Minor spoilers forward for the episodes “Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord”, “The Dark Revenge” and “Sinister Schemes”.
“Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord” has so far been a welcome return to the animated corner of the franchise for many fans. It mainly focuses on Maul getting a new apprentice. itself a nod to one of George Lucas’s best unused sequel trilogy ideas. But as always with this property, there’s a lot more going on. As such, fans would be forgiven for missing the way “Maul – Shadow Lord” casually introduces what appears to be Italian cuisine into the “Star Wars” universe.
Let’s review the tape. In the premiere episode, “The Dark Revenge”, we see Looti Vario (which may be familiar to “Star Wars” fans) eating with fellow crime boss Nico Deemis (John Carroll Lynch). When the lid is removed from Looti’s dish, we see what looks a lot like chicken parmigiana, also known as chicken parmigiana. (See below.) This is a classic Italian dish here on Earth, but what exactly is it in the “Star Wars” galaxy? That’s a big question with no definitive answer for now.
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Then, in the show’s second episode, “Sinister Schemes,” we meet Detective Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura) at his home after a long night of work with his son Rylee (Charlie Bushnell). On her kitchen counter, plain as day, are a couple of boxes of food that look suspiciously like the kind of pizza delivery boxes one would find on Earth. (See image below). That’s pretty much the kind of food a teenager would eat while his workaholic father was also away on business.
Were there Italians in space a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away? Probably not. As such, we have questions.
What is the Star Wars version of Italian food?
Fans have long been fascinated with the specifics of culinary delights throughout the “Star Wars” galaxy. Blue Milk can be tricky to createbut it’s been a “Star Wars” staple since the beginning. George Lucas and every other creative who has touched this franchise has taken what they know about our world and tried to use it to imagine other worlds. Sometimes there will be similarities.
“Andor” alone opened up many culinary possibilities in the “Star Wars” universefrom cool looking cereals to blue noodles and more. And let’s not forget Rey (Daisy Ridley) making some cool-looking instant bread in “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens.” There are many foods in this franchise that are similar to the foods we know, but with a twist.
In other words, that “Maul – Shadow Lord” features food that resembles Italian cuisine is not very surprising. That is What is surprising is that two Italian culinary dishes (pizza and chicken parmesan) were apparently presented on the same program in such quick succession. Of course, we can’t definitively say that Rylee was eating space pizza, but it’s very much a “What’s in the box?” at which point we operate under the assumption that this is absolutely space pizza.
The implication is that Janix, the planet where most of this show takes place, consumes a lot of the “Star Wars” equivalent of Italian food. Are the citizens of Janix the equivalent of Italians on Earth? Will we get more of her cooking as the show develops? We’ll see. We hope the space lasagna arrives sooner rather than later. It’s all definitely future material for the menu at Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland/Disney World.
“Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord” is streaming now on Disney+.