Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook- Official Recipes From a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Yesterday was Life Day. It's like Star Wars Christmas. First established as part of Star Wars canon, the Wookiee people's most sacred day was introduced in the Star Wars Holiday Special on November 17th, 1978. The special is notable not just because of how bad it was, but also because it contained a small animated segment that marked the debut of the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter, Boba Fett! 2023 marked the 45th anniversary of all that and it just so happened that yesterday coincidentally when I finished reading this Life Day themed cookbook.

The book is written as if it really did exist in the Star Wars universe. The writer is acclaimed chef of Maz Kanata, Strono 'Cookie' Tuggs, who is a main character at the Star Wars experience at Disney, was also the writer of the Galaxy's Edge cookbook from 2019.

There are over 3 dozen recipes written from Cookie's perspective. He talks about the actual ingredients and the planets that they come from. Thankfully, you're not expected to have bantha meat and mudhorn eggs on hand. Earth-bound writers Jenn Fujikawa and Marc Sumerak assist to translate Cookie's recipes with the human equivalent ingredients. 

If you look over the recipes closely, you'll realize that the Star Wars universe enjoys holiday treats that are similar to ours. Gloomroot Pancakes are the latkes with sour cream and apple sauce we enjoy at Hanukkah. Wroshyr Sap Cider is the hot apple cider that keeps us warm near a roaring fire. There are even some non-holiday recipes involved too. The color-changing Cirilian Noodle Salad is the magical Unicorn Noodles dish I've made with younger students for years now. Can't afford to buy supplies at the Black Spire Outpost? Cookie has you set with several DIY projects to make life day robes, trees and orbs. 

Speaking of the orbs. For Life Day yesterday, I taught some of my Culinary Arts students how to make a mini version of the jelly orbs recipes. I didn't have the right ingredients. But I was able to use a fair substitution. Hopefully after Thanksgiving, we'll give it another go with the required agar agar powder.

The photos in this cookbook were absolutely stunning. So colorful and vibrant. The food stylists behind these portraits deserve beaucoup accolades and I hope they've won some awards for them. 

Lots of great ideas. Maybe next year for some holiday fun in a galaxy far, far away, I might use recipes from this cookbook to my students to do a culinary venture based on Life Day. My student's might not enjoy it as much as me. But it'll be a heck of a lot less stressful than having to do a Thanksgiving themed sale. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars. 

The 18 Days of a Star Wars Christmas Miracle +7: Day 1

   I start this Star Wars Advent with a tribute to the one that started it all: The Star Wars Holiday Special. After this what can only be described as a toy train wreck aired only once on CBS in 1978, the possibilities of Star Wars Christmas related stuff took off like a spaceship. There's been Star Wars Christmas wrap, music, ornaments, and much, much more. But in the beginning, the hopes of a Star Wars Christmas began with this 2-hour special which included Princess Leia singing something similar to Silver Bells, Bea Arthur as the owner of the Mos Eisley Cantina, Jefferson Starship doing LSD apparently, Diahann Carroll dancing around nearly naked like one of Jabba's slave girls, and the comedy stylings of Harvey Korman.
   
   There was one bright spot to this pile of bantha poo-doo: a 7-minute long cartoon called 'The Faithful Wookiee (sic).' It wasn't much, but it was the only time we got to see Luke, Han, Chewie, and Leia in animated form. Even better- it introduced the greatest bounty hunter of them all- BOBA FETT!

    The Holiday Special is something that George Lucas actually hates. In fact, he never renewed the trademark on this. Thus, the only way to find it is either as a bootleg or on Youtube. Why, even Disney doesn't own the rights to it! And to this day, Lucas vows that he'll smash every single copy in existence if it's the last thing he'll ever do.

 Below is a link to the special in its entirety- thus proving that no matter how many DVD copies Lucas might destroy, the legend of the Star Wars Holiday Special will forever live on...

May the Force Be With, If you Dare...