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Cook like a hero (or villain) with first tasty look at new Marvel cookbook, Eat the Universe
For years, fans have ravenously consumed the comics and films released by Marvel, but that was always a metaphorical type of consumption. No longer! The time has finally come to satiate your Galactus-sized hunger pangs with an exclusive first look at Marvel Eat the Universe: The Official Cookbook, which tells you how to literally chow down on the world of Avengers and X-Men.
Based on chef Justin Warner's Marvel web series of the same name, the upcoming book (published by our good friends at Insight Editions, it goes on sale this July) is almost 200 pages of superhero- and supervillain-themed recipes. SYFY WIRE is pleased to debut two dishes based on a pair of fan-favorite mutants: Magneto and Wolverine.
"We took meticulous notes throughout filming Eat the Universe, so it was really just arranging and categorizing the recipes. The folks at Insight know how to put a killer pop culture cookbook together," Warner, who is also known for being a Food Network personality, tells SYFY WIRE.
Thanks to his ability to control the forces of magnetism, Magneto's recipe is shakshuka, a traditional (not to mention delicious) Middle Eastern and North African dish of eggs cooked in a spicy tomato sauce. How does this relate to controlling metal? Well, in order to make it, you've gotta break out your induction burner! As the page below notes, however, cooking it on the stove is just as acceptable.
"The best part about this show and companion cookbook is that Marvel let me show off (through food) my personal relationship and interpretation of these beloved characters," Warner explains. "I have been a Marvel enthusiast since my very first comic book. I wrote to Spider-Man when I was a kid. The team and I would do some pretty deep dives through Marvel Unlimited to make sure we were honoring the source materials. The New Media team at Marvel is very easy to work with, so I'd pitch my interpretation and we'd work out anything that didn't feel perfect. Sometimes, it's hard to put a deranged serial killer like Cletus Kasady on a plate. But we did it."
This brings us to "Wolverine's Bayou Boil," a recipe inspired by the X-Man's foray into Cajun Country in the Marvel-Stitcher podcast series, Wolverine: The Lost Trail. Nothing curbs an immortal appetite more than a pound of crawfish boiled up with spices, corn, sausage, and potatoes. In addition, the tasty (and clawed) mud bugs are able to regenerate their limbs, just like James Howlett can with his famous healing factor.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
When coming up with cuisines for certain characters, Justin worked hard to avoid taking the easy way out and going surface deep with his recipes. Instead, he made sure that each meal would result from a deep contextual understanding and love of the hero or villain to which it was tailored.
"A lot of these recipes are things people haven't made or seen before. 'Glittering Dazzler Pizza Bagels' can now be a thing, as it should be," Warner adds. "I love making something new and fun. I love working out the rationale behind Dazzler and how she becomes pizza bagels in the hands of a cook. The most challenging aspect is also that. I never wanted to make red white and blue cupcakes and say, 'This is Steve Rogers.' I wanted to teach and to show that through these characters, we can learn about gastronomy. I doubt Franklin Richards would be super eager to try beef tongue, but I bet Steve Rogers considers it a staple of the Depression-era pantry. Cool huh?"
When asked which Marvel character has the most gastronomic experience and/or training, Warner named The Raging Chef, a character specifically created for the company's "Make Me a Hero" initiative. "[But] I think anyone with acute senses would probably be a good cook," the chef concludes. "Otherwise, I'd have to say the Moms of Marvel. In addition to being superheroes, they also have to provide for their families."
Marvel Eat the Universe: The Official Cookbook ($29.99) goes on sale Tuesday, July 28. If your mouth is already watering at the culinary comic book possibilities, pre-order a copy on Amazon right here.
