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No Recipe: Cooking as Spiritual Practice
“Instilling the food you prepare with your spirit and good heart is a great undertaking—one that will nourish you in the doing, in the offering, and in the eating.” With No Recipe, renowned author of The Tassajara Bread Book (Shambhala, 1970) Edward Espe Brown invites us into his home and kitchen to explore how cooking and eating can be paths to awakening and realization.
Reading Brown’s witty and engaging collection of essays is like learning to cook—and meditate—with your own personal Zen chef and teacher. Brown shares that the way to cook is not only about following a recipe, but about letting the ingredients come forward to awaken and nourish our bodies and minds. Baking, cutting, chopping, and tasting are not seen as rigid techniques, but as opportunities to find joy and satisfaction in the present moment. From soil to seed and preparation to plate, No Recipe brings us a collection of timeless teachings on cooking as spiritual practice.
Reading Brown’s witty and engaging collection of essays is like learning to cook—and meditate—with your own personal Zen chef and teacher. Brown shares that the way to cook is not only about following a recipe, but about letting the ingredients come forward to awaken and nourish our bodies and minds. Baking, cutting, chopping, and tasting are not seen as rigid techniques, but as opportunities to find joy and satisfaction in the present moment. From soil to seed and preparation to plate, No Recipe brings us a collection of timeless teachings on cooking as spiritual practice.
226 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2018
53 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
About the author
Edward Espe Brown
21 books26 followersEdward Espe Brown is a Zen Buddhist priest and professional chef.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
June 21, 2018
People tend to confuse meditation with exotica: sitting in poses that hurt the knee, buying silk cushions, going somewhere other than where you are. Ed Brown brings the lessons he has learned into the kitchen and we see that watching the mind, and noticing how it chooses to see things, is the core of meditation. We can do it while cutting, while chewing.
"Entering the sacred space of the kitchen, we don't know what will happen. We shift from the preoccupation of being in control to the focus of being in connection. Shift from your head to your heart and hands, your body and being, and you will tend to discover... moments of meeting the Beloved. What are you doing with your life? How will you choose to see things?"
When you give your attention to the ingredients, you let the true spirit of the grain speak. You sense the velvety flesh of butter lettuce coming alive in your mouth, alive and then disappearing. The rigid outer world of right and wrong, good and bad, dissolves, and in complete calmness, your heart resonates buoyantly. Anytime you are still and receptive, you can meet what is from beyond.
"The zen tradition of work ... mostly ... involves cleaning. Our mentors tried again and again to explain that it wasn't that clean was more spiritual than dirty, but that we were practicing relating with things --- touching them, tending to them, being in connection with them, not taking them for granted.When you practice this, you are living in another world, a world where things embody your spirit, where your presence gives things presence. We hardly have language for this: things are simply things, aren't they? Yet when you practice caring for, tending to things, things are not just things. They are an embodiment of your spirit."
"Entering the sacred space of the kitchen, we don't know what will happen. We shift from the preoccupation of being in control to the focus of being in connection. Shift from your head to your heart and hands, your body and being, and you will tend to discover... moments of meeting the Beloved. What are you doing with your life? How will you choose to see things?"
When you give your attention to the ingredients, you let the true spirit of the grain speak. You sense the velvety flesh of butter lettuce coming alive in your mouth, alive and then disappearing. The rigid outer world of right and wrong, good and bad, dissolves, and in complete calmness, your heart resonates buoyantly. Anytime you are still and receptive, you can meet what is from beyond.
"The zen tradition of work ... mostly ... involves cleaning. Our mentors tried again and again to explain that it wasn't that clean was more spiritual than dirty, but that we were practicing relating with things --- touching them, tending to them, being in connection with them, not taking them for granted.When you practice this, you are living in another world, a world where things embody your spirit, where your presence gives things presence. We hardly have language for this: things are simply things, aren't they? Yet when you practice caring for, tending to things, things are not just things. They are an embodiment of your spirit."
June 17, 2018
I couldn't get enough as I read the first 50 pages. But after that, it really slowed down a lot for me and became hard to read. The stories are very disjointed. However, when read in pieces the information is good and I enjoyed the opportunity to think about growing, becoming, and reflecting through the process of cooking.
February 29, 2020
The chapter of enlivening the kale salad taste by taste was fabulous. Wish more of the book was like that.
December 20, 2018
Gorgeous, deep Zen connections between cooking and Buddhism.
October 15, 2018
I have cherished all books by way of Edward Espe Brown. He calls for presence in the kitchen. Love.
January 3, 2024
Part memoir, part spiritual guide, Brown's charming book advocates for a return to the sacred in our cooking and in our lives. With eyes firmly set on the Buddhist precept of the the Middle Way (i.e. balance between extremes), this isn't an ascetic account of food, but a rich and vibrant celebration of the power of making and sharing food.
March 2, 2019
This book kept my attention despite, on occasion, a bit too much Zen philosophy for my brain. I liked how very personal it is. I garnered reinforcement for my love of cooking, tasting, and sharing, through the examples in his life. I'm glad to own this book because I will return to it again.
