Cookbooks on the Shelf Part 1

Recently Mia got a copy of Laurel's Kitchen and she has been sharing her adventures in her blog. If you don't know about Laurel's Kitchen, you might not understand how a cookbook could lead to adventures. You also might not understand my waves of nostalgia every time I read one of her posts about LK. Laurel's Kitchen is more than a cookbook. It was a book about a way of life. I guess many of the glossy cookbooks are like that, too, but not one that ever felt attainable or desirable (at least not to me). As I reread the introduction I realize that the authors were trying to capture the "feeling" of Laurel's life in their own. "We realized how carelessly we were spending our lives. I began to understand the appeal of that old Quaker phrase 'living intentionally.' " It was at this point that the author became reaquainted with Laurel (who is described as what I consider the quintessential Berkeley-earthmother-hippie; once arrested at Sproul Hall, now baking bread, making lentil soup, practicing meditation and giving sage advice to the other authors of the book).


I think that was the appeal of the book to me. The two of the three authors (one of them WAS Laurel) were able to adopt a different lifestyle (one that even in 1976 had become old fashioned). I first read the book in high school. It was a Christmas gift from The Aunt who had a vegetarian friend. I had become interested in nutrition and also had just been introduced to food politics by Frances Moore Lappe's Diet for a Small Planet (I wrote my college entrance essay about that book--memories!). Looking back, I was probably an insufferable bore about both topics. High school students know so much more about everything, don't you know! So anyway, the conscious adoption of a way of life was what appealed to me about the book--the story of the three women and their journey into vegetarian cooking and intentional living. I could look at the life I had ahead of me and know that I could DECIDE how I wanted it to be. That was a powerful thing for a high school senior!
What's interesting is that when I googled "Laurel's Kitchen" and read a few blogs that mentioned the book, there were always stories like mine, either in the blog, or in the comments. "I got LK when I became a vegetarian in high school," "In college I would read and reread..." etc. So the nostalgia about LK is more universal than I imagined. Interesting.

But then there are the recipes, too! It is a cookbook after all. I'll have more to say about this in Part 2. Meanwhile, check out Mia's adventures with Laurel by clicking the link up above. I'm sure you will enjoy them as much as I do; even if not for the same reasons!

P.S. So, OK, just so you know, I didn't want the bun. But the avocado seed growing in the glass--that was my dream! Mostly unfulfilled, too. They would never sprout! Now I always have multiple avocado seeds growing in my compost heap. Another dream realized!