The Zen Monastery Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from a Zen Kitchen [Paperback]

Cheri Huber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2003

This cookbook includes low-fat vegetarian recipes for main dishes, soups, breads, and desserts as well as compositions from American Zen monks—those who were head cooks and those who assisted. These inspiring stories are funny and touching, and all reflect the difficulty, challenge, joy, and freedom inherent in living as a Zen monk.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Cheri Huber is the author of 19 books, including There Is Nothing Wrong with You, When You're Falling, Dive,and Time-Out for Parents. She founded the Mountain View Zen Center in Mountain View, California, and the Zen Monastery Practice Center in Murphys, California, and teaches in both communities. She travels widely and often, leading workshops and retreats around the United States and abroad, most recently in Costa Rica and Italy. She founded Living Compassion in 2003, a nonprofit group comprised of There Is Nothing Wrong With You Retreats (based on the book); Global Community for Peace: The Assisi Peace Project; The Africa Vulnerable Children Project; and Open Air Talk Radio, her weekly call-in radio show originating from Stanford University. She lives in Murphys, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Keep It Simple Books (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961475471
• ISBN-13: 978-0961475475
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,183,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Vegetarian Cookbook!, November 18, 2003

By 

MidwestMillennium (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Zen Monastery Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from a Zen Kitchen (Paperback)

I think this review, written by Adrian Marks for January Magazine (October 2003) describes The Zen Monastery Cookbook best.

"In form, The Monastery Cookbook is reminiscent of such classics as The Moosewood Cookbook and Alicia Bay Laurel's Living on the Earth. Those books, like this one, had a straight-from-the-commune roughness about them. Handlettered, crudely printed but lovingly crafted. . . .
The Monastery Cookbook is a good and useful book. . . .
The Monastery Cookbook covers all the bases, and it does it in an interesting way with lots of helpful anecdotes to contribute to your understanding of the vegetarian lifestyle and way of thinking. Following the recipes, there's no chance of going hungry: they're both solid and diverse. Eastern classics like Mjeddrah and Yellow Dal are interspersed with interpretations of European and American favorites like Pizza, Macaroni and Cheese, Sloppy Joes, Cinnamon Buns and Vichyssoise. Starters, soups, salads, main courses and desserts are all well covered, as well as a section on baking yeast bread that includes quite a lot of good advice.
One thing that The Monastery Cookbook understands and does a good job of sharing are the necessary principles of vegetarian cooking. Now, obviously, different vegetarians will take different paths to get to roughly the same place, but The Monastery Cookbook covers the nuts and bolts of the techniques that will get the results you want, regardless of the physical or philosophical reasons you opted for a vegetarian lifestyle. For example, the How To section covers cooking without oils and butter (not as easy as it sounds, by the way), how to substitute for eggs and dairy products, the basics of cooking with tofu, how to thicken liquids and other essential vegetarian kitchen techniques.
The recipes in The Monastery Cookbook are interspersed with stories written by the monks at the Zen Monastery Practice Center in Murphys, California, that is the monastery in question. All of the compositions are food-related, yet illuminate -- in often humorous and touching terms -- the challenges facing and joys offered up to the contemporary monk. (It's not all silence and tonsuring anymore.)
All in all, The Monastery Cookbook is an excellent addition to the cookbook shelf. The recipes here are diverse and easy-to-follow. Both vegetarians and those just looking for a more healthy approach to food will benefit from the book."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The depths of joy, ingredient by ingredient, January 12, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Zen Monastery Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from a Zen Kitchen (Paperback)

Knowledgeably compiled and deftly edited by Cheri Huber, The Zen Monastery Cookbook: Stories And Recipes From A Zen Kitchen is more than just another cookbook. It is replete with the stories, traditions, and insights from Monastery Cooks and Cook Assistants expressing gratitude, compassionate awareness, and the search to find peace and transformation in one's own existence. A gradual exploration into the depths of joy, ingredient by ingredient, with simple and marvelous recipes for fruit salads, Tofu Pot Pie With Dumplings, Baked Apples, Italian Cheesecake and so much more, The Zen Monastery Cookbook is a genuinely wonderful addition to the personal and family cookbook shelf.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zen must-have for your cookbook collection!, January 19, 2008

By 

Stacey (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Zen Monastery Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from a Zen Kitchen (Paperback)

This is a GREAT cookbook. The recipes are unique, and wholesome, and they come with wonderful monastery side-lines. For instance: included with the chocolate-chip cookie recipe is the saying - If you eat 1-3 cookies, you were hungry for cookies, if you eat more than that, you have an issue you should be talking about. That's paraphrased, but it's close. Enjoy a wonderful cookbook.