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I was watching Episode V with my nephew yesterday.

In the scene in Yoda's hut on Dagobah, Yoda offers Luke some oat porridge like food before revealing himself to be a jedi master.

My nephew's question was:

What are they eating?

He was incredulous when I said 'porridge', but that's my closest guess.

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  • I always thought it is roots, maybe boiled or in a soup.
    – nyrvan
    Jun 23, 2016 at 9:55
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    "Whoa, whoa, whoa. There’s still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby, you’ve got a stew going." - youtube.com/watch?v=Sr2PlqXw03Y
    – NKCampbell
    Jun 23, 2016 at 16:15
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    Apropos of nothing, in order to publicise the National Radio version of Empire Strikes Back they paid a professional chef to come up with a recipe for YODA'S INCREDIBLE HERB STEW
    – Valorum
    Jun 23, 2016 at 17:09
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    @Accio_Answer - Buy your nephew this book. Buy it now. Make sure he receives it at the earliest possible opportunity.
    – Valorum
    Jun 23, 2016 at 17:30
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    ammonra.org/skywalkerparadigm/art/evidence/esbe56.jpg
    – Hack-R
    Jun 23, 2016 at 21:58

1 Answer 1

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There's mention in the film and film script that he's cooking something called rootleaf.

CREATURE: Not far. Yoda not far. Patience. Soon you will be with him. (tasting food from the pot) Rootleaf, I cook. Why wish you become Jedi? Hm?

The original junior novelisation describes it as "rootleaf" soup

“Not far,” said the creature. “Yoda not far. Patience. Soon you will be with him.” He tasted the food directly from the pot. “Rootleaf, I cook. Why wish you become Jedi? Hm?”

This concurs with the new (canon) junior novelisation, albeit it's now "root-leaf stew". There's also some cooking advice. Evidently it also contains swamp weed.

Once in the house, the creature immediately busies himself with cooking. He has a pot hung over a little fire, and two small cauldrons sitting among coals, and he runs back and forth between them, throwing roots and swamp weed into them. As he cooks, the smell that wafts through the room reminds you of a garbage depot in the hot season on Tatooine.

...

The creature shoves a spoonful of root-leaf stew into your mouth. It has the consistency of boiled brains, and you’re about to spit it out when you stop—it doesn’t taste terrible, actually. You chew and swallow.

In the Star Wars Encyclopedia, it's described as a nourishing stew

Rootleaf: A type of plant native to Dagobah. The Jedi Master Yoda used rootleaf to brew a potent and nourishing stew.

In the factbook "Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know" it's back to being rootleaf (with no hyphen) and it's a soup again.

Yoda's pantry

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    You can always trust @Valorum to have read the junior novelisation for some inexplicable reason. +1
    – Dr R Dizzle
    Jun 23, 2016 at 10:05
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    @zipquincy - Make sure you buy the right one, though. The old junior novel is basically just the adult novelisation with smaller words.
    – Valorum
    Jun 23, 2016 at 16:21
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    @zipquincy: Second person
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Jun 23, 2016 at 16:47
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    @zipquincy: First person: "I went to the store." Second person: "You went to the store." Third person: "He went to the store." (All three sentences are written on the assumption that the person who's the primary POV for the narrative at that point in the text is the one who went to the store. The POV can vary, even within a chapter. That's more common in third person than the others, but applies to all. Third person's ability to seamlessly shift POV is one of the reasons it's used so often.)
    – T.J. Crowder
    Jun 23, 2016 at 16:50
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    @zipquincy - All three novels in the new series have some interesting perspective choices. The first one is told from the POV of each of the three main characters; Leia, Luke, Han. Certain events are missing (since the character wasn't there) but others are elaborated upon.
    – Valorum
    Jun 23, 2016 at 17:34

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