The Tassajara Bread Book

The kitchen as the Tassajara Zen Center in the mountains outside Carmel, California, teaches guests to explore the relationship between kitchen work, awakening, and the nourishment that comes as a result of offering ourselves wholeheartedly to any activity. From this kitchen has come several cookbooks; one being The Tassajara Bread Book which has been a favorite among renowned chefs and novice bakers alike for more than thirty years. The guest program includes a major kitchen operation. Tassajara is renowned for its vegetarian cuisine. Tassajara personnel also founded the Tassajara Bakery in Ashbury Heights and Greens Restaurant at Fort Mason in the Marina District in San Francisco. Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Bread Book, published by Shambhala Publications in 1970, is often credited as a major catalyst for the popularity of artisanal baking in the United States, while his Tassajara Recipe Book is the best known of several books of general vegetarian cuisine produced by authors connected with the Center.