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.
“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