Books and beyond

In Erica Bauermeister's The School of Essential Ingredients, we learn along with the characters how transforming food can be. The aromas, flavors, and textures stir memories and emotions which can be both healing and releasing. 

 

As you meet each character – Lillian (the teacher), Claire, Carl, Tom, Chloe, Helen, Antonia, Isabelle, and Ian – you learn about their lives and how they came to be in this class. Their stories are expertly intertwined with the dishes being made. 

 

And then there's the food. Bauermeister has a gift for writing about food in such sensual, evocative terms that it will make you want to recreate each dish yourself and share it with someone you love.  

 

Advice from Lillian regarding Valentine’s Day: “If you live in your senses, slowly, with attention, if you use your eyes and your fingertips and your taste buds, then romance is something you’ll never need a greeting card to make you remember.”

 

For more mouth-watering reads try:

 

The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate

 

Georgia’s Kitchen by Jenny Nelson