Craig Claiborne was a restaurant critic and food writer. In 1983, to promote the radio drama The Empire Strikes Back, National Public Radio solicited Claiborne to create "Yoda's Incredible Herb Stew," his interpretation of the rootleaf stew that Yoda served Luke Skywalker in his hut on Dagobah. The recipe was printed in newspapers around the United States. Its main ingredients are lamb, spinach, parsley, onions, and a lot of seasonings. The end result looks rather swampy but its taste is most reminiscent of Indian cuisine.
Claibourne worked as the food editor for The New York Times between 1957 and 1986, and in this position he is credited with introducing the much-imitated system of rating a restaurant out of four stars. He wrote numerous cookbooks, of which the best-known was The New York Times Cookbook, published in 1961. After his retirement from the Times he continued writing cookbooks. A notable later work was Craig Claibourne's Southern Cooking, inspired by the foods of his childhood in Mississippi.