December 20, 2021
I very much enjoyed the combination of buddhism with cooking. The first half especially resonated with me and included many encouraging ideas to immerse myself even more in the cooking process. Allow it to transform me while I am preparing food.
January 12, 2019
Musings and mullings on what it was like to be the head of the Tassajara Kitchen, cooking, eating and Zen living
March 12, 2019
I really loved this book.
June 7, 2019
From my perspective this is not a cookbook but a book about developing a healthy relationship with food, eating, prepping and sharing it.
September 13, 2019
Does anyone love you? Do you?
February 10, 2020
What a treat! Mr Brown brings light and insight to the subject of cooking our meals and cooking ourselves.
I was inspired while reading and sad to see it end. I’ll use many aspects of this book
I was inspired while reading and sad to see it end. I’ll use many aspects of this book
February 9, 2021
More woffle than substance.
February 18, 2021
No Recipe, 16
“We are called to be larger-hearted than we can even imagine” 23
“You trust your taste, until it changes, and then trust your taste.” 30
“We are called to be larger-hearted than we can even imagine” 23
“You trust your taste, until it changes, and then trust your taste.” 30
March 22, 2022
Life changing.
July 23, 2023
Fantastic read on cooking, life and Zen practice: highly recommended to any student of Zen interested in food out there!
September 8, 2023
Lacks organization: disjointed and rambly. Some good information, but overall seems a bit too stream of consciousness. Read about 3/4.
June 20, 2025
after working as a cook for seventeen years this feels like coming home but I don't think you need to have spent years dicing 20# of onions to find something helpful here
January 19, 2023
I knew from the minute I picked this up that I was going to enjoy it, and I was absolutely right. There’s some wonderful, refreshing, and well-articulated insights in here that have furthered and deepened my love for both zen and cooking, and the only thing that got me to put this book down was the urge to move myself to the kitchen.
That being said, if you’re not as passionate about both zen and cooking as I am, you’ll probably struggle through this, and I don’t even think I would recommend it to most. It’s airy, esoteric, meandering and repetitive, as so many spirituality books tend to be, and while there’s a lot to love and learn, if this doesn’t seem like a book you’d like, it probably isn’t.
That being said, if you’re not as passionate about both zen and cooking as I am, you’ll probably struggle through this, and I don’t even think I would recommend it to most. It’s airy, esoteric, meandering and repetitive, as so many spirituality books tend to be, and while there’s a lot to love and learn, if this doesn’t seem like a book you’d like, it probably isn’t.
February 22, 2023
I really wanted to like it as someone both intrigued by Zen philosophy, whose primary language of love is Service as expressed through cooking, and who views cooking as perhaps one of the most spiritual actions a human can participate in... And at some points I did... But ultimately the book was disjointed and it's hard to concentrate or stay with the story.
Frankly I found myself bored out of my mind before it really even began; I picked the book up several times since snagging it excitingly from the library. But each time I'd read a few paragraphs, get bored with it again, and swap it out for something else I found more interesting. By the time a week had passed I was still only on page 15; I gave it one last hearty attempt today snuggled up in my favorite chair with a good cup of tea... And still only made it to page 20 before I simply gave up completely and DNF'd the book.
It's just not for me.
Frankly I found myself bored out of my mind before it really even began; I picked the book up several times since snagging it excitingly from the library. But each time I'd read a few paragraphs, get bored with it again, and swap it out for something else I found more interesting. By the time a week had passed I was still only on page 15; I gave it one last hearty attempt today snuggled up in my favorite chair with a good cup of tea... And still only made it to page 20 before I simply gave up completely and DNF'd the book.
It's just not for me.
December 27, 2017
This is not a book containing recipes or cooking advice but a reflection on the experience of cooking and food.
It is really interesting and give food for thought.
Recommended if you want to reflect on your relationship with food.
Many thanks to Sounds True Publishing and Netgalley
It is really interesting and give food for thought.
Recommended if you want to reflect on your relationship with food.
Many thanks to Sounds True Publishing and Netgalley
January 21, 2018
I once used cooking to pull myself out of a depression. If you are that type of cook, you will love this book. It is not a cookbook, it is a cooking book. Putting thought into the how, and why, with interesting tips and ideas spread throughout. If you tend to nerd out about cooking you will love it. If you believe in the spiritual parts of the every day, you will love it. If you love hearing some neat stories about cooking at retreats and such, you will love it. If you are looking for a book of HOW to cook, look elsewhere. If you are looking for a book about cooking as a spiritual event, about WHY to cook, about loving cooking, why to love cooking, and being curious about it, then look here and you will be happy.
April 22, 2018
This is not a book of recipes-it is focused on a philosophy of life. As an almost Buddhist myself, I found a great deal to like here. There is much wisdom and it is very well conveyed. Very enjoyable and well-written. Recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
May 31, 2018
Philosophy and meditation on life, cooking and eating.
Not a recipe book but an interesting read if you are trying to be more “present” in the kitchen and life in general. Put a little love into your life and the meals you prepare.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a preview copy.
Not a recipe book but an interesting read if you are trying to be more “present” in the kitchen and life in general. Put a little love into your life and the meals you prepare.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a preview copy.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews