In Buddha's Kitchen: Cooking, Being Cooked, and Other Adventures in a Meditation Center [Paperback]

Kimberley Snow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2004

Kimberley Snow offers an outrageously funny and honest account of her adventures as head cook at a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center. With her earthy sensibility and sharp sense of humor, the author shows this world in a light devoid of preciousness—while expressing with heart the integrity of the spiritual work being undertaken. We come away from our visit to this exotic realm having found it both extraordinary and surprisingly familiar. The neuroses, obsessions, and petty concerns exposed by Snow—both in herself and her fellow staff members—prove to be grist for the mill for discovering the grace inherent in life just as it is.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The sweet potato queens meet Pema Chodron in this book about "enlightenment having"-as a Tibetan teacher might phrase it-in the kitchen of a California Tibetan Buddhist retreat center. Southern-born, Presbyterian-bred author Snow lays out a buffet of episodes from her life before and during her tenure as cook in the center. She's a divorced ex-gourmet chef and refugee from academia, "always leaving, never staying to work it out." In this book, the Buddhist dharma (teaching) comes from the stove instead of the meditation cushion, making it concrete, engaging and generally highly entertaining. In addition to her raconteur ability, Snow has a gift for applying Tibetan Buddhist teaching, which can seem foreign or esoteric, to real life with its quirky demands and characters. One chapter is even entitled "Dzogchenpa among the Presbyterians." Narrative progression in the first half of the book is a little choppy as the author relates life episodes in no apparent logical order, but later chapters gather steam, providing background that unrolls to drive the book forward to a resolution of dawning wisdom. Some of the episodes could go on longer, because characters are so memorably sketched that it's a shame to leave them so quickly. Overall, this is a small jewel, and it's altogether refreshing to read a Buddhist book with a sense of humor.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"In this book, the Buddhist teaching comes from the stove instead of the meditation cushion, making it concrete, engaging and generally highly entertaining. This is a small jewel, and it's altogether refreshing to read a Buddhist book with a sense of humor." —Publishers Weekly

"Snow cooks up a sumptuous meal, rich with laughter and wisdom."—Philip Zaleski, editor of the Best Spiritual Writing series

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (September 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590301471
• ISBN-13: 978-1590301470
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #560,438 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( B ) > Buddha

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What? No recipes?, October 8, 2003

By 

"zenbookworm" (Torrance, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Buddha's Kitchen : Cooking, Being Cooked, and Other Adventures at a Meditation Center (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book about the author's experiences cooking in a Buddhist Monastery in Northern California. Several chapters are real gems: Jizo Ceremony, Impermanence, A Cup of Tea and On Having A Teacher. She makes good use of her early experiences as a chef to contrast with the new attitude of mindfulness and silence.

Even though I give it five stars I still walked away from the table hungry for a little more.

I would have liked to read a deeper treatment of transforming the five poisons into the five wisdoms, something intriguing that was only mentioned in passing.

How can you write a whole book about cooking in a Buddhist kitchen and not include a single recipe? The Author does mention at one point that she is working on a cookbook. I'd love to read that as a companion volume to this great book on practical application of Buddhist ideas to daily life.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyday Buddha, July 23, 2003

By 

Kateri W. Garcia (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Buddha's Kitchen : Cooking, Being Cooked, and Other Adventures at a Meditation Center (Hardcover)

In Buddha's Kitchen was an honest and profound look into the mind's phenomenon. I was left with a deep sense of humanity as I learned that my own questions are part of a larger communal experience. Kimberley Snow's book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in Buddhism, but her experience is also a reflection of everyone who searches their daily life for the good within. I recommend this book for anyone looking for that everyday Buddha. Kimberly if you're reading this, thank you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great entertainment AND excellent teaching., November 18, 2005

By 

SKO "kunsang palmo" (california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Buddha's Kitchen : Cooking, Being Cooked, and Other Adventures at a Meditation Center (Hardcover)

I picked up this book with wonder. I am a writer who lived in a California Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center, and was the Cook. South of Dorje Ling, and thus somewhat different - yet I was profoundly moved by her eloquent portrait of what could have been my own experience. Despite the unusual reason for my personal resonance with the story, I believe that even people who are not former Meditation Center cooks will find this book wonderful reading. The story is quite entertaining, and the dharma is presented in an elegant, unassuming, and egoless style, that is incredibly readable.