Eating Your Way To Nirvana

As the world struggles with deforestation and over-farming, temple cuisine proves that it is possible to care for the environment while enjoying the food you eat.

- Joyce Huang

When the third season of Chef’s Table hit Netflix in 2017, among the roster of top international chefs featured on the documentary series were names like Virgilio Martinez of Central in Lima, Peru, and Tim Raue of his eponymous restaurant in Berlin, Germany. But it was the introduction of Jeong Kwan, a Seon Buddhist monk who lives and cooks at Baegyangsa temple in South Korea, and the food she creates at the temple that captivated audiences.

Using produce that are grown and made within the temple grounds and eschewing ingredients such as meat, garlic, and onions, Jeong Kwan’s creative, refined, and nourishing culinary repertoire holds its own against those from celebrated chefs around the world. Guided by the principles of Buddhism, her philosophy on cooking have not only won fans the likes of Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin in New York City, Rene Redzepi of Noma in Copenhagen, and Mingoo Kang of Mingles in Seoul, but also turned the world of gastronomy onto temple cuisine.

Temples as the birthplace of culture

While generally seen as places of worship today, temples were once the epicentres of socio-economic-culture development. Whole civilisations were built around them and the prosperity of both was tied to each other’s fate. A generous part of ancient India’s history speaks of the rise and fall of empires and dynasties alongside the Hindu, Islam, Jain and Sikh places of worship that were built.