Jeong Kwan, master of temple food, appears on 'Masterchef Italia'

▲ This photo, captured from official twitter account of Sky, shows Jeong Kwan, who appeared on 'Masterchef Italia.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) – Monk Jeong Kwan, the master of temple food, has appeared on an Italian TV program called "The Land of Food" to promote the charm of temple food that utilizes the original taste of ingredients.

Jeong Kwan has appeared as an invited guest and judge in the 11th episode, the semifinals of "Masterchef Italia Season 12," a cooking survival program on Sky Broadcasting, Italy's largest paid cable channel, on the night of the 23rd (local time).

She appeared in the second mission, “Invention Test,” introduced the temple food, and put in front of the judges the seasoned shiitake mushrooms with grain syrup, fermented soybean curd mixed with various spices, lotus roots aged in soy sauce made of ingredients brought directly from Korea.

The three judges, who savored the taste, exclaimed that it was excellent. Jeong Kwan explained that if you focus on the ingredients themselves, you can make good food.

The five participants in the semifinals were then given a 45-minute mission to make food only with local seasonal vegetables and Korean ingredients such as soybean paste, omija cheong, sesame oil, plum cheong, and tofu brought from Korea.

While the participants were preparing the food, Jeong Kwan watched them cook with judges and advised the participants, while guiding them on recipes often used in Korean food such as steamed, stir-fried, and blanching rather than fried or smoked.

After the mission, Jeong Kwan tasted each participant's food and evaluated it, and the judges thanked her, saying she seemed to have had a positive impact on the participants.

Jeong Kwan advised all participants that the chef's mindset is important, saying that the results vary depending on one’s own mindset of cooking, just as when cow drinks water it becomes milk and water becomes poison when snake drinks it.

Masterchef Italia introduced Korea's doljabi culture on the same day, and in the “Mystery Box,” the first mission to cook with the ingredients given in the box, they chose food materials representing Korea such as kimchi, tteokbokki rice cake, and lotus root as challenges.

Jeong Kwan is both a monk and a chef as the head of Cheonjinam Hermitage in Baekyangsa Temple, South Jeolla Province.

Starting with the Korean Traditional Temple Food Research Association in 2006, she presented temple food at large domestic and foreign events.

She was introduced as an expert in temple food by major foreign media such as the New York Times in the U.S. and also appeared in the popular Netflix series "Chef's Table" in 2016.

In March last year, she was selected as the winner of the "Asian 50 Best Restaurant 2022" and received global attention once again. Three months later, Jogye Order designated her as a "master of temple food."

Jeong Kwan's appearance came as the Korean Cultural Center in Italy invited her to Italy in July last year at the request of the program's production team.

The recording at that time was aired this time. The 11th episode, which is the semi-final episode, had a 3.2% viewer rating.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Yunhee Cho)

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