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Edward Espe Brown

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The Complete Tassajara Cookbook: Recipes, Techniques, and Reflections from the Famed Zen Kitchen Hardcover – September 8, 2009

by Edward Espe Brown (Author)

4.7 113 ratings

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Tassajara, the California spa/retreat center, has long been renowned for its gourmet vegetarian cuisine. In this comprehensive book, one of Tassajara’s most well-known and beloved cooks, Edward Espe Brown, presents hundreds of recipes using fresh, whole foods; detailed notes on preparing seasonal ingredients; and, perhaps most important, inspiration for cooking with joyful intention and attention. Presented with humor and warmth, this book is full of wonderful insights into living a life that celebrates simple food.

Length

512
Pages
Language

EN
English
Publisher

Shambhala
Publication date

2009
September 8
Dimensions

7.5 x 1.6 x 9.5
inches
ISBN-10

1590306724
ISBN-13

978-1590306727
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Edward Espe Brown is as important to the history of California cuisine as Alice Waters. But it’s Brown’s Zen message of living in the moment that makes it unique. Anyone interested in flavorful vegetarian meals should look into it.”—Irene Sax, WeightWatchers.com

“How could you not love a cookbook with a recipe for beet soup that “‘emphasizes the beetiness of beet’?”—from “The Chef is Talking to You: A good number of first-person narratives make our list of favorite cookbooks of 2009” in the Calgary-Herald

“An insightful guide, replete with more than just recipes, The Complete Tassajara Cookbook blends 35 years of work and food-writing with well-explained cooking techniques.”—Yoga + Joyful Living

"Brown is a true teacher, providing lots of basics. He also serves up a great deal of thoughtfulness."—The Bloomsbury Review

“A graceful tome . . . an extended meditation on food preparation as spiritual journey. It represents a new wave of interest in conscious cooking.”—Edible East Bay

“A thoughtful tutorial. The detailed recipes that follow are eclectic and at times unusual but all celebrate vegetarian cuisine and the art of improvisation.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“The book reads like a script from a (good) cooking show. The recipes are nicely simple and easy to follow. This cookbook should be on any cooking enthusiast’s shelf, whether you’re a vegetarian or not.”—Elephant Journal

“A baking Zen priest after [our] own heart!”—O, the Oprah Magazine

“With profound-yet-playful regard for his subject matter, Ed Brown has consistently graced us with the practical poetry of his delicious cooking. This tome ties it all together beautifully, bringing new meaning to the word essential. In our modern era of rapid media images and flashing-light information, The Complete Tassajara Cookbook will provide a glowing sense of calm—hefty with substance, light with spirit, and rich with the experience of a master.”—Mollie Katzen, author of Moosewood Cookbook

About the Author

Edward Espe Brown began cooking and practicing Zen in 1965. He was the first head resident cook at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center from 1967 to 1970. He later worked at the celebrated Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, serving as busboy, waiter, floor manager, wine buyer, cashier, host, and manager. Ordained a priest by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, he has taught meditation retreats and vegetarian cooking classes throughout North America and Europe. He is the author of several cookbooks and the editor of Not Always So, a book of lectures by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. He is the subject of the critically acclaimed 2007 film How to Cook Your Life.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Shambhala; 1st edition (September 8, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1590306724
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1590306727
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.06 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.46 x 1.56 x 9.53 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #749,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #194 in California Cooking, Food & Wine
- #752 in Seasonal Cooking (Books)
- #845 in Natural Food Cooking

Customer Reviews:
4.7 113 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5

113 global ratings

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LMason

Excellent condition!

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2023

Verified Purchase

The cookbook was delivered in excellent condition and was packaged with care!! Thank you!!

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2022

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I have this book and it was given as a gift. The person received it and was thrilled. If from the 60's it will bring back memories.

Helpful

Cool Cookbook!

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2013

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It's out of print, and only available through used book sellers who work through amazon.com. Vegetarian cooking at its comfortable best: many recipes don't list quantities or sometimes even which vegetables you should use. It does offer the regular type recipes, too, but it embraces the concept that cooking is a very personal thing, and your own way of cooking can be quite diferent from anyone else yet be very good.

If you like to experiment with cooking, this book may be for you! Probably not for the fainthearted, though.

9 people found this helpful

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Josh

My favorite cookbook hands down

Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2014

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The tassajara cookbook has been my favorite cook book for the last 3 or 4 years--I know I'm slow about reviewing stuff.

The book itself contains many simple and delicious vegetarian meals, stories, and encourages exploration in the kitchen.
My copy is so used that the binding on the back is now broken, it has edits,comments, and scribbles all around my favorite recipies, and is water stained from using it so much in the kitchen.

