Intergalactic Feast

Flavour Hacker #2

by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

FEAST boggles the mind, delivers a sucker-punch to the senses, and launches food into the far future. It blends rich, evocative memories with impossible dreams. Just add water!

It has been three months since Saraswati Kaveri and Serenity Ko won Interstellar MegaChef with their groundbreaking new food simulation, Feast.

But victory is only the beginning. Saras is busy promoting their invention as the public face of Feast, while Ko keeps fighting battles to steer its development at XP Inc. And then there’s the kiss. They’ve decided to just be friends for now, at least until the sim’s impending launch, but the memory of that heady night hangs over them.

And sometimes it seems the whole galaxy is lined up against them. Saraswati’s secret past is coming under scrutiny, while old rivals are running smear campaigns against her. The cookery world is divided over Feast, proclaiming it a bold new invention and a betrayal of the chef’s art by turns.

And others see Feast’s darker potential—not as an experience, but as a weapon...

Genres: Science Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

Expected publication March 10, 2026

Reviews

[Heather Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It always makes me a little nervous to get a sequel to one of my favorite books — because these characters I adore have been living so long in my head by then, and I feel protective! — but I shouldn't have worried about Lavanya Lakshminarayan. The follow-up to Interstellar Megachef is everything I could have wanted, and more. Saraswati's famous and rich now, but her past is catching up with her in a way that's colliding with her explosive current struggles (Earthling xenophobia, her feelings for Serenity Ko, the pressures of launching Feast, the government's distrust of her, to name a few). Ko is finally on top of the world in her career, which is all she's ever wanted, but her feelings for Saras are bursting out of her in the worst ways, and she's starting to doubt, well, everything. Plus all the themes I wanted so badly to see explored more: the line between political idealism and authoritarianism, food as colonialism, the ethics of AI, the dangers of cultural hegemony, just... all of it... everything. With a swoony queer romance right at the center! Will there be a third book? I sure would love a third book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion | Solaris for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

[moka · Rating 4 out of 5]

FEAST continues right where Interstellar MegaChef left off and pushes ahead further into the chaos of politics, food culture, protests, betrayals, and horniness - it’s a guaranteed Ur-drama!

One of the reasons I enjoyed Book #1 so much is one of the reasons I didn’t enjoy Book #2 as much. The book starts off with an extreme level of horniness from one of our leads, and it was too much for me. It was desperation which aligns well with their character but this isn’t something I like to read that’s constant in the book. I can see how some might find the characters a bit frustrating in this book with their decisions and actions, but again, these are characters and not everyone is every book is meant to be likeable - how boring would that be!

Other than that, this book delves further into the relationships established in the first book, featuring a lot of interpersonal drama. The heat intensifies from all directions, and it feels like Saraswati is in a pressure cooker!

I would recommend this for anyone looking for a Sci-Fi adventure with a queer-normative cast of main characters, an imaginative premise, and action/drama that doesn’t seem to let up from the start!

Thank you to Solaris for the eARC via NetGalley - all opinions are my own.

[Venneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fascinated to see how Lakshiminaryan would up the stakes for the sequel that already was interrogating the colonialist nature of its fictional food scene, but to see it actually go into the ways that food culture can be used as propaganda is instructive and informative. We also get more into the queer relationship of Serenity and Saraswati, and more of the political intrigue while we're at it. Fucking fantastic cap to the duology, and Lakshiminaryan is on my auto request list for the future.