With the death of Gene Wilder and the many remembrances of his Willy Wonka days, we’re finding both chocolate and solace in Yoss’s “Interstellar Biochocolate Mousse à la Solitaire . . . For Two,” from our May issue of Cuban speculative fiction. The annotated recipe for this “preferred dessert of astronauts who are embarking on long solo journeys” calls for the usual suspects—cocoa powder or chocolate, cream, sugar, eggs (given by weight rather than by number, since “in theory, it’s possible to achieve the same results with eggs from any bird, whether earthly or extraterrestrial”)—and one secret ingredient, to be added to only one of the five servings. As you might expect, that fifth serving requires alternative preparation and yields a considerably different result, perfectly engineered to bring comfort to long solitary flights. New Yorkers can catch Yoss at this month’s Brooklyn Book Festival. In the meantime, do console yourself with this or another recipe, and remember, as the author points out, “the meaning of the Latin word for chocolate: Theobroma, food of the gods.”

Image: Gene Wilder, 1970. Wikimedia Commons.