The most important point is to find out what is the most important point. – Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Master cook, baker, and Zen priest, Edward Espe Brown began cooking and practicing Zen in 1965. He was the first head resident cook at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center from 1967 through 1969. Later he worked at the celebrated Greens Restaurant in San Francisco, serving as busboy, waiter, floor manager, wine buyer, cashier, host, and manager. Ordained as a zen priest by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1971, he has taught meditation retreats and vegetarian cooking classes throughout North America and Europe. Author of several bestselling cookbooks, including The Tassajara Bread Book and The Complete Tassajara Cookbook, he is also the editor of Not Always So, a book of lectures by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. The critically acclaimed 2007 documentary film How to Cook Your Life features Edward teaching in Austria and California. He resides in Fairfax, California.
Drawing from his time in the kitchen, on the cushion, and out in the everyday world, this evening’s talk will touch upon Zen, food, and life itself following the thread of finding out the most important point: Perhaps these days, it’s please wash your hands—we’re all in this together.
