How to Cook Your Life
A New Zealand cookbook grounded in Buddhist philosophy
The recipe…
In a mixing bowl, combine one award-winning writer, Buddhist philosopher, environmentalist, traveller and cook with one fabulous foodie photographer…
Blend stories and delectable recipes from a community of cooks with passion and generosity.
Toss in fresh herbs, wild plants and medicinal plant knowledge.
Stir. Taste. Season.
Slow cook the recipes. Laugh often.
Garnish with a literary book designer.
Select your drinks and invite your whānau.
Give thanks. Whakawhetai.
Eat.
Features nearly 100 healthy, tasty recipes. Many are being shared for the first time!
Adaptable recipes focusing on plant-based and vegetarian with easily found ingredients, but also a flexitarian section of fish and chicken mains. Make your own sauces, spices, wines and even face cream. Learn the meal gratitude prayers. Re-read the stories. Eat with your eyes…
Produced By 100% human creativity - no AI content
How to Cook Your Life: stories and recipes to heal a lonely planet is a collaboration by local foodies telling global stories – from the first-ever cook on the Rainbow Warrior to surviving Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia, to teen food issues, to the competitive Curry Club and a westie wine group…
It puts its values where your mouth is – visually showcasing the best of who we are as connected communities, generous, creative, compassionate and caring for people and environment. It has a great sense of humour.
How to Cook Your Life celebrates ‘we’, not I. Not the celebrity chef but people who cook for others from the heart and share kai. Delectable images by Jean-Patrick Vinay.
Listen to the author with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ National:
FEATURING
Frozen Raspberry Bountiful Bars, a new creation from the passionate Pien Wise, west Auckland café entrepreneur.
Jay’s Salmon Curry – never before shared and the frequent winner of The Curry Club award.
Jade Reidy and Pien Wise at Sozo Café, Glen Eden.
Stories and insights from Jade’s decade with the Westie Wine Group.
Te reo contents and kai Māori.
Cambodia’s national dish, Amok Trei and Auckland’s Cambodian community.
Where to Buy
From these retail stores:
Ecomatters Store, 1 Olympic Place, New Lynn www.ecomatters.org.nz/ecomatters-store
Raglan Refill, 15 Bow St, Raglan
Time Out Book Store, online orders:
shop.timeout.co.nz/p/how-to-cook-your-life-stories-and-recipes-to-heal-a-lonely-planet
Or text: 021 046 4039 to order directly, $40 + postage.
Retail price: $45
THE AUTHOR
Jade Reidy is descended from three generations of knowledge seekers about food as medicine. She has a qualification from the University of Canterbury in Food, Nutrition and Wellbeing.
Jade has been a highly awarded professional non-fiction writer for 40 years and held an Oxford University writers fellowship. During a decade in London, she baked bread in an organic bakery, worked for a natural remedies and organic herb company, and cooked for large numbers in a French Zen temple until becoming ordained as a nun.
Her ancestral iwi is Whakatōhea and her whare (home) for the past 25 years has been in Huia in the Waitākere Ranges, where she also started up a winemaking group. Alongside running Jade Reidy Communications, she volunteers as a cook at Auckland’s Fair Food. This is her first cookbook.
What people are saying…
“I’ve just read the cookbook from cover to cover. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the scope you’ve included. It’s huge – almost like the Joy of Cooking. You can dip in and make things you never thought possible. LH
“Oh, wow, Jade. Your book is amazing. You have a lovely way of writing – it feels like the words are dancing in my brain. So good to read something that has meaning and I don’t have to try and figure out what the author is trying to say! Very beautiful and touching.” PM
“Congrats on a very fine book. It is going to attract much attention and praise. People will be talking about your launch for years!” GW
“Big congratulations to Jade Reidy and her wonderful cast for an amazing event last night! We heard some powerful, eye-opening stories.. and shared moments of joy, celebration, and a heartfelt commitment to making our food resources fairer for everyone.” CC, Titirangi Library
“We knew you can write, edit, publish, cook and speak with spiritual and emotional intelligence; turns out you can perform too! Awesome work, Jade… We were touched and moved.”
“I am just in awe how this book has come together. Jade, you have done an amazing job! Thank you for inviting me to assist on this project. I am truly humbled by the experience.” JPV