The School of Essential Ingredients (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

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• Lillian: Restaurant-owner and the cooking instructor. Believes in the magic of food.
• Carl: Helen's husband. Proud father and grandfather.
• Helen: A white-haired older woman who attends the cooking classes with her husband, Carl. A writer (who wants to be a book).
• Tom: One of the cooking students. Often wears a sad expression.
• Antonia: A young Italian woman with brown eyes. Immigrated from Italy to the U.S. 4 years previously. Works as a kitchen designer.
• Isabelle: Older woman, slightly frail in appearance. Mother of 3 (2 girls and 1 boy). Was married to the father of her children, but the marriage didn't last.
• Charlie: Tom's deceased wife. Loved garlic.
• Claire: Lost in the identity of wife and mother; trying to find and fit the pieces back in the puzzle of herself.
• Chloe: The youngest of the cooking students. Wears heavy eye-makeup and is not yet comfortable with or confident in herself.
• Abuelita: Cooking teacher of Lillian's; also perhaps mother-figure to her.
• James: Husband of Claire.
• Jake: Boyfriend of Chloe, a cook.
• Mark: Helen and Carl's son.
• Isaac: Isabelle's lover. A sculptor.
• James: Claire's husband.
• Laurie: Helen and Carl's daughter.
• Ian: A software engineer who lives above a Chinese restaurant.
• Rory: Isabelle's son, a college student.
• Edward: Isabelle's ex-husband.
• Lucy: James and Claire's daughter.

Quotes edit see section history

• “The first question people always ask me is, What are the essential ingredients?”

  Lillian

• “We are all just ingredients, Tom. What matters is the grace with which you cook the meal.”

  Charlie

• “If you live in your senses, slowly, with attention, if you use your eyes and your fingertips and your taste buds, then romance is something you'll never need a greeting card to make you remember.”

  Lillian

• “...her life was like the daily turning of pages filled with other people's writing...”

• “It makes everything a possibility, if you don't know the answer.”

• “Rosemary grows in the garden of a strong woman.”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “Sometimes, niña, our greatest gifts grow from what we are not given.”

  Highlighted by 154 Kindle customers

• “We’re all just ingredients, Tom. What matters is the grace with which you cook the meal.”

  Highlighted by 112 Kindle customers

• “She would say, ‘Life is beautiful. Some people just remind you of that more than others.’”

  Highlighted by 102 Kindle customers

• “Because to be a part of this world, we need more than safety. Your mother needs to remember what she lost and want it again.

  Highlighted by 72 Kindle customers

• Antonia made celebrations of things he had always dismissed as moments to be rushed through on the way to something more important.

  Highlighted by 61 Kindle customers

• And when you’re honest about what you are doing, I find care and respect follow more easily.

  Highlighted by 60 Kindle customers

• “every time we prepare food we interrupt a life cycle. We pull up a carrot or kill a crab—or maybe just stop the mold that’s growing on a wedge of cheese. We make meals with those ingredients and in doing so we give life to something else. It’s a basic equation, and if we pretend it doesn’t exist, we’re likely to miss the other important lesson, which is to give respect to both sides of the equation. So we start here.

  Highlighted by 60 Kindle customers

• “If you live in your senses, slowly, with attention, if you use your eyes and your fingertips and your taste buds, then romance is something you’ll never need a greeting card to make you remember.”

  Highlighted by 57 Kindle customers

• When she realized that there are many kinds of love and not all of them are obvious, that some wait, like presents in the back of a closet, until you are able to open them.

  Highlighted by 56 Kindle customers

• “I am starting to think that maybe memories are like this dessert. I eat it, and it becomes a part of me, whether I remember it later or not.”

  Highlighted by 55 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• The School of Essential Ingredients: Lillian's cooking school

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Theobroma: Cocoa tree, meaning food of the gods.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Essential ingredients in cooking, as well as in life, individuals and their gifts become the essential things we need: Describe this theme.
• The fragrances of foods evoke memories
• Healing happens through new friendships and cooking

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Erica Bauermeister (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3602.A9357S36 2009
• Dewey: 813.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

There is nothing inappropriate for young adults, but the characters' lives probably won't appeal to them.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Author's Website

More Books Like This edit see section history