How a Buddhist monk won one of the cooking world’s most prestigious awards without a restaurant or customers

Jeong Kwan, this year’s receiver of Asia’s 50 Finest Places to eat Icon Award, has captivated the culinary planet with out a solitary Michelin star, cafe or client to her name.

Adhering to her mother’s demise, Kwan went to a temple at the age of 17 and began her path to monkhood. In her new residence, she mastered the art of temple cuisine: a model of cooking that prioritizes preserving the purity of every dish’s ingredients.

“Temple food stuff is the connection that delivers physical and mental strength alongside one another,” Kwan advised CNN. “It is about maximizing the taste and nourishment from plant-dependent substances with confined seasoning or included condiments.”

Kwan, who cooks without meat, dairy, fish or pungent herbs like chives, spring onions and garlic, masterfully wields organic processes these as fermentation to make a vibrant palette of flavors.

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“It is the operate of character. It truly is magical how by fermenting, you improve the strength of the authentic component,” Kwan was quoted as declaring. “The picked radishes no more time have the electricity of the radishes but they have integrated the energy of the fermented sauces and then they harmonize our bodies.”

From slices of Korean pear sprinkled with herbs and a savory citrus sauce to shiitake mushrooms doused in five-12 months aged soy sauce and fermented berry juice, all of Kwan’s dishes are designed from scratch – with ingredients freshly plucked from her temple’s garden.

She inevitably turned an accidental but very highly regarded chef, garnering praise from culinary giants these as Éric Ripert and René Redzepi. The Buddhist monk was hailed by the New York Periods as a “philosopher chef” and has even starred in an episode of Netflix’s “Chef’s Desk.”

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But for Kwan, cooking is not a indicates to fame and fortune – it is a religious medium.

Tale continues

“It’s very crucial to recognize that she’s not a chef like us,” Ripert, a fellow Buddhist, told The World’s 50 Very best Dining places. “For her, [cooking] is a way to observe Buddhism, a way to apply what she’s understanding each individual working day and what she wants to share with the entire world.”

Whilst accepting her award, Kwan said she hopes it will “raise recognition of temple food and even more progress Korean cuisine around the earth.”

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She extra, “I am aware of the troubles induced by the international pandemic and hope that the scenario will boost so we can satisfy once again to share food items and beneficial electrical power.”

Featured Impression by using 50 Most effective Dining establishments Tv

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