More than a recipe book, this is an instructive, innovative, and inviting manual that helps the reader recognize that nourishment is something more than the food we eat. It is what satisfies the hunger we have to transform our basic relationship to food into a practice of spiritual wisdom and balance. It is what allows us to use the tools of food and nutrition for self-healing and self-transformation. Leggett guides the reader in unlocking a toolbox--the constructs and patterns of Chinese medicine--to decipher and apply the principles of food energetics to a Western cuisine. His prose connects with the reader in many ways. It offers thoughtful prespectives on nourishment, the sources of nourishment, an understanding of the makeup of a human being, and an explication of the paradigms of Chinese medicine which minimizes the cultural overtones so as to help effect its cross-cultural transmission; and it provides a delightful sampling of recipes which range from soups to desserts and all in between, with easy-to-use formats and a checklist of applicable primary actions, influences, and contraindications. Throughout the pages of this book, Leggett’s enthusiasm, awareness, and practicality sparkle and reverberate to empower and inspire the reader.