101 YEARS OLD AND STILL SLIM BUT NOT HUNGRY...

SOME invitations are so intriguing that I feel bound to accept them however unsatisfying I expect them to be. Last week I received one such invitation and I am delighted to report that my low expectations were totally wrong.

The invitation came from the Korean Cultural Centre and the Westminster Kingsway College Cooking School to attend a talk, cookery demonstration and buffet dinner of Korean Temple Food prepared by Buddhist nun and chef Woo Kwan.

To my untutored palate this did not sound promising. All I knew about Korean food was that they eat dogs (which I have always thought of as nasty, smelly, probably inedible things) and my feeling about Buddhist nuns is that they were probably vegan, which went neither with my naturally carnivorous inclinations nor the aforementioned dogs. Being open-minded and empty-stomached however I went along and I am very pleased that I did so.

First, there was Woo Kwan herself, who perfectly combines the charm and relaxation one expects in a nun with the contented smiling face and giggly nature of a chef. Her Buddhist robes were also the best chef’s overalls I have ever seen. As she stir-fried an aubergine, cherry tomato and chilli dish while making some astute comments on the relative size of Korean and British aubergines, she explained the pure, inspired-by-nature, philosophy behind the food. “Eat until you are no longer hungry but still light,” she said, which I think is the best dieting advice I had ever heard. She also had a unique attitude to the word “healthy” that impressed me.

I have long thought that the words “healthy” and “food” should never be uttered in the same sentence; it is almost always guarantees blandness. Woo Kwan said “healthy” many times but always qualified it with “tasty and healthy” or “healthy and happy” and when she sprinkled her aubergines and tomatoes with sweet herbs and spices I had never heard of I began to realise what she was getting at. Then she set us loose on the buffet.

I had already looked around a display of the ingredients and began to note down those that were new to me. After fiddleheads, lotus root crisps, pickled fisher’s ragwort, pickled shepherd’s purse and acorn powder, I stopped writing. There were simply too many of them, so I walked away, sipping contentedly on a glass of five years fermented magnolia berry extract tea.

The buffet itself included, among other dishes, seaweed crisps, pickled cactus pear, braised kelp and a very surprising but tasty dish of cold noodles with strawberry dressing.

I must confess that in the interests of science I piled enough on my plate to test the boundaries of any desire to stay slim, and despite being a long way off my usual gastronomic paths, it added up to a very interesting and satisfying meal.

The new book Woo Kwan’s Korean Temple Food is now out in English and offers a rare insight into an intriguing culinary philosophy. And, I am delighted to say, no dogs.