Celestial Banquet

Once every generation, the Major Gods convene a Celestial Banquet, summoning chefs from across the Continent to cook for them. The prize for the winner is the legendary Peaches of Immortality and a lifetime of fame; the losers die at the gods' whim. Cai, a hot-headed noodle chef, enters hoping to win enough fortune to open her own restaurant and lift her poor Peninsula town out of hardship. Alongside a drunken minor god, a childhood friend turned crush, and a dreamy noble rival, she must survive a string of increasingly outlandish culinary trials, from hunting mystical sea serpents to preparing a magical dish from the eggs of a legendary bird. Drawing on Chinese and Southeast Asian folklore, this YA fantasy debut is a food-driven adventure about home, family, and the price of ambition.