BASED TILL CHAPTER 262. ALTERATIONS WILL FOLLOW. CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Shokugeki no soma is a very simple story with cooking as its theme.It incorporates echi in every chapter, some bearable and some definitely disturbing. But what sets this manga apart from the rest of the manga, simply basing it on the average rating is has all these years, is that it is pretty entertaining.
In 248 chapters, there is enough to keep anyone engrossed with(depending on one's tastes)
interesting cooking battles,
crazy exam themes
over the top expulsions
exagerated gestures,
too many foodgasms,
lots of stripping,
one especially naked very hot sempai
greasy looking costly food,
costly looking cheap food
marketing strategies and selling tricks
souma's innovative cooking,
souma's parlor tricks
souma's combination cooking to name a few.

There is no visible plot. Its all about cooking. Anyone can predict that Souma wants to become a great chef worthy of his name. His biggest dream apart from first seat is that he beats his father. He might even get the girl as a bonus. if he tries that is. Personally i like Souma as he is not that loud loser that most manga boasts about. Like a good red head MC he is a cute and funny guy who shows his personality through his actions. While all the characters support each other there is not that stuffiness you feel under other shounen nakama banner. Most characters exhibit individuality. Tsukasa, Rindou, Kuga and of course Ishiki bring in fresh perspective. I just love Ishiki with and without clothes. His personality is the least shown. He does a lot of goofing around and only in the recent arc we get a glimpse into his cooking style. Tsukasa under the pretext of an anxious oddball is as cunning as a fox or so i think. As for Rindou, anything she does is adorable. She has fangs!!! fanged chara are cute. While Erina has yet to make an impression on me, Kurokiba's deadpan to a pompous Alice is hilarious.
That leaves us with todokoro. She is too pathetic to the point of funny. She is the necessary lame character who forms part of the harem. The rest of the support cast either get a glory chapter or three each or get sidelined by the glory of Souma's success. All those matches where they won were rendered useless by the regimental shokugeki arc which to put it plainly is to get souma one step or many towards elite ten membership. the recent azami arc is just a device to further that arc. Those students of polar star worked their asses off only to lose in the promotion exam and what could be more worse than souma and team to trying to retract their expulsion? Its being biased in favour of MC's friends while hundreds get weeded out every other day in tootsuki academy. Not to mention that its pretty demeaning to the guys as they owe souma and team for their return which in all honesty is not their own effort.
Azami arc is cliched. He is messed up. He even went as far as messing up erina. Not getting the best dad mug eh!
Saiba's past makes little sense. He is made out as a genius who succumbed to the pressure of having to live up to that level but the regimental shokugeki where he alone took down 50 ppl contradicted everything. Someone who wants to win and who is capable of winning would not simply throw the match just because somewhere deep down he knows he would win anyway. His matches both inside and outside of school saw him as the winner. Perhaps he just wanted to lose against a decent opponent. The thought of future put him in anxiety. Wonder what kind of educator senzaemon could have been in order to suggest a teenager and a nervous wreck at that to drop out of school before graduation. explains jouchiro's extreme case of wanderlust.
On the other hand Souma has a diner to head and a highly skilled chef to surpass. As long as he has these two options all the aggressive winning will not drag him down
I am left with one burning question though. why the only person making sweets is that loli?
I kinda do not like how things ended with the latest chapter (262). this plot gets even more simple. Souma's immediate goal is to enter the elite ten in his second year and may be in his third year he can get the first seat. This is only my opinion Souma will his entry to the elite ten. While Tsukasa, rindo and other third years graduate, Souma's competition, at least the good ones will dwindle. That leaves Hayama, alice, erina, Ryo, Issihiki, kuga and some others i dont remember who will enter the elite 10 and after ishiki's batch graduates the plot will reflect the same kind of wretchedness Saiba faced that drove him to drop out. Things will get boring.
So yeah, unless the author can come up with something interesting, the story development is stagnant and so is on the character front as well. While i love the manga dearly, i like a neat ending.