Breakaway Books

Authored by Lavanya Lakshminarayan; Published November 2024; Science Fiction

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️

Everything about Interstellar MegaChef, from the cover to the over-the-top characters, screams cheesy sci-fi. Yet, somehow, the novel delves into pretty deep topics.

In Interstellar MegaChef, Saraswati Kaveri is on the run from planet Earth, or, more specifically, her powerful family and the obligations they want to impose upon her. Saraswati’s dream is to be a chef, and in her desperation to achieve that goal, she poses as a refugee to escape and enter the Interstellar MegaChef competition. Humiliated by the competitors for her lack of knowledge of the food of Primus, her new planet, she must stumble forward to establish herself. Circumstances push her into partnership with Serenity Ko, an obnoxious corporate prodigy looking to make the next big simulation—a food substitute to bring back the most sublime culinary memories the eater has ever experienced.

I listened to this novel downright resentfully for the first quarter or so. Profanity abounds, and the characters are weird at best and obnoxious at worst. But somewhere in the middle of this novel, it started to turn the wheels in my brain as it made me see serious issues from a new perspective. The concept of xenophobia is thrown around by these characters constantly, both in practice and rhetorically, but it’s almost always xenophobia against residents of earth, and I admit, it hits differently to be the person branded barbaric and violent. But… aren’t we? Isn’t that what our history has shown us to be? I found myself constantly pondering the concepts put forward by the characters and my reactions to them. Much of the novel is devoted to exploring and illuminating the philosophy of the planet Primus, the residents of which come off as the ultimate holier-than-thou culture. The Primians are obsessed with being the center of the cultural universe and with resource conservation. I’m all for conserving resources—so I was intrigued by a story that could make the concept seem so off-putting.

Food, of course, is at the center of this novel, and the discussion of what makes food meaningful is easily the most interesting and deep of the philosophical topics addressed. Different viewpoints abound from the different characters, and the story ends without a clear answer. Is creating a simulation that evokes the taste, the texture, the memories associated with food problematic? An insult to chefs everywhere? Or could it prove to be an equalizer, allowing even those without financial resources access to life-changing culinary experiences? The book is at its best when diving into these concepts. It’s at its worst with its one-dimensional villains and objectively whiny and privileged protagonist Serenity Ko. 

Interstellar MegaChef presents fascinating ideas on food and immigrant culture, so if these interest you, I recommend giving it a read! If you’re just looking for an enjoyable sci-fi story, I might give it a pass.