'Perfect Taste' Even Without Five Pungent Vegetables: The Mother's Touch Responsible for Jikjisa's Meals for 35 Years

At 4:00 AM, while everyone is asleep, the day at Jikjisa Temple begins with the sound of Buddhist chanting. A woman, who arrived at work under the moonlight, is the first to offer incense at the altar set up on one side of the kitchen. She is Ji Hye-sim, the general manager who helps the monks' practice and presents healthy meals to Buddhists at the ancient Jikjisa Temple, which holds 1,600 years of history.

The Deep Flavor of Mushrooms and Nuts Replacing the Five Pungent Vegetables

When people think of temple food, they often think only of its plainness, but the meals at Jikjisa are a bit different. This is because they contain none of the "five pungent vegetables"—green onions, garlic, chives, wild chives, and leeks—which are forbidden in temples because they are said to interfere with spiritual practice. Instead, Ji Hye-sim fills the void in flavor by utilizing mushrooms and nuts.

According to the EBS documentary video, Ji Hye-sim bears the heavy responsibility of planning three meals a day, 365 days a year. The menu is very diverse. Representative examples include soft tofu stew flavored with shiitake mushrooms and zucchini, autumn braised dishes with chestnuts and lotus root, and tomatoes tossed with olive oil and honey. In particular, neat menus that break the mold of temple food, such as 'Chaegaejang' (vegetable spicy beef soup style) which contains no meat, or fried dumplings with burdock and mushrooms, catch the eye. One monk, who has been eating these meals for 35 years, praised Ji Hye-sim's food, saying, "If I eat elsewhere, the things I feel are lacking are immediately filled here." To the monk who has been eating her meals for 35 years since he was 24, she is like a mother and an older sister.

A Playground Named 'Jikjisa' Started from Age 5

Beside this warm table is her daughter, Ha-yun, who is building her life at Jikjisa, following in her mother's footsteps. To Ha-yun, who followed her mother to the workplace every dawn since she was about five years old, Jikjisa is the safest playground in the world and the foundation of her life, where she grew up eating meals filled with her mother's sincerity.

Ha-yun currently operates a cafe within Jikjisa and lives as a member of the temple. To her, Jikjisa is "a place like a maternal grandparent's house." Just like in the photos taken on the stones in front of the Daeungjeon Hall during her childhood, the scenery of Jikjisa has always served as the background to her growth. She even calls a monk with whom she has had a long-standing relationship "Uncle Monk," showing that the members here share a deep bond that goes beyond blood relations. The Uncle Monk even showed special affection by preparing one hundred roses and one million won in cash to congratulate Ha-yun when she gave birth to her baby.

From Parkjeon to Chaegaejang, Sincerity Filling 500 Servings

Ji Hye-sim's hands never stop. Sometimes, there are grueling schedules where she must prepare 500 servings for a single meal. Recently, she also fried 'Parkjeon' (gourd pancakes) using shredded gourd donated by a nearby farmer. Although it is an ingredient rarely seen in the market, the Parkjeon, shredded and fried to a golden brown, provides a unique joy to those visiting the temple. In the video, Ji Hye-sim showed her sense in frying them to a golden brown, saying, "If you shred the gourd and fry it into pancakes, the taste is refreshing and good."

To the staff of Jikjisa, this place is known as "the best workplace with great welfare." An employee who has worked here for over 30 years is one of the fans waiting for Ji Hye-sim's meals. Ji Hye-sim's meals, which fill the hunger of many people and warm their hearts, go beyond simple food to become a process of helping spiritual practice and accumulating virtue. Amidst the bubbling sound of boiling pots and the crisp sound of slicing vegetables, a mother's love is being embedded even more deeply into the meals of Jikjisa.