Now Read This: “The School of Essential Ingredients,” by Erica Bauermeister

If you are ready to snuggle up with a book to stave off the cold weather, I recommend Erica Bauermeister’s “The School of Essential Ingredients.” Much like the title suggests, this novel’s surprisingly intricate plot line focuses on a weekly cooking class at a local restaurant. Lillian, the owner of this establishment, gathers on Monday nights with a small group of students who all hope to learn the art of cooking.

Lillian’s methods, however, are not what her students expect. Ever since she was young, Lillian has believed in food the way the other children believed in magic. To her, cooking is a way to unlock others’ hearts, so her passion for it leads her to create dishes based on smells, tastes and the emotions others experience when they sample her food.

By treating cooking as more than just a skill or a pile of by-the-book recipes, Lillian introduces the enjoyment of cooking to her students, and each one learns a little bit more than intended. As the book progresses, the students’ backstories come to life through Bauermeister’s vivid details of both the food and the characters’ emotions. Flashbacks of each character’s struggles appear between excerpts of the cooking class, allowing the past and present to mix together in the singular moment when someone kneads dough or melts butter. Every experience in Lillian’s kitchen helps the students form new realizations about their lives and relationships.

Somewhere in the well-worn pages of this heartwarming library book, I found inspiration for my own cooking. I found it in the scent of oregano and many of the other small moments Bauermeister brought to life in her text. Because of this book’s ability to encourage readers to try new cooking methods alongside the warm fuzzies found within the book’s ever-changing relationships, it is a worthwhile read.

If books like this suit your taste, you might try “The Jane Austen Book Club,” by Karen Joy Fowler, in which a group of Californians get together to discuss Jane Austen’s novels even as the drama in their own lives unfolds around them. Another title you might try is “Kitchens of the Great Midwest,” by J. Ryan Stradal; this novel centers on Eva Thorvald and the way people influence her in the kitchen. The library has both of these books in print format and as audiobooks.