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Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures most recent oneshot revealed Yoda’s secret pastry recipe and more about the Jedi Master in the process.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #5 and Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular, on sale now.
In the Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular (by Daniel José Older, Vita Ayala, Jo Geyoung, Toni Bruno, Jake M. Wood, Riley Farmer, and Heather Antos), Jedi Masters Torben “Buckets of Blood” Buck and Kantam Sy work together to bake Yoda’s specialty “Sweet Story Custard Cakes.” As the name implies, the secret ingredient for these cakes is a story told by the baker or bakers to an audience. The one-shot even includes a copy of the recipe, written by Claudia Gray, so that readers can make the treats at home.
The story that Buckets of Blood and Kantam tell is heartwarming. However, the one-shot’s true highlight is the subtextual implications of Yoda, his past, and his focus on community.
The stories at the heart of “Sweet Story Custard Cakes” focus on cooperation and self-improvement. Buckets of Blood and Kantam’s story unspool a tale of how they worked together to help evacuate older Jedi from the Star Wars equivalent of a Jedi retirement home during the Great Disaster. The story reaffirms Buckets of Blood and Kantam’s bond while connecting with the Younglings and Padawans, building community as they build tasty treats.
While Yoda was not actually present for the “Galactic Bake-off Spectacular” recipe, its secret ingredient highlighted Yoda’s role in the Jedi Order. His focus throughout the eras of the Star Wars saga has been the education of Younglings and Padawans, making Yoda the first master for many Jedi. For example, in the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries, he leads younger Jedi on Great Disaster relief missions, but disappears while searching for information on the Nihil’s plans in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #5 (by Daniel José Older, Harvey Tolibao, Pow Rodrix, Manuel Bracchi, Rebecca Nalty, Jake M. Wood, Riley Farmer, Elizabeth Brei, and Heather Antos). Buckets of Blood and Kantam choosing Yoda’s recipe showed the enduring importance of Yoda’s influence.
Yoda’s desire for connection and focus on community is evident throughout his role in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well. In “Destiny,” the twelfth episode of the show’s sixth season, Yoda trains with the Five Priestesses to test his connection with the Force and learn how to, as Yoda stated, “manifest [his] life after death.” During the training, the Priestesses showed Yoda two futures to help him understand himself fully. One possible path ends in tragedy and one in the culmination of Yoda’s desires. In Yoda’s utopic future, all his fellow Jedi gather again, even those dead or lost to the Dark Side. This vision of his deepest desires shows how he values his “found” Jedi family, emphasizing his focus on community building. Yoda must recognize and reject the illusion to move forward in his training. The moment he does so foreshadows his self-imposed exile, a tragic act of self-sacrifice meant to save the community even as it severed his connection to it.
Yoda’s secret recipe might be a dish he learned during his travels. However, the “Sweet Story Custard Cakes” also could be a part of his cultural heritage. Food is essential to community making throughout cultures in our world; why wouldn’t it be the same a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? There is still little information available on Yoda’s younger years or even his species in the Star Wars saga. These cakes could reveal a culture oriented around honoring community and connection through oral storytelling.
The recipe could have bittersweet implications about Grogu’s past as well. Since they are the same species, the cakes also could be a part of Grogu’s cultural heritage. He might even have grown up with Yoda making these cakes before Order 66 ripped Grogu away from his Jedi family. Of course, this would make the years Grogu spent alone afterward even more heartbreaking.
Thus, while the recipe and the tradition surrounding it are heartwarming, they also offer bittersweet insight into the person Yoda was before the ultimate tragedy of Order 66 and the rise of Palpatine’s Empire. Most importantly, it reveals the Jedi Master’s commitment to building up young Jedi and instilling a strong sense of community through tradition, story, and food. While Yoda will always be remembered as a powerful Jedi, perhaps his true legacy should be seen as building a stronger community amongst the Jedi even after his death.
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