Jeong Kwan

Jeong Kwan is a Seon Buddhist nun and chef of Korean cuisine. She lives in the Chunjinam Hermitage at the Baegyangsa temple in South Korea, which is located 169 miles south of Seoul, where she cooks for fellow nuns and monks, as well as occasional visitors. She does not own a restaurant and has no formal culinary training. As a Seon Buddhist, she lives on a strictly vegan diet, excluding certain varieties of Allium, and no animal products. She quickly shot into the global limelight when she was featured on an episode of the Netflix series Chef’s Table in 2017.

Using only ingredients that she herself grows in gardens on the temple grounds, she is an expert in fermentation, producing miso and soy sauce as well as Kimchi to incorporate into the meals she cooks. Jeong Kwan has influenced chefs including Mingoo Kang, of the Seoul restaurant Mingles, and René Redzepi, of Noma in Copenhagen.