The School of Essential Ingredients

October 13, 2008
In this remarkable debut, Bauermeister creates a captivating world where the pleasures and particulars of sophisticated food come to mean much more than simple epicurean indulgence. Respected chef and restaurateur Lillian has spent much of her 30-something years in the kitchen, looking for meaning and satisfaction in evocative, delicious combinations of ingredients. Endeavoring to instill that love and know-how in others, Lillian holds a season of Monday evening cooking classes in her restaurant. The novel takes up the story of each of her students, navigating readers through the personal dramas, memories and musings stirred up as the characters handle, slice, chop, blend, smell and taste. Each student's affecting story—painful transitions, difficult choices—is rendered in vivid prose and woven together with confidence. Delivering memorable story lines and characters while seducing the senses, Bauermeister's tale of food and hope is certain to satisfy.

November 15, 2008
Each section of this tasty novel tells the story of a different character. The effect is a series of pearl-like vignettes stretched out along a narrative string. Anchoring the tales of these divergent individuals is their common participation in a cooking class run by Lillian, a restaurateur who teaches her pupils not by dictating a recipes precise instructions but by encouraging them to use their senses to comprehend whats evolving as she works through the cooking processes from raw ingredients to the ready-to-eat dish. Lillian herself learned the power of food from drawing her mother out of the depression of a failed marriage by feeding her mashed potatoes. Older students Carl and Helen recall how they held their marriage together over the years. Most touching of the characters, lawyer Tom comes to Lillians cooking school to assuage the grief from loss of his doomed spouse.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)