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Rating: 
Summary: Three Bowl
Review: I have really enjoyed this cookbook. It does make use of some dairy products, but I just omit or substitute for them. I don't know if this cookbook will help anyone reach enlightenment but it is good food. All the meals complement each other well.
Eat and Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Three Bowl
Review: I have really enjoyed this cookbook. It does make use of some dairy products, but I just omit or substitute for them. I don't know if this cookbook will help anyone reach enlightenment but it is good food. All the meals complement each other well.
Eat and Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Tasty treats
Review: Somewhat reminiscent of Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, this massive tome puzzled me for years until Mssrs Scott and Pappas's macabre vision of one's relation to oneself finally struck me; that with each abuse of the sixth recipe over the ninth, they move closer and closer to the pro-active diad that is food. Eventually the suicide-prone, self-loathing Pappas, who we as a society find quite the jester winds his way through the high road to alienation, much like a Puccini character. The subtle irony of Scott and Pappas' monumental epiphany finally places them at the pinnacle of the newly formed triumvirate, and finally, societal acceptance. In this way, they become so cynical that they adopt an anti-cynical work ethic in order to preach their intellectual treatise to the masses, thus eventually compromising their own moral barometer in the worst way. Like Icarus, they fly too close to the brilliant heat of personal ulra-rationalism, and wind up destroying themselves via their self-enforced taboo of social acceptance. Brilliant.
Rating:
Summary: 3 bowls, 5 stars
Review: This book is a wonder. Essentially, all the menus come in balanced threes, and are also split up by season. Spring brings feta spaghetti, shredded carrot and apple salad, and minted lemonade; Summer and muesli, warm fruit compote, and spicy chai; Fall's penne with sweet onions, beet salad, and garlic lemon rasam, Winter brings polenta, black bean soup and braised endive (and I don't even like endives!)The recipes are generally short and easy to accomplish with few ingredients, and are balanced well so that you can start one, move on to the next, and finish the last in time for the beginning of a meal. The text is thoughtful and fun, full of anecdotes on monastery life, zen koans, and a upbeat spirituality -- it reminds us to be mindful while cooking, that it's not just something we do to get over with so we can stoke an engine, but that it's a worthwhile activity unto itself -- something people often forget. The recipes themselves are from all styles and nationalities -- italian polenta, japanese miso, spanish paella, swiss oats, greek tzatziki... 120 recipes in total, 40 menus. Everything here is vegetarian, but I would recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to not only widen their repertoire of international recipes, but also to anyone who wants to slow down, start with some basics, and be reminded of how simple, worthwhile, and truly fulfilling cooking can be.
Rating: 
Summary: Betrayal of Zen
Review: This book is enlightening; enlightening about Zen Capitalism. You know... the kind of profiteering off of new age spirituality that goes on nowadays...selling the deceptive appearance of simplicity, purification, and discipline, and mystifying the dharma. In the olden days, Zen Monks ate rice with some wheat, pickles and miso soup. Now, in American "Zen", they drink trendy chai, and eat things whose names have the words "rasam", "feta" and "braised" in them. I imagine the cooks from this monestary going on to start a very trendy and successful restaurant in LA or New York based on this cooking, like Greens restaurant in San Francisco. This book encourages a kind of cooking that plays to luxurious tastes. Attachment to this sort of food, like attachment to anything else, will not help anyone become enlightened.
Rating:
Summary: Betrayal of Zen
Review: This book is the first cookbook I bought although I didn't think the inclusion of dairy products is appropriate. Leaving this aside I think I will get a lot of use from this book.
Rating:
Summary: Am so happy I bought this book........
Review: This is such a wonderfully useful book and the chapter or section on the philosophy of food in Zen was worth the price of the book. I also appreciated that food choices are seasonal as are the recipes. I also like the section on the role of the cook, which in this fast food society should be obligated reading. There is also an excellent section on the well stocked Zen kitchen as well as methods and ingredients explanations for those who are unfamiliar with certain terms. The book is alas non meat which is fine, and I personally love finding new fruits, vegetables and grain ideas to add to my constantly evolving kitchen tastes. There is also a wonderful history of sorts about Zen and food. The illustrations and photographs are crisp and clean, and the text is easy to read and the directions easy to follow. If you are a serious cook who loves ethnic variety I seriously recommend this book for your collection and use.
Rating:
Summary: Am so happy I bought this book........
Review: This is such a wonderfully useful book and the chapter or section on the philosophy of food in Zen was worth the price of the book. I also appreciated that food choices are seasonal as are the recipes. I also like the section on the role of the cook, which in this fast food society should be obligated reading. There is also an excellent section on the well stocked Zen kitchen as well as methods and ingredients explanations for those who are unfamiliar with certain terms. The book is alas non meat which is fine, and I personally love finding new fruits, vegetables and grain ideas to add to my constantly evolving kitchen tastes. There is also a wonderful history of sorts about Zen and food. The illustrations and photographs are crisp and clean, and the text is easy to read and the directions easy to follow. If you are a serious cook who loves ethnic variety I seriously recommend this book for your collection and use.
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