Back in October of last year, Insight Editions partnered with Lucasfilm Publishing to put out Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook – The Official Guide to Cooking Your Way Through the Galaxy, and a couple weeks ago we received a copy of the hardcover book from our friends at Disney Consumer Products. Below are my thoughts on this release.
Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook is a follow-up to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – The Official Black Spire Cookbook and Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook, which means it is written in-universe by Chef Strono “Cookie” Tuggs (a character created for the menagerie of Maz Kanata’s castle in Star Wars: The Force Awakens but who has since been incorporated into the lore for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge lands at Disney Parks), though in reality the book was written by Jenn Fujikawa and Marc Sumerak, who have both contributed to Star Wars publishing a number of times before. Tuggs, however, is the one credited for the tome’s introduction and chapter synopses, which take us around the Star Wars galaxy from the Core Worlds to the Colonies, and the Inner Rim to the Outer Rim, in search of the most delicious dishes from each planet the Artiodac has visited.
We get recipes from familiar Star Wars locations such as Chandrila, Alderaan, Hosnian Prime, and Corellia (and that’s just from the Core Worlds), but there are also plenty of much-deeper-cut planets and references to be found in these pages. In my time spent flipping through the book I found Easter Eggs connected to the Star Wars: Doctor Aphra comics, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, the Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendency novels, and many many more. So there’s a wealth of details from A Galaxy Far, Far Away is certainly present in this cookbook, but the real question you probably want to know the answer to is: “Is the food any good?” Well I can’t say I’m much of a cook myself, nor have I found the time to gather the ingredients and put together any of these plates or beverages, but they sure do look tasty in the photos by Ted Thomas sprinkled throughout. There are also fun illustrations of Tuggs preparing his meals by Joel Hustak, and as someone living with Celiac disease I really appreciate the allergy guide and dietary considerations listed in the index.
Each recipe is accompanied by information about its estimated preparation and cooking times, how many people the dish will serve, and how difficult it will be to prepare. The ingredients and steps are spelled out in a simple, straightforward manner, and we’re even reminded which in-universe planet each entry comes from. I was a little frustrated by the fact that we don’t get a guide to which particular Star Wars story these items first appeared in (for that I need to visit our most trusted source, Wookieepedia) because Lucasfilm and the authors have chosen not to break the fourth wall in that way. Still, this book could function as simply a handy resource for those who might need to reference a list of Star Wars food and drinks for their own roleplaying or writing purposes. Like the other books in this series, Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook is really attractively put together and will look great on any bookshelf, in the kitchen or otherwise. Plus I can’t think of a better way one might prepare for a Star Wars-themed get-together than by consulting the recipes contained within.
Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook is available now wherever books are sold.