Tamako Yukihira (
Appearance
Tamako greatly resembled Sōma Yukihira in appearance with slightly long messy light color hair that was a different shade at the top. She wore the Restaurant Yukihira cooking uniform and an apron around her waist. Like her son, she would wear a white headband around her forehead when she cooked and usually kept it loosely tied around her neck when she wasn't.
In the anime, Tamako has brown hair.
Personality
Like Sōma Yukihira, Tamako was a optimistic, cheerful and sociable woman who makes her quite popular despite her terrible cooking and she never let her failure bring her down that she always tried to learn from her mistakes.
Jōichirō Yukihira and Sōma greatly admired this trait about her, with the former being impressed that she was capable of coming up with ideas which he could not fathom.
Biography
Tamako was the daughter of a diner chef who was a horrendous cook who was infamous among patrons of her family's restaurant for her "Chef's Special" in spite of that. While originally somewhat of a delinquent in her youth, Tamako mellowed out following high school. Tamako met her future husband named Jōichirō Saiba when the latter first came to the restaurant. The two did not see eye to eye at first: Jōichirō was revolted by her cooking, while Tamako was annoyed by Jōichirō's increasing presence at the restaurant. However, the two grew closer: Tamako accepted Jōichirō after acknowledging his talent, while Jōichirō found his passion for cooking rekindled by Tamako's warmth and genuine care for her customers. Eventually, they married, becoming parents to a son they named Sōma Yukihira. At Jōichirō's request, Tamako kept her husband's past and work overseas a secret from their son.
Death
When Sōma Yukihira was approximately twelve years old, Tamako suddenly developed a heart problem that was specifically stemming from a heart valve defect and she died from complications about a month later.
Etymology
- The name Tamako means "pearl, jewel, gem" (珠) (tama) and "child" (子) (ko).
- Tamako's surname Yukihira means "happiness, good luck" (幸) (yuki) and "flat" (平) (hira), which could translate as "blessing of the ordinary".
