We are venturing once more into the farthest reaches of the Milky Way galaxy, where no cookbook has gone before…
Further building on the monumental phenomenon that is Star Trek, this new cookbook is entirely in-world, with the occasional overlap of dishes between this and the prior book, but entirely new recipes. I wanted to honor the cookbook that came before, but make sure that this book could stand alone if it were the first Star Trek cookbook a fan added to their shelf.
As a long-time Trek fan, I’ve toyed with the idea of a cookbook like this for years, and I was so excited when I finally got the call! As always, I started with the most canon and most popular dishes from the world, and then grew the recipe collection from there, using in-world ingredients as a guide. It’s presented as a Starfleet-sponsored collection of recipes from across multiple quadrants and cultures, intended to foster better understanding of different species from a human perspective with its Earth-centric ingredients. Above all, I wanted it to embrace the best of Star Trek and its core message of hope, acceptance, and exploration in the spirit of gastrodiplomacy.
Everything in the book is tied to a canon or semi-canon dish, either from the shows, movies, or novels. This collection includes recipes through Lower Decks season 2 and up to Prodigy and Strange New Worlds, which unfortunately aired after the cookbook went to press. Hopefully we can visit the kitchen with Captain Pike at a later date!
The Process
As with all my projects, I am very careful to stay as close as possible to the canon, when possible. So as usual, I started with lists! Thankfully, the Memory Alpha and Beta wikis were there to assist, because without them, there probably wouldn’t be a cookbook! After making exhaustive lists of all the food seen or mentioned, I divided everything into categories and looked at what was lacking, then balanced it accordingly. After that came the fun part- developing the recipes, testing (a lot!), and finally photographing. Where possible, I tried to match the visuals to the source material, as below.
As my usual cabinet of dishes and glassware has a distinctly medieval aesthetic, I needed to update it with a LOT more modern and futuristic pieces. I had a blast shopping around and really expanding my collection. I found some amazing pieces, including some of the cutlery used on the show.
Overall, it was a challenging but immensely rewarding experience. Like so many Star Trek fans, I grew up watching it and loving the characters and all their adventures in space. To now be a part of that universe, and to have contributed just a little to that richness, is a huge honor.