Giju stew, characterized by its distinctly unpleasant aroma, was most palatable when prepared with a touch of Boontaspice. From his younger days on Tatooine, where Aunt Beru Lars frequently cooked it, to his service with the Rebel Alliance and subsequently the New Republic, Luke Skywalker encountered Giju stew. Notably, Lando Calrissian once unsuccessfully attempted to serve Giju stew to a disgusted Skywalker and Leia Organa, having overused Boontaspice in the recipe.
While aboard the Millennium Falcon starship in 3.5 ABY, Lando Calrissian of the Rebel Alliance presented Giju stew to his companions Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and the Wookiee Chewbacca. Calrissian dedicated an hour to preparing the dish in the ship's kitchen, but his friends declined to partake, with Skywalker and Organa likening it to a mixture of melted boot plastic and fertilizer topped with pond scum. Calrissian, initially proud of his creation, tasted the stew himself, only to discover that he had added too much Boontaspice. Consequently, he discarded the meal and opted for an alternative.
During the Yuuzhan Vong War in 26 ABY, Skywalker and his wife, Mara Jade Skywalker, took a short break from the conflict on an island beach. As Skywalker walked on the sand, he was overcome with memories of his youth on the desert planet Tatooine, vividly recalling the scent of Giju stew prepared by his Aunt Beru Lars. Later in the war, in 28 ABY, Skywalker ate a serving of Giju stew alongside his wife and Cal Omas on the New Republic Fleet Command space station, shortly before Omas's election as New Republic Chief of State.
The novel Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry, released in May 1996, marked the first appearance of Giju stew. It later appeared in two novels within The New Jedi Order series: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth by Greg Keyes (2001) and Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams (2002).
The name of the stew is derived from Giju, the Herglics' home world, which was first mentioned in the 1992 Dark Force Rising Sourcebook, a supplement for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. Although "Giju stew" is capitalized in both Shadows of the Empire and the 1998 Star Wars Encyclopedia, the aforementioned The New Jedi Order novels and the 2008 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia use the lowercase form "giju stew." However, given that "Giju" is a proper noun referring to the planet, this article maintains the capitalized version.