Jeong Kwan (born 1957) is a Seon Buddhist

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

and chef of Korean cuisine. She lives in the Chunjinam Hermitage at the Baegyangsa temple in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, where she cooks for fellow nuns and monks, as well as occasional visitors. Jeong Kwan does not own a restaurant and has no formal culinary training. The fifth of seven siblings, Jeong Kwan was born in

Yeongju Yeongju () is a city in the far north region of North Gyeongsang province in South Korea, covering 668.84 km2 with a population of 113,930 people according to the 2008 census. The city borders Bonghwa county to the east, Danyang county of North ...

North Gyeongsang Province North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

and grew up on a farm. She learned to make noodles by hand at age 7. She ran away from home at 17, and two years later joined an order of Seon nuns, where she discovered her calling of spreading dharma through cooking. Jeong Kwan's recipes use aubergines, tomatoes, plums, oranges, pumpkin, tofu, basil, chilli pepper, and other vegetables, which she grows herself. In addition to being strictly

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

, Jeong Kwan's recipes omit garlic and onions, which some Buddhists believe increases libido. Jeong Kwan has influenced chefs including Mingoo Kang, of the Seoul restaurant Mingles, and

René Redzepi René Redzepi (born 16 December 1977) is a Danish chef and co-owner of the three-Michelin star restaurant Noma in the Christianshavn neighborhood of Copenhagen, Denmark. His restaurant was voted the best restaurant in the world by '' Resta ...

, of

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Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. She is friends with

Éric Ripert Eric Frank Ripert (; born 2 March 1965) is a French chef, author, and television personality specializing in modern French cuisine and noted for his work with seafood. Ripert's flagship restaurant, Le Bernardin, located in New York City, has ...

, a fellow Buddhist, who has invited her to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

to cook for private audiences at Le Bernadin. In 2017, Jeong Kwan was featured on the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

series '' Chef's Table''.

References

Living people 1957 births 20th-century Buddhist nuns 21st-century Buddhist nuns Chefs of Korean cuisine Chefs of vegan cuisine South Korean Buddhist nuns South Korean chefs People from Yeongju {{Chef-stub