I have nearly finished slowly working my way through this and thoroughly recommend it for the following reasons:
1. It's practical - there are 41 recipes to make and numerous variations on those recipes. These are recipes that Gesshin was taught and made continually during her three years in Nisodo Soto Convent in Nagoya, central Japan. So, these are easy to make, ordinary everyday food and not the haute cuisine shoyin ryori that is often called 'Buddhist Temple Food'. You are never going to be served 'Golden Japanese Curry' in a shoyin ryori restaurant. The recipes work well - I've written many of them up in my own recipe book for daily use.
2. As vegan cooking it fits well with the vow to avoid harming sentient beings and the dishes work well with oryoki practice, which is how they were eaten in Nisodo.
3. Alongside the recipes there are reflections on her time in Nisodo and the lessons that can be drawn from actually cooking. I loved these examples which, because of their rooted nature, have stuck in my mind. For example, if your miso soup smells of miso, there is too much miso in it. Likewise, if the first thing people see in your life is Zen stuff, then there is too much overt Zen in it. Zen practice should add to and bring out the flavors of the other ingredients.
4. You get to hear her reflections on the development of her practice over many years including her return to Japan, time in the Tassajara kitchens, marriage, studies and later work with the homeless in the SF Bay Area.
The books full details are 'Just Enough: Vegan Recipes from Japan's Buddhist Temples' by Gesshin Claire Greenwood, New World Library, 2019
Stewart
Sat Just Enough.JPG
1. It's practical - there are 41 recipes to make and numerous variations on those recipes. These are recipes that Gesshin was taught and made continually during her three years in Nisodo Soto Convent in Nagoya, central Japan. So, these are easy to make, ordinary everyday food and not the haute cuisine shoyin ryori that is often called 'Buddhist Temple Food'. You are never going to be served 'Golden Japanese Curry' in a shoyin ryori restaurant. The recipes work well - I've written many of them up in my own recipe book for daily use.
2. As vegan cooking it fits well with the vow to avoid harming sentient beings and the dishes work well with oryoki practice, which is how they were eaten in Nisodo.
3. Alongside the recipes there are reflections on her time in Nisodo and the lessons that can be drawn from actually cooking. I loved these examples which, because of their rooted nature, have stuck in my mind. For example, if your miso soup smells of miso, there is too much miso in it. Likewise, if the first thing people see in your life is Zen stuff, then there is too much overt Zen in it. Zen practice should add to and bring out the flavors of the other ingredients.
4. You get to hear her reflections on the development of her practice over many years including her return to Japan, time in the Tassajara kitchens, marriage, studies and later work with the homeless in the SF Bay Area.
The books full details are 'Just Enough: Vegan Recipes from Japan's Buddhist Temples' by Gesshin Claire Greenwood, New World Library, 2019
Stewart
Sat Just Enough.JPG
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