Lavanya Lakshminarayan’s ‘Intergalactic Feast’ Explores Future of Food in Sci-Fi Sequel

Lavanya Lakshminarayan, who earned an Arthur C Clarke Award nomination for her debut “The Ten Percent Thief,” is one of only two Indian authors ever shortlisted for the prize. She has now released “Intergalactic Feast,” the second book in her Flavour Hacker series and her first sequel. The novel further explores the role of food in shaping human civilization, a theme she developed during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lakshminarayan, whose debut “The Ten Percent Thief” earned critical acclaim for its dystopian vision of Bangalore, began the Flavour Hacker series with “Interstellar Megachef.” In a previous interview, she explained, “One of the things I missed terribly (during the Covid lockdown) was social connection, and a lot of the time that is expressed through sharing food with people… If our history is tied up with the history of food, the natural extension was that the future of humanity would also be intricately woven around food.”

Creating a sequel meant revisiting familiar characters while acknowledging that both she and they had evolved. “The characters on the page, they demand a certain aesthetic sensibility from you, which hearkens back to who you were when you started writing the first book,” Lakshminarayan said. “It’s this delightful contradiction where the characters in the world have also grown while you were away and not working on the sequel. But when you do return, you’ve got to meet them on their own terms.”

She stressed that a sequel must be more than an extension; it must be a standalone work. “I feel like a sequel, while it relies on a certain spirit upon which the first book was written, picks up where it left off, but it also needs to be its own artefact. It needs to stand on its own two feet. It needs to address ideas that are unique to it.” This philosophy guided the development of “Intergalactic Feast,” which presents fresh conflicts and culinary innovations.

Though the series is set on a remote planet, Lakshminarayan’s Bangalore upbringing infuses the world-building. Many characters and dishes are rooted in South Indian culture. “A lot of the food that one of the main characters makes includes dosas and vadas—futuristic versions of this, of course—but wholly inspired by South Indian culture,” she said. This blend of local flavour and advanced technology has become a hallmark of her work.

Lakshminarayan’s writing has consistently balanced social commentary with dark humour. Reflecting on her growth, she stated, “I think at its core, I still retain a sense of the satirical, of the playful, possibly a little bit of whimsy, dark humour, but the manner in which it’s expressed, I think that changes…… It’s also a product of what my characters demand on the page and what each book separately asks me to do off it. So I would say I’m constantly growing and changing in different directions.” Yet, she remains anchored in a satirical and slightly acerbic point of view.

With “Intergalactic Feast” now available, Lakshminarayan is taking a break to sift through ideas accumulated over five years before deciding on her next project. The book invites readers into a future where food remains central to identity and community, carrying forward the Bangalorean spirit that characterises her work.