cover image No Recipe: Cooking as Spiritual Practice

No Recipe: Cooking as Spiritual Practice

Edward Espé Brown. Sounds True, $17.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978-1-68364-054-7

Brown (The Tassajara Bread Book), first former head cook at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, addresses the spiritual qualities of cooking in this illuminating guide. Brown presents cooking as a refreshing celebration of the mundane—an act he feels is at the heart of understanding the sacred and a valuable means of enlarging one’s spirituality. Reflecting a modern, Western style of Zen Buddhism, Brown’s observations are rich with reminders to pay attention sensually as well as to engage one’s immediate experience and realize the freedom inherent in having choices. There are no recipes here; instead, Brown’s observations and encouragements fill the pages. His exhortation that “you’re the cook!” applies not only in the kitchen, but to all of life, he writes. Readers will learn to recognize and allow their emotions to be part of the cooking process, to make space for experiment and imperfection, and that Zen communities are subject to the same pettiness as any other. This book’s down-to-earth wisdom, generous spirit, and exuberant encouragement simply to cook will appeal to all readers who enjoy cooking, particularly those with an interest in Zen spirituality. (May)