Chris's Reviews > The School of Essential Ingredients

My turn on the hotline was fairly quiet and I was able to quickly read this lovely debut (2009) novel of food and relationships. 4 stars for the enjoyment it brought me. It falls in line with a number of similarly styled novels such as Garden Spells, Water for Chocolate & Chocolat, but without as much magical realism infused throughout. The drop of magic comes from Lillian's uncanny ability to read people and know what kind of food lessons will meet their needs, which also reminded me of the bookseller in The Little Paris Bookshop.

Lillian offers small cooking classes at her restaurant & this offering brings a mix of people who have been motivated to take the class for disparate reasons, as different as the people themselves. After the set-up, each chapter then is about each student and the essential ingredients that make them who they are . At 255pp, the book is not long enough to fully flesh out each character but enough to make you care about them and wish them well.

There is some delicious writing which had me roll the phrases around and savor them just as Lillian wants you to savor the ingredients in cooking. There is definitely a focus on the food and it even tempted this non-cook in considering (fleetingly) making the effort to learn.

If you love food and light easy reading with interesting people this may be the book for you.