Taoist Cookbook

by Michael R. Saso

Book Overview

The Taoist way of cooking was developed in the mountains, hills, and villages of China to provide a simple means of maintaining good health, long life, and well-being. Author Michael Saso collected these recipes while traveling to Taoist monasteries and homes throughout China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804830371
• ISBN13: 9780804830379
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.0" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book with few flaws.

This is an excellent book for anyone serious about living a healthy and long life. The recipes are (for the most part) easy and delicious! There are, however, two minor problems I found in the book which staved off a 5 star rating. The first is some of the recipe instructions are vague and imprecise. While this can be easily bypassed by anyone used to cooking for themselves, for a young american used to fast food and moron-proof instructions some mistakes are un-avoidable. I still can't cook fried tofu as he suggests without it sticking horribly to my wok (which has undergone the procedure to make it non-stick.) The second problem is somewhat minor but a tad irritating. While he provides 81 chapters, one for each chapter of the Tao-Te-Ching not every chapter contains a recipe. Some of them merely contain descriptions of Dri yogurt and Tibetan barley bread without any recipes. In all fairness both of those meals would be impossible to fix since Dri milk is un-known in this country and Tibetan bread requires a brick oven so why include them at all? This was a little disappointing but all in all, I really do love this book and highly recommend it!

Excellent companion to a Taoist or Vegetarian practice

Do yourself a giant favor: BUY THIS BOOK; it offers simple, healthy food in accordance with the balance of nature. For those who are familiar with the healing power of food combining (discussed elsewhere), this book will offer a boon in terms of recipes and ingredient ideas. For those convinced of the importance of a healthy lifestyle, look no further. Mr. Saso's attempt to provide simple, healthy, nutritious, traditional Taoist cuisine succeeds. The book provides easy to follow recipes that are sure to satisfy any palate and purify any digestive system. It is in agreement with the practice of "eating to live" as opposed to "living to eat". It also offers some "food for the mind" in the form of meditative quotations from the Tao Te Ching. Gluttons, gourmands, and other undisciplined or apathetic eaters, be forewarned, this book is not for you unless you are seeking a way out of the misery and drudgery of your personal eating habits. Say goodbye to post-dinner "tightness" in the belly; kiss those belly-bombers goodbye; away with those airy interludes and inopportune dashes to the loo. Those are a nuisance of the past. Human digestive systems were not meant to eat the way we eat in our modern society. That is a cold, hard fact; accept it. Say hello to an ancient diet; so ancient it is radical; so radical it is new; so new you can't believe it is so ancient; so practical and you begin to wonder why the rest of the world doesn't know about it. Then you wonder: "Why do I believe that the way I was taught to eat by my parents is the only true absolute way?" Buy this book. If not this book then get another, but enlighten your Self, learn the principles of food combining, and spread the word. Seek the Tao, learn the Tao---it will change your life for the better. I wish you a healthy gastronomy and the resulting personal serenity it will bring for the rest of your life. You owe them to yourself, don't you think!

This book is a treasure...

I have used this book for the past 2 years and my mental state and health have improved dramaticlly, I can't say enough about this wonderful book. The recipies taste good.. Most of the other books I have read are written by fruads or people with no real knowledge of Taoist beliefs and are usually New-Agers.