Such a vibrant and colourful world, it was hard not to become enthralled within it all. Whilst I expected it to mostly reside within a cooking show/competition, it did still amaze.

(Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for the ARC! This review reflects my unbiased opinion.)

Don't let the giant pink donut on the cover fool you: Interstellar MegaChef is not a silly confection of a book about antics of an alien Great British Bakeoff. The writing is lively and sometimes funny, but the story is more complex and the tone more serious than the cover led me to expect. The themes include cultural imperialism, colonialism, identity, the multiple cultural meanings of food, and simulated vs. actual experience.

Saraswati Kaveri had an award-winning restaurant on the barbaric, conflict-ridden backwater planet of Earth, but she arrives on the planet Primus as a refugee. Primus is the self-satisfied pinnacle of human culture in space, founded on lofty ideals and certain of its own perfection. (...Not that the Primians we meet seem particularly happy.) Saraswati bounces hard off the local food culture on Primus as she tries to escape her past and find a future that is worthy of her. She also bounces hard off Serenity Ko, a hard-drinking and hard-driven corporate entertainment developer and appalling brat. Despite their glaring differences, the two team up to develop a new concept: simulated food that neurotech links to your deepest emotions and memories.

It's very much the first book in what is presumably a trilogy, in that a lot of issues and plot threads are set up that don't pay off in this volume. That includes the developing relationship between the two main characters, as well as their personal character development arcs. The end of Interstellar MegaChef does bring us to a satisfying intermediate conclusion, however. I'll definitely be reading the next one.

Saras Kaveri is a long way from home, but she’s exactly where she wants to be - far away from her corrupt family who seems determined to manipulate her fate at every turn. With an altered appearance and an adorable helper robot in tow, Saras is ready to start her new life.

Here on the megatropolis planet of Primus, Saras can be who she wants to be - hopefully a highly respected culinary figure. On Earth, she ran a successful elite restaurant, but here, no one knows her reputation, and unfortunately Earthlings are rumored to be “primitive” and “savage” in spite of this planet adopting values of equality and inclusivity.

Saras wins a spot on the hit show of the galaxy - Interstellar Megachef. It’s like Top Chef, but in space! And the food technology is unlike anything she has encountered before. She’s intimidated, but determined to win the respect of her fellow chefs.

This proves to be much harder than expected. At the same time, tech genius Serenity Ko is also struggling to piece together her next innovative project - a simulated food experience. But first, she needs to learn the basics of cooking.

Saras and Serenity Ko can probably help each other - that is if they can get along. Serenity Ko isn’t exactly a social butterfly. But she is desperate.
Here, the scifi-for-foodies novel explores the way colonizer culture, xenophobia and performative inclusivity is prevalent in multicultural spaces - even in spaces that strive toward utopian social ideals. It’s like a cozy culinary fantasy folded into a space opera, sprinkled with a dash of romantic comedy and philosophical manifesto. Unique, to say the least!

Examining the moral, political, and socioeconomic impact of emerging technology (especially where it overlaps with consumables), Interstellar Megachef manages to be both fun and sharply poignant.

Thank you to @netgalley for the review copy!

DNF at 30%.

I received a copy of this through Netgalley. I was super interested in the premise of Great British Bake Off vibes but in the future, in space and queer?! Sounds right up my street. Unfortunately I only got those things on at the most miniscule level. It is not often that I give up on a book after 10% but before 50% just to give it a fair shot but I just couldn't imagine putting myself through even 20% more of this book. I just don't think this world was built well. I didn't understand the various parts of the world. I didn't understand the various characters. I didn't get the dynamics of the interstellar relationships between cultures/peoples/species. I didn't even get the cooking stuff. I couldn't even make it to the queer part because I just couldn't read anymore. I also thought the names were super confusing. Nothing felt well drawn out or established. What a bummer with the great buzzwords, cover and title. This might be for folks who are really well-versed in sci-fi and can really easily immerse themselves in new and different worlds even if the world building is less than stellar.

