Council. His nose is very sharp when it comes to spices and is capable of identifying ingredients and grade of cooking by the first smell, so sharp it's considered a worthy match of Erina's "God's Tongue", and being identified as Aroma Master. Despite being Jun's assistant and both are experts in spices, she uses theoretical knowledge, while he depends on his sense of smell. Unlike the naive, ditzy, easily angered and dependent Jun, Akira is mature, reliable, street smart, cool and down-to-earth.

He was originally an orphan living in (presumably) India. He was abandoned by both his parents, and was not even given a name by them. Born with a strong sense of smell, which led him to meeting Jun when she was there researching spices, where she recognized the dormant talent in him. When she left she brought him back to Japan, where he was adopted by the then leader of the "Hayama Seminar" which became the "Shiomi Seminar" once he retired. He quickly learned Japanese while there, and studied spices and aroma under Shiomi, who became a mother-figure for him. The motivation for his cooking and his drive to win all stems from wanting to give something back to Jun for pulling him out of the slums and giving him a second chance at life.