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| Ven. Seonjae of the Jogye Order explains the dishes and principle behind Korean Buddhist temple cuisine at the "Taste of Korea: Korean Temple Food" banquet held at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in the U.S., Wednesday (local time). |
By Park Han-sol
Korean temple food created from wild and seasonal vegetables in observance of Buddhist principles has come to be one of the faces of the country's traditional cuisine, reaching the other side of the Pacific Ocean, specifically to San Francisco, the United States this week.
A series of banquets and lectures dedicated to Korean temple cuisine has been organized by the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism (CCKB) under the Jogye Order, the nation's largest Buddhist sect, from Monday to Thursday (local time), at the invitation of Korea's Consulate General in San Francisco.
The events, catering to some 260 attendees in the San Francisco Bay Area, have been helmed by Ven. Seonjae, who has mastered the art of curative, plant-based temple cuisine over the course of four decades.
The monk was named "Master of Korean Temple Food" by the Buddhist order in 2016 and was awarded a third-class Bogwan Order of Cultural Merit in 2019, becoming the first temple food expert to receive such a state commendation.
Throughout the years, she has given special lectures at France's Le Cordon Bleu, the U.S.-based Culinary Institute of America and other leading culinary educational institutes. She now leads the Temple Food Culture Center located at Beomnyong Temple in southern Seoul.
On Monday, a temple cuisine-based luncheon was held at the Consul General Residence for the diplomatic corps wives.
The "Taste of Korea: Korean Temple Food" banquet followed two days later, inviting around 150 guests from the political circle and Silicon Valley to the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center.
A variety of plant-based dishes filled the table, including "yeonnipbap" (steamed rice wrapped in fragrant lotus leaves), water kimchi made with autumn squash and napa cabbage, "jangtteok" (chewy pancakes primarily made with red pepper paste) and "deodeok jat muchim" (a side dish of mountain herb roots and pine nuts).
"Temple cuisine is not about adding. It's about subtracting," Ven. Seonjae said at the event. "With no extra things added to amplify its taste or to garnish it, the natural flavor of each ingredient is preserved. For me, cooking these dishes was part of putting into practice the principle of becoming one with my ingredients."
On Thursday, a temple food lecture and a Buddhist cultural program will take place at UC Berkeley's Alumni House for university students, staff and members of the general public.
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