The School of Essential Ingredients
From the author of Reese Witherspoon's Book Club pick The Scent Keeper comes a "heartbreakingly delicious" national bestseller about a chef, her students, and the evocative lessons that food teaches about life. Once a month on a Monday night, eight students gather in Lillian's restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect. The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian's soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. And soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create....
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Community Reviews
This book is what you think it is. It reminded me of Debbie Macomber's Blossom Street books about knitting and the relationships that grow from taking a class together. I enjoyed it. All the references and reverence for food. The advice to slow down and honor your meal and appreciate every aspect of the food. I love food literature so that was a no brainer for me. The stories are interesting, and the author doesn't give nice tidy endings, which I liked.
Awesome book! I loved the premise of this, because what could possibly be more compelling than food, and the author wove such poignant stories around each of the personalities in the class. Bauermeister imbued Lillian with such a mystical persona, almost like Mary Poppins for adults, knowing what each person needed even when they didn't.
The language flawlessly painted scenes and characters so that I feell I know each person in the book, except Lillian [kept intentionally mysterious?].The pace of the action naturally conveyed the different feel of life in Lillian's kitchen - a place where anything is possible if you are open to it.
What are your essential ingredients?
The language flawlessly painted scenes and characters so that I feell I know each person in the book, except Lillian [kept intentionally mysterious?].The pace of the action naturally conveyed the different feel of life in Lillian's kitchen - a place where anything is possible if you are open to it.
What are your essential ingredients?
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