Best cookbook I've ever owned!

12 people found this helpful

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dskwish

Cook what you know

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2009

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This is not a traditional cookbook. No pictures, lots of essays, some poetry, and basic recipes. What distinguishes it are Espe Brown's pontifications about cooking, zen, life. Like the movie, How To Cook Your Life, this book is an expression of Espe Brown's personality rather that his cooking expertise. The recipes are very basic - but I guess that's the point. He wants readers to cook by feel, by what they already know, rather than by measure and specific instructions. As I read many of the recipes, like the one for kidney bean chili, I thought, Wow, I already know how to do that.

I was also surprised that this wasn't a vegan or a health cookbook. Lots of the recipes call for eggs, milk, cheese, and oil. Not very au courant (the Engine 2 folks would have a fit), but I kind of like that about EB - he's got an acerbic (but loving) sense of humor - he can throw jabs at macrobiotics, and I'm sure at veganism. He's community-conscious and compassionate, but no food purist. Lots of vegan cookbooks seem rather self-righteous and humorless. EB's cookbook is imperfect, but meandering and fun.

38 people found this helpful

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Ilene Van Gossen

More than just a recipe collection

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2010

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I used to just buy the quickest stuff to fix, using all the sodium laden box mixes and other convenience foods to "throw" dinner together. Ed Brown teaches a whole new way of looking at cooking and being in the kitchen. He has expanded my understanding of what it means to cook for oneself and others. More than just a collection of recipes, this book, (as well as his Tassajara Bread Book) has enriched my life.

7 people found this helpful

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TatteredSpinner

Not just a cookbook, but a book that teaches you how to cook

Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2012

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This book doesn't just throw recipes at you. It teaches you techniques, explains the basics of matching tastes of different foods, and above all encourages you to experiment to add depth to your own judgement by adding to your experience. One thing that some people would definitely have a problem with is that the recipes are very informal and don't always explicitly state quantities and cook-times.

6 people found this helpful

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Client Amazon

GO EASY

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2012

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I got so excited reading thru the recipes when the book arrived - ticking off which ones to try first - none of this being very Zen. So now, I try to decide which recipe is best suited for the moment, and allow the time needed, no precipitation. A very good, rich book. Thank you Edward Brown.

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Dawn

A very good cookbook + life book

Reviewed in Singapore on November 23, 2022

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It is more than a practical cookbook, the accounts on events, reflections, thoughts, emotions, insights are a pleasure to read, like a breeze of fresh air, totally enjoyable !

Karina Grigorian

Better than expected

Reviewed in Canada on August 11, 2021

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This book was supposed to be used, but conditions was awesome. Excellent purchase

SCATABUSH

Very Disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 11, 2022

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Yet another poorly written cookbook. I was enthusiastic about this at the beginning, but the recipes are far from creative or full of flavour. The guidance is very poor. With a philosophy that you will just pick it up as you go along. It lacks both cooking times and quantities in places. Im a reasonably good home cook, and I found this book very frustrating and poor. If you wish to eat vegan or vegetarian look else where. My go to at the moment are the deliciously Ella books. But I also love and have adapted recipes from my Leiths cook book which really taught me how to cook properly. Im really amazed the Tassajara cook book is so highly rated. Im a practicing Buddhist so I did enjoy those elements of the book, but it just lack any coherent sense of direction when it came to creating delicious food. It’s lovely to have a so called Buddhist cookbook out there, but im sorry just because the philosophy and sentiment is good, it doesn’t mean the actual contents of the book is brilliant. Such a wasted opportunity.

L'arbre qui cache la forêt

Extra!

Reviewed in France on March 27, 2016

Verified Purchase

Voici un livre vraiment bien conçu. Il ne s'agit pas de cuisine japonaise mais de cuisine occidentale dans l'esprit japonais. Pas de problème donc pour les ingrédients... mais il faut faire le deuil de cuisiner comme au pays du Soleil-Levant. Personnellement, je trouve que l'esprit dans lequel on cuisine est plus important et de ce point de vue le livre est... extra! On y apprend les grands principes, comment couper les aliments de façon juste, comment improviser... avec quelque réflexions approfondies sur le rôle de la cuisine dans le zen, le tout complété par de nombreuses recettes généralement simples à réaliser. L'auteur est le cuistot du centre zen Tassajara, celui-là même où résida le célèbre maître Shunryu Suzuki.

Bon appétit!

One person found this helpful

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Penny-Shaini

Four Stars

Reviewed in Canada on June 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

Excellent Recipes and good reading. Would love to see pictures of the dishes though.

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