quiet food – a recipe for sanity – from fast food to slow food to quiet food

by Johan Strydom, Anotony Oster, Chrisi van Loon, Angela Shaw and Claire Clark (Jacana)

This is food with soul… food for the soul – a collection of vegetarian recipes developed and improved over 25 years at the Buddhist Retreat Centre in Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal.

“The recipes in this book,” writes retreat founder, Louis van Loon, “feature exceptionally flavoursome, nutritionally balanced vegetarian food that has been honed to perfection by a multitude of cooks and housekeepers.

“But it is also, simultaneously, food for the mind.”

Each recipe is accompanied by a “Zenecdote” which, the authors say, “will hopefully put a Buddha smile on your face while turning your kitchen into a temple for contemplation as well as cooking”.

This is a wonderful collection, lovingly put together and beautifully written.

Recipes cover soups, salads, dressings and oils, mains, sides, sweets, breads and basics.

You’ll find interesting combinations like mrs hema rajamaran’s botswana chowder (sweet, sour and spicy soup), regal red (simple colourful beetroot soup), butternut and fresh ginger soup and tomatoes on horseback – a tangy and velvety tomato and horseradish soup “which combines well with croutons and a grating of strong cheese...”.

Salads include a crystal clear spring day salad made with fresh lentils – “a piquant salad with strong flavours. Good with birdsong, a gentle sun and crusty bread”; the “anything goes” all-green zonk’izinto salad, and colourful collage which features kidney bean, olive and feta.

For mains, try a convivial classic (summer moussaka), golden temple quiche (spicy mushroom quiche) or ixopo green (the retreat’s famous spinach pie).

Sides, sweets and breads are equally mouth-watering (the indulgent ambrosial baked cheesecake and filled bread are definitely on my list).

As Louis says, “… if you cannot visit us for one of our retreats, you can now, with this recipe book, get the flavour of the place – in more ways than one”.