Zen Cook Ed Brown at Green Gulch

The photos above were taken (by me) yesterday at Green Gulch Farm & Zen Center in Marin County. I went to meditate and listen to Ed Brown give a public lecture/dharma talk. Ed is the subject of a new documentary called "How to Cook Your Life" by German filmmaker Doris Dörrie (who also made the hilarious film "Enlightenment Guaranteed" about two German brothers who spend time at a Zen monastery in Japan). In the top photo, the sign the guy was holding said "FREE HUGS" (and yes, he gave Ed a hug).

I saw the film on Ed at the Shattuck in Berkeley last night after spending the day at Green Gulch and Muir Beach. It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday. Ed's talk began with a 10-minute exercise on eating an apple slice with a group of kids (whose parents are probably part of the Zen community). The kids shared how the apple tasted ("It tastes like apple cider," said one boy) and Ed had a great time talking about how in our culture we can't even slow down long enough to slice up our fruit any more. He ended the talk, as I recall, by telling us, "You are worth sliced fruit!" Go see the film if you get a chance--it's also worth sliced fruit (see short review below).

Documentary, 01:40 minutes, Rated PG-13 Full Review
Playfully billing itself as a “cooking class” with Zen priest and cookbook author Edward Espe Brown, this is a film you can sink your teeth into. You’ll never mistake this movie for a Food Network show, because Brown believes that working in the kitchen can be an intensely spiritual activity. It's about the perils of living in a world of abundance and how cooking can reconnect us with ourselves and each other. It's about nourishing the soul as well as the body. German filmmaker Doris Dörrie directs with humor and a sense of openness that is quite Zen-like.

-- W. Addiego, SF Chronicle

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