Reviving Monastic Cooking with a Modern Twist
And no, it’s not just for the monks.
Cooking serves a variety of purposes for many different people and cultures around the world. And while we’re all for a fun food trend, there is something special in tradition.
Monastic food preparation allows time and space for meditative practice. The simple recipes provide comfort without cruelty and flavor without excess waste.
While Monastic cooking may not be for everyone or every day, it is an opportunity for us all to practice a slower pace and honor traditional eastern practices.
Monastic Philosophy
Here at What Monks Eat, we are continually inspired by monastic culture. Working alongside Buddhist nuns and monks, we aim to spread awareness of monastic living and promote temple-style food preparation and recipes. Our recipes are derived from existing monastery dishes that monastics actually eat during their path of cultivation.
Unlike other brands, we rely on traditional and time-intensive food preparation methods. We believe in the importance of these practices and their cultural significance in creating healthy and delicious recipes to share.
Plant-Based and Cruelty-Free
The initial inspiration for our brand came from an article suggesting that a more extensive selection of vegan and vegetarian options saved more than 600,000 animals in 2021 alone. Yet another shared that over 20 million animal lives were saved by replacing one vegetarian meal per week over the span of a decade.
These are the stats we just had to be a part of. As a result, we decided to create products that could help individuals have more food choices to save animal lives.
While plenty of vegan products are undoubtedly on the market, many are produced in kitchens that prepare other non-vegan options. Since the monastic philosophy promotes the non-killing of sentient beings, we have committed our brand to have no cross-contamination with animal products. We are a 100% vegan kitchen dedicated to conscious and cruelty-free foods.
Minimizing Waste for Sustainability
Another core component of the monastic practice is eliminating excess products and minimizing waste. We commit to this practice by using only fresh, non-processed ingredients. We limit overpowering flavors such as onion and garlic to reduce lingering flavor. We take pride in our simple yet intentionally selected ingredients to promote health and well-being.
In our kitchen, everything serves a purpose. Our food scraps are used to make vegetable stocks or compost, and we are incredibly purposeful in selecting our premium ingredients.
Additionally, we utilize new innovations in most of our packaging to reduce waste. Our dumplings are shipped in environmentally-friendly, biodegradable trