Erica BauermeisterThe School of Essential Ingredients (A School of Essential Ingredients Novel)

A lovely book, The School of Essential Ingredients was written about Lillian's students in her Monday night cooking class. Like her students, Lillian has a story of her own, a sad one, that led her to the opening of her upscale restaurant and the weekly cooking classes. Erica Bauermeister does such a great job of describing the current scenes and the back stories of the eight students that the reader feels like a part of the group...or maybe like a fly on the wall who can see and hear and taste everything with clarity.Being a teacher may be one reason I enjoyed the book so much. Every term there's a new cast of characters, each with a history and reason for being there. In some ways, students are always the same, and in other ways they're very different from each other. Lillian's students were old and young, married and single, sad and glad. Through the preparation and consumption of food, memories are evoked, friendships are born, and lives are changed. The reader gets to see snapshots of the students' former lives, and the author's sketches of their individual pasts are so well written that I could see Chloe's disrespectful boyfriend becoming angry at her attempts at cooking, feel the tension in the room when Helen told Carl of her affair, and sense Ian's pleasure in preparing the tiramisu for Antonia.In our book club, we chose favorite characters. This was hard, for we liked them all. My choice was Isabelle, probably because of her comments about her adult daughters not understanding her decisions. Then there was the line about getting a crick in her neck from looking up at her sweet boy as he sat on her roof and talked about his new love interest. I liked Claire, the young mother, and could well empathize with the demands of a growing family on one's time and psyche. And lest I forget, I liked little Chloe and felt like saying, "You go, Girl!" when she found the strength to leave the lout she was living with.The truth is that all of the characters were interesting people whose past had fed into their present and made them who they were. In the end, everything is resolved, and all is well for the moment. Isn't that just like life itself? Everyone is interesting, everyone has a story, and things are the way they are for the moment. Who knows what's next on the horizon?

Purchased this for a book club and after reading quite a few heavy books this year, this was a breath of fresh air! Gratuitous descriptions of natural beauty and flavorful meals, relatable characters, and an all-around sense of love and warmth. My only qualm was that the author went a bit overboard with the similes and metaphors, as you could count about three per page, especially when describing the cooking process. Some were brimming with imagination such as a voice that sounds like the smooth layers of poured cake batter, but others fell a bit flat, whether that was because they were overused or a stretch. Overall though, a thoroughly enjoyable and quick read that will leave you wanting to cook up a delicious dish of your own.

The School of Essential Ingredients is a novel, but it's really a collection of short stories focusing on each of the students of the cooking class, and their teacher. I loved it. The author is a skillful writer, and she must be a very good chef, because her knowledge of and love for food and the entire preparation/serving process is remarkable. Very rich. She does add a pinch too much simile, plus repetitive use of people running fingers over this surface or that, but I'll forgive her because her descriptions are just wonderful. I think that may be her strongest suit. Here are examples:"...Margaret's mother raised the cup of milk away from the pot, and Lillian looked at the sauce, an untouched snowfield, its smell the feeling of quiet at the end of an illness, when the world is starting to feel gentle and welcoming again...", and"The beef bourguignon was bubbling in the oven, the smells of meat and red wine, onions and bay leaf and thyme murmuring like travelers on a late-night train."There is a theme running through this novel, that of women offering themselves up for family - a noble and rewarding pursuit, but one which leaves them feeling a bit hollowed out (remember the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein?) But another theme, that of slowing down and treasuring, savoring, indulging in, the simple things, works to help heal these people. In fact, after I finished the book, I found that the act of closing up my home for the night seemed a richer experience. I walked through the rooms thinking, "This is my beloved home. I love this room. I love these windows." etc.The characters are well-developed and relatable, and there is a gratifying warmth between them as they struggle with the normal difficulties of life. There are several places in the book where one character reminds/asks/encourages another to answer the question, "what did you do today that made you happy?" Wouldn't we be better off for asking ourselves this question?

Really liked this book , easy reading. Delves into what makes each character who they are.Loved Lillian’s quiet wisdom , true kindness , and heart for others .Highly recommend ♥️

The novel was fine if all you are interested in is a surface, feel-good story of the way a group of seemingly different strangers bonds over food. In fact, the descriptions of the cooking itself were richer than the characterizations. The characters were unrealistically 'precious,' and by that I mean that though through the course of the narrative it is revealed that they go through some terrible situations--death of a loved one, cheating spouse, emotionally abusive relationship, negligent parent--at the end you get a tidy, 'golly, gee, but cooking will make it all better.'If you are interested in a novel that explores the sensuality of food and its almost magical power, read _Like Water for Chocolate_ (Como Agua para Chocolate). It doesn't have a happy ending, but it is certainly better written.

After having read The Scent Keeper, by the same author, I immediately ordered this book. Today, at page 145 (110 pages left) I just gave up. The book is not as interesting and intriguing as The Scent Keeper. It is rather monotonous and even a little dreary. Such a pity, because the synopsis was very promising.So I rate this book 2,5 stars, therefore 2.

Embrace your senses smelling and feeling through this book, one of the perks of being alive is to linger on the metaphors, mental images, sounds and smells that literature bring to us. Worth the story and worth the sensations it will submerge you into.

You lose yourself in the rich and apt description as simple as making white sauce and as seemingly complicated as the making of a tiramisu

Sweet read, sometimes sad but very real and relatable life stories. Can recommend to anyone who loves a delicious dinner.

Excellent book from passion, food, people 😘