Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings: Recipes and Reflections

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended Food for thought.
Review: As much a manual on how to live Zen as a cookbook, Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings guides the reader through a philosophy of cooking based on a philosophy of enjoying life. Brown teaches the reader to trust her own instincts and follow her own tastes, rather than be a slave to his wonderfully simple recipes. Following recipes is not about achieving someone else's idea of perfection -- it's about guiding oneself to new tastes and territories, about gaining new insights and knowledge, and using one's common sense to mediate.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended Food for thought.
Review: As much a manual on how to live Zen as a cookbook, Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings guides the reader through a philosophy of cooking based on a philosophy of enjoying life. Brown teaches the reader to trust her own instincts and follow her own tastes, rather than be a slave to his wonderfully simple recipes. Following recipes is not about achieving someone else's idea of perfection -- it's about guiding oneself to new tastes and territories, about gaining new insights and knowledge, and using one's common sense to mediate.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent autobiography of a chef
Review: As someone who a) loves autobiographies and b) reads everything I can about chefs, food and cooking, I loved this book through and through. It is a surprisingly humble story about how Edward Espe Brown became the great chef and teacher that he is. He writes in the same simple style that won me over years ago in the Tassajara Bread Book. I don't believe he intended this book of "Recipes and Reflections" to be considered a cookbook (since he's already done so many of those by himself and with others), but to inspire cooks and would-be cooks to explore the wonders of the Universe, via food or any other avenue they might choose. For me it was very inspiring, both personally and professionally, and for some reason I often think of this book and the things he's said, though I read it over a year ago. Since I didn't try any of the recipes scattered throughout (although I found some good ideas in them) I cannot comment on that. Just, I've found this to be one of the most enjoyable and encouraging reads on cooking, teaching and life in general.

Rating:
Summary: Buy the other Tassajara cookbooks instead
Review: I love both the Tassajara Bread Book and Tassajara Cooking, so I was excited to see that there was a new book in the series. Unfortunately, this book doesn't live up to the other Tassajara books. Each group of recipes is prefaced by a story about Brown's experiences as a chef and Zen priest, and how the two overlap. While it does make for interesting light reading, the anecdotes outweigh the recipies, which aren't terribly good. While I use the other Tassajara cookbooks all the time (and recommend them both) Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings rarely leaves the shelf.

Rating:
Summary: A guide to "conscious cooking"
Review: This collection of essays and reflections, interspersed with recipes, is more a handbook for conscious cooking than a cookbook. Heavily influenced by Buddhist philosophy -- the author is a practicing Zen Buddhist -- the lessons imparted are equally applicable to any cook's forays into the kitchen, whether you're Buddhist or not, whether you cook professionally, for your family or simply for yourself. The reflective essays before each group of recipes attempt to illustrate the interplay between our spiritual lives and the tasks of our everyday lives, especially cooking, eating and cleaning up afterward. As Brown says in his introduction, "After all, this is where we live with things that are not just things, and with meaning that can be more real than things. I want the spiritual to reach the kitchen. Otherwise, it is empty of significance." If you would like to start practicing conscious cooking -- to be consciously aware of the tasks you perform in the kitchen, of the connections between the foods you eat and the world you live in -- this book is the perfect beginner's guide. And the simple, everyday vegetarian recipes will fortify you with the basics for your own experiments.