It's not just the direction that was stupid.

All of a sudden, the Aldinis have a plucked duck ready for butchering. Where the hell did all the steps between that go? Plucking requires scalding the duck to remove the feathers. Somehow, in the middle of the wilderness, the Aldinis managed to dip the duck in hot water to loosen the feathers and pluck them off.

In the first place, how the hell did they catch a duck? The idiom sitting ducks got its meaning because the hunters have a gun. These guys had nothing, but somehow, they got a plucked duck ready right when Souma got 2 fish (a perfectly reasonable catch).

And all of a sudden, all the chef candidates are awed by a mezzaluna as if it's something awesome. Er, it's just a blade...

Souma is a story catered specifically for people who know nothing about cooking. A better cooking manga to adapt would be Bambi, but oh well.