California's Tassajara Zen Mountain Center has long been renowned for its gourmet vegetarian cuisine. In this comprehensive guide to the Tassajara way of cooking, the retreat center–spa's most celebrated chef, 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 insights for living a life that celebrates simple food.

""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 The Moosewood Cookbook

""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