Buddhism is one of the most compassionate religions in the world. No animals are killed.There is gratitude, love and compassion for the ingredients and for those to eat them. Now there is a new book by a well known Buddhist chef that shows how to cook this way with interesting recipes.
Regular contributor and restaurant critic Pete Wells wrote about the chef Eric Ripert in today's New York Times Wednesday Section. Chef Ripert came from Andorra ,a country tucked in between France and Spain.Growing up Eastern philosophy and religion was not part of his life. He found it surprisingly in an airport as reported in his new and latest book "Mindful Cooking" (Random House 2026), He found Buddhism in 1989 when he was a young chef on a layover to a job in the United States. The book was full of hoakum with a phony author and that it was dictated by Mrs. Fifi Greywhiskers ,a Siamese cat.He overlooked all his and truly embraced the beliefs.The books he picked up kindled something I his heart .His interest deepened when he read the translation of the Dalai Lama's speech on receiving his Nobel Peace Prize. He also attended the Dalai Lama's lectures as well as working one on one with a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. He has promised his wife and son that he could never be a monk but does do meditation.
His cooking Buddhist intensified when he met Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan in her hermitage above the Baekyangsa Temple in 2014 . He was in South Korea filming "Avec Eric " a food travel show that ran for three seasons. They hot it off, sharing with and charisma but it was his Buddhism and love of cooking that furthered his cooking world. She told him about Spring planting where Buddhist monks thank not just the plants but the weatherman, earth and universe.Meals were prepared with feelings of gratitude,compassion and kindness (which a lot for home chefs also put into their meals). He has learned from his stress free type of cooking.Ches are very much in control and very much at peace with the process he gives a recipe for a lettuce pancake that stems from Chief Abbess Gyeho Sunim at the one thousand year old Jinkasa temple in Seoul.Chef Ripert saw a wilted head of lettuce and he asked her what they could do with it. She crushed the stem of the lettuce with a knife and fried it in perilla oil.There is a dipping sauce made with soy sauce, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds. It is a mindful way to eat.
Buddhist cooking is the way to go. Chef Ripert knows this and suggests people cook this way. It is a cooking born out of love for the plant world .
Posts
