Doris Dörrie's camera greets Edward Espe Brown when he arrives in Australia to give a class on cooking, Zen, and meditation. We see him back home in Northern California as well. Brown, for 40 years a Zen cook, demonstrates cooking as well as commenting on topics including anger, quiet, gleaning and waste, battered pots, and how he found his vocation. A focus of his is to demonstrate how to bring oneself to cooking and to others simultaneously. He quotes often from two master... (Full plot summary below)
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Doris Dörrie's camera greets Edward Espe Brown when he arrives in Australia to give a class on cooking, Zen, and meditation. We see him back home in Northern California as well. Brown, for 40 years a Zen cook, demonstrates cooking as well as commenting on topics including anger, quiet, gleaning and waste, battered pots, and how he found his vocation. A focus of his is to demonstrate how to bring oneself to cooking and to others simultaneously. He quotes often from two masters, with several examples of Zen wit. The camera takes the occasional trip to fast-food restaurants to provide contrast to Brown's approach and results.
Leave your thoughts about How to Cook Your Life.
| The Tyee (British Columbia)Dorothy WoodendSalient points about the nature of food and culture are gently made, but the tone of the film is never preachy nor didactic, and the correlations between spiritual teaching and food make for a nice series of lessons learned. |
| Ozus' World Movie ReviewsDennis SchwartzIt gives one a good sense of the Zen experience in cooking. |
| San Francisco ChronicleWalter V. AddiegoThe film is directed with humor and a sense of openness that is quite Zen-like. |
| L.A. WeeklyGregg RickmanCook and Zen priest Edward Brown is profiled in this documentary by German filmmaker Doris Dörrie (Men), who follows the witty, pleasant Brown as he offers cooking and life lessons in Buddhist retreats in Austria and California. |
| Spirituality and PracticeFrederic and Mary Ann BrussatA playful and enlightening documentary featuring Zen master and accomplished cook Edward Espe Brown with nourishing tips on food and paying attention. |
| Movie HabitMarty MapesA tasty dish; but you'll be hungry again in an hour |
| Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker... more of a snack than a meal: Zen and the art of culinary simplicity as a temporary spiritual retreat. |
| Contra Costa TimesMary F. PolsThe documentary plays like a long, dull parody of pure living. |
| St. Paul Pioneer PressChris HewittWhat makes her film fascinating is the idea that this calm, centered man may be about to lose his grip. |
| New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisA jaunty mix of chanting, baking and spiritual uplift, How to Cook Your Life introduces us to the cooking classes of Edward Espe Brown, a twinkling Zen priest. |
