Venerable Chef Jeong Kwan
Yale Residency
October 16 – October 22, 2025
In Collaboration with the Council on East Asian Studies
Venerable Chef Jeong Kwan visited Yale as part of the Yale Global Table collaboration. Over her weeklong residency, she trained Yale chefs and helped shape a new menu at Commons’ Rooted station based on Korean temple food. The visit culminated in a dinner for more than 350 guests, where Kwan guided attendees in assembling Korean temple bibimbap, introducing each ingredient and connecting it to her life and practice as a Buddhist nun. After the meal, Kwan led the diners through a two-minute meditation.
Honoring Korean Temple Cuisine and Spiritual Heritage
Venerable Chef Jeong Kwan is a Seon Buddhist nun who resides at Chunjinam Hermitage within Baegyangsa Temple in South Korea. There, she prepares meals for monastics and occasional guests. Kwan adheres to a strictly vegan diet that excludes alliums and animal products. Working exclusively with ingredients cultivated on the temple grounds, she specializes in fermentation, producing miso, soy sauce, and kimchi. Kwan gained international recognition following her 2017 feature on Netflix's Chef’s Table.
This [dish] combines vegetables from mountains and fields as well as plants from the ocean, and we season them together. When we mix these ingredients together and eat it, it has become attainment in one taste.
Intentionality at the Table
From the way ingredients are gathered and shared, Kwan emphasizes that cooking is not merely a technical skill; it is also a spiritual practice.
Intentionality with food means slowing down to consider the full life of what we eat: where it comes from, how it was grown and harvested, and how our choices can leave the ecosystem better than we found it. Choosing and preparing ingredients with care honors abundance and reframes the meal as a moment of gratitude—one rooted in respect for both the people at the table and the ecosystems that sustain them.