The author of an official Star Wars book detailing the interior of its spacecraft has defended the inclusion of a galley kitchen, apparently created as a wedding present for Princess Leia.

In the book, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Incredible Cross-Sections, published to coincide with the release of the new film, a tiny corner kitchen is illustrated in a drawing of the Millennium Falcon, with the caption: “Crew quarters were reconfigured to include galley as wedding gift for Leia Organa.”

Units are limited to what appears to be a microwave, a bin, minimal storage cupboards, a two-ring hob and an oven. There is also a bar stool and flip-down counter, ideal for enjoying a quiet coffee (mug visible).

No details are added about how the crew coped with the reduction to their living space – not only from this domestic addition, but the presumably enlarged sleeping quarters required following the union of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and the former Princess Leia, played by Carrie Fisher.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘It was an awkward attempt at making Han’s rusty, decrepit home a bit more welcoming’ … a detail from Star Wars: The Force Awakens Incredible Cross-Sections. Photograph: DK Children

Writing on Tumbr, the book’s author Jason Fry says the thinking behind the renovation was not that Leia “would obviously need a kitchen to potter around in, or feel the instinct to hang up her blaster and start cooking for her new husband and his Wookiee pal”. Rather, he says, the idea was that such an improvement would be necessary to cater for Leia’s culinary tastes. “The galley isn’t there for Leia to cook in – it’s there so someone else could use it to make something that Leia might want to eat.”

He continues: “Leia’s a military leader, so I don’t see her as finicky. But she grew up as a member of the royal house of Alderaan and served in the Imperial Senate. Those months eating Corellian TV dinners and reheated Wookiee goulash on the Falcon had to rankle – and I imagined that later they’d become a humorous bone of contention between her and Han.”

Fry reveals early Falcon plans did include a small kitchen, which he took the opportunity of restoring when it was felt the new film would required some adaptation to the ship so that Chewie could convalesce.

It was a gift from Han meant as a humorous make-do for months of terrible food, and an awkward attempt at making his rusty, decrepit home a bit more welcoming. But I always imagined Chewie would be the one doing the cooking – something about that image strikes me as funny. Or perhaps Han bought the galaxy’s grouchiest food-preparation droid, who turned out to have glitchy programming anyway. I don’t know, maybe Leia Organa’s a master chef. But I didn’t imagine her doing anything in the new galley beyond making herself the occasional cup of space coffee. After all, she would have been too busy saving the damn galaxy.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is on course to become the most successful film of all time at the box office. But the reception to its spin-off merchandise has been bumpier. A backlash recently greeted the realisation that leading character Rey was ignored in a new special edition of Monopoly.

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