Interstellar Megachef was an enjoyable read, but it felt as if something was missing - it either didn't quite hit the mark, or was aiming for too many marks at once. As such, Interstellar Megachef sits somewhere between cosy sci-fi, humorous sci-fi (which the cover suggests) and its darker relations. I anticipated a found family dynamic, but the cast of characters wasn't sufficiently developed to allow this to happen. The world-building, likewise, was rather on the nose - there was a tendency to tell, rather than show. The dialogue in particular made me chortle aloud a fair few times, and the potential for emotional resonance was there if the characters were given more room to grow. The darker aspects of the novel are the least resolved and focused upon - many of the loose ends at the novel's conclusion arise from these - but they do cause some conflicting tone throughout. I'm assuming this is because this is the first in a series - and the ending felt satisfactory regardless. I may well try the next in the series, as I feel that there's a lot of potential here - it just hasn't all been achieved yet.

thank you to netgalley for the arc!

this was pretty solid! one of the main characters was likeable---the other DID have a character arc but it is clear that the arc-ing is not over yet. i was not aware that this was the first book in a series, but it worked pretty well anyway! one of the plot lines has a clear end at the end of the book, but most of the other questions are left open for sequels, including all of the character relationships (the sapphic relationship that i picked this up for AND the complicated family situation that saras has going on.)

the food part of this book is largely secondary to its commentary on colonialism and moral posturing, which was fine but if you're going into this book solely because you LOVE cooking shows this might not be for you!

Interstellar MegaChef takes the cooking competition to a cosmic scale with a satirical twist. Saras Kaveri, an Earthling chef, lands on Primus to compete in a high-stakes cooking show, while Serenity Ko, a tech innovator, is on leave and seeks to create a revolutionary food sim. The novel delves into xenophobia, cultural clash, and the ethics of technology, wrapped in a richly imagined sci-fi world. Though the initial world-building can be overwhelming, the story's exploration of food as a cultural and political battleground is both innovative and thought-provoking.

At first glance I thought that Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan was going to be a cozy, somewhat silly story. The cover does, after all, have a space donut on it. The book itself, however, was intelligent, and thought provoking, and I can’t wait to read the rest in this series. I was provided with an eARC of this book by NetGalley and Rebellion/Solaris.

I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and publisher.

This was a really interesting exploration of how integral food is to culture, even hundreds of years in the future and on other planets!

While the book is named after the cooking competition that takes place in it, the competition wasn’t a huge part of the book which surprised me a little. It does occur at different points in the book, but it’s what happens in between that takes the bulk of the story.

We follow two characters, one a chef who has fled earth from her family and is entering the competition to escape her family, however her earth cooking doesn’t have the reaction she’d expected. We also meet a person who designs simulated experiences who is expecting to have a significant career success but has to rethink instead. We see the moments their stories interconnect and the ways they both have to grow and overcome different challenges.

Throughout this novel we explore the different ways people interact with food, what it means to them, and how relationships with food evolve in different environments. This was fascinating.

There’s also an exploration of xenophobia. Our main character Sara’s faces cruel and hateful interactions purely because she is from earth, being dismissed in spite of her talent because of her origins.

An entertaining novel and something really quite innovative in sci-fi!

This was so much fun to read! The worldbuilding was so rich in details. I loved the entire cast of characters. The romance needed more buildup, but overall a very enjoyable book. Can't wait for more.

What a complex and rich scifi universe! So many different cultures and world views. I loved that this was not just a rehash of social issues on earth. Yes, there was some carryover of modern social problems, but it felt rooted in this universe, not our own. Which I found refreshing.

I struggled with not enjoying some of the characters’ personalities. And I did have trouble keeping the character names and planets straight, but it was still a fun ride. I enjoyed all the fun interstellar food. Iron chef in space!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Rebellion, for the opportunity to read Intergalactic MegaChef.
Intergalactic MegaChef is at its heart a love letter to food and its place in our lives and cultures wrapped in a sci-fi bow.

There is a lot I liked about this story, especially how the author uses the sci-fi setting she's created to discuss issues of xenophobia, immigration and how certain cultures deem themselves to be better than others despite being flawed themselves. And speaking of cultures, I loved how the world or should I say galaxy crafted in this story was inspired by Indian culture. It really felt like a refreshing take on the sci-fi genre. I loved the character arcs and development for both Saras and Ko and how their relationship developed in more than one definition of the word.

As a queer reader, I loved the inclusion of various queer characters outside of our 2 main characters from casual use of xe/xir pronouns and various polyamorus relationships shown and spoke about including Ko's parents.

Initially, when I started reading, I found myself struggling to get into the book and it took me a lot longer than it usually would to finish a book of this size but I truly think it is worth sticking with. The more and more I read the more I found myself enjoying it, and I would be happy to see what's next for Saras and Ko.

This book had a rough start. While the early Saraswati chapters were entertaining enough, I struggled with the world building, didn't really get the context for why people of Primus look down on earth so much. And then there was Serenity Ko, and by the end of her first POV chapter I wanted to throw her out of a window.

But I kept reading, and it got better.

The cooking really was fascinating, I liked how detailed Primus cooking was and how different from what we're used to on earth. I don't think I'd want to try Primus food, but the level of detail was quite good.

The world building was a bit confusing at first, but over the course of the book it settled, and I began to understand more of the history of how these planets ended up being the way they were, though I do think with this world the author may have bitten off a bit more than she could chew, especially considering so much of the book is about cooking, but I think the world will solidify even more in later installments and I do think it came together in the end.

I enjoyed Saraswati as a character, she was driven. My only gripe is that it took me a long time understanding her earth background story and what exactly it all meant for her character and I think I could have connected to her better if I'd understood earlier, but I did like her character and her POVs were the easiest.

Then there's Serenity Ko. And did I hate her. But that's kind of the point. Serenity Ko is the worst, and everyone sees it but her. She thinks what she needs is a promotion, to have her genius acknowledged by her employer, when all along what she needed to be was a less shitty person, and I really started enjoying her POV when we start delving deeper into why she is the way she is and how she needs to change.

There's a third POV character, a politician, but she doesn't have that many chapters fortunately, and it wasn't until the end that I understood the significance of this character or their storyline, at first I just found it confusing.

I really liked how food was used to illustrate cultural difference, and looking down on different people and I think this aspect was done very well.

I also loved the ethical concerns surrounding Serenity Ko's food simulation project, one Saraswati ends up working for, and these remain unresolved at the end of the book, and I think the later books will delve deeper into this and I'm curious to see where this story will go and where food simulations will take this world.

Would recommend it for fans of weird, social sci fi, and people who are willing to push through the rough start. It did really come together at the end.

Ok, so this book is very sci-fi. I was expecting more of a light cooking show book that happened to be set in space, not really my vibe.

Set in the far future, where humans have spread across the stars, Interstellar MegaChef follows an Earthling chef as she flees from the violence on Earth for the advertised serenity of Primus. Two millennia ago, at the verge of collapse at their own hands, humans unified and created the Nakshatrans - space-farers who developed a new philosophy of treading lightly and doing away with many of the staples of society that caused wars and collapses on ancient Earth. Primus was the first planet they landed on, and it has become the new beacon of human culture among other alt-beings (read: non-human species). Saraswati Kaveri or, should I say, Godavari, having recently become a refugee on Primus, came to hide from her family and to make a name for herself - seemingly conflicting goals. Her goal is the compete on Interstellar MegaChef as one of the rare off-worlders who gets to be on the show, win the competition, and make herself immune to her family's influence. Another perspective readers follow is Serenity Ko, a woman who is anything but serene, who's main goal is to create the most immersive simulation technology. She believes this will be what finally makes her famous enough to deserve the titles and praise she believes is due to her, since she's the first savant in decades. A third perspective comes from Optimism Madh'vi, a "realist" (read: pessimist) who's goal is to promote the superiority of Primian culture over all other human cultures. This is strictly not in keeping with the Nakshatran Principles, but she fears the wars that could occur if other cultures believe they're equals (or worse: better). Optimism Madh'vi is hiding a secret from everyone on this planet: she's a real Kaveri and knows the reason the Kaveri's were wiped out - the Godavari's, a powerful family on Earth, hunted them to extinction.

I really enjoyed the Hindu influence in much of the book, from the philosophies to even the naming conventions, for example the "Nakshatrans" are clearly a reference to the Nakshatram, the lunar houses in Hindu astrology, or the family Godavari (which is the name of one of the main rivers in India) having a priestess daughter who is believed to be the divine embodiment of river water. The book is also filled is social commentary, covering issues of xenophobia, microaggressions, imperialism, loss of ways of life, overconsumption, technology addiction, and so many more. These are main topics, not just one-off or side-topics, which means that this two thousand year in the future tale is actually rather topical to many issues we currently face on modern-day Earth. The entire book, while focusing explicitly on the cooking competition and development of a new food-based sim, really instead takes the reader on a tug-of-war journey between being rooted in the world around us and succumbing to technology that oversteps its bounds.

Now, despite all of this praise, I really struggled with this book. There was so many new terminologies used in the book that I was unsure of their meaning until decently into the book - I think I may have been able to navigate this a little more if there was either more explanation at the beginning or if there was a glossary in the back of the book. Another related difficulty was trying to keep up with the motivations of the many characters introduced as the story progressed - both main- and side-characters seemed to have complex or sometimes contradicting goals. These two, in unison, meant my reading speed (and stamina) was significantly lowered. Additionally, I struggled because I didn't find any of the main characters likeable - with the exception of Kili, the winger (Saraswati's sentient technology companion). Saraswati was stubborn to the point of being self-sabotaging, Serenity Ko was stubborn to the point of being cruel to others, Optimism Madh'vi was slipping more into being a behind-the-scenes-tyrant...

Would this be a great book for someone else? Absolutely. It just unfortunately wasn't entirely for me.

DNF. This didn't read as a foodie book to me - the foods are barely described and there's definitely no sense of love-of-food coming through, even from the character who's a chef. The prose isn't bad, but it's bland. The aliens don't feel like aliens, and the worldbuilding is nonsensical - what do you mean, everyone on this planet has one of nine names??? And the idea that this is 2000 years in the future? Um, no. A couple hundred, maybe. A thousand, no. Two thousand, not a chance.

It's a shame, because Desi-dominant, anti-colonialist foodie sci-fi sounds amazing, but none of the moving parts of the worldbuilding fit together at all, and without the lavish prose I was expecting, I'm not interested.

I think this is being mis-marketed - the cooking show plot is over almost before it starts, and the book DEFINITELY doesn't have the fluffy feel-good tone of the Great British Bake-Off - but I admit I don't know what I'd market this as instead.

Now this was a fun surprise! I'm completely obsessed, and I'm probably gonna read this again later this year. I was surprised by how right the romantic angle felt, and I'm always a sucker for "sci-fi reality shows" (Bad Wolf is a favorite Doctor Who episode of mine, for context). I was overwhelmed at first by how much world-building and sci-fi babble there was, but once I adjusted, it was just more to chew on in this fun story.

This was so so good! I loved everything about this book - from the food descriptions, characters of Saraswati and Serenity Ko, to the politics of Primus and tech involved in it! This was my second sci-fi book and it was worth every page!! I enjoyed every word, devoured like a savage as the primians would say, and was left wanting for more... i cannot wait to read more from the author!!

I feel really disappointed to be writing such a critical review for Interstellar MegaChef, but the sad truth is I thought this book was poorly executed. I read this book back-to-back with Lakshminarayan's previous book 'The Ten Percent Thief' (a 5-star read in my opinion), and I honestly thought the gulf in quality to MegaChef was night and day.

There's a lot more going on in this novel than a simple cooking show, and while I applaud it for it's broader scope, I thought the worldbuilding was heavy-handed, and the cast of POV characters created a muddled mess as to what the central narrative was. The constant and blatant bashing of one species quickly left any sense of nuance and tact behind to become repetitive. The lead characters' personalities didn't feel particularly believable to me, and the constant snarky quips and their teenager-esque stroppiness undermined their role in the story. I think part of the confusion comes about from the Primian system of picking a name based off core values, which creates a scenario whereby all the names from the different story threads become too similar and blur into one. I really can't believe this is the same author as The Ten Percent Thief, as that novel has none of these issues with character definition or worldbuilding in the slightest.

I can't help but question the marketing choices that have gone into Interstellar MegaChef; I wonder how many other readers are going to be tempted to pick it up under the assumption that it's a cosy fun sci-fi romp, only to be put off by the sheer size of muddled world-building and heavy themes therein. Conversely, the readers who love those themes in their Sci-Fi aren't necessarily the same ones who will pick up a book with this cover and blurb.

I have to be honest, I am not really someone who enjoys sci fi and sadly (for me) this is a pretty sci fi heavy book. I found myself frequently overwhelmed by the sci fi ness of the book, the world building was a struggle for me to grasp. That being said, despite not being a sci fi fan, I thought this book was wonderful and I really got the metaphor regarding diaspora the author was going for and I loved the intergalactic MasterChef idea. I understand this to be a series so I think I’ll check the future books, but maybe I’ll write myself a gallery of terminology first 😅

Thanks to NetGalley, Rebellion, and Solaris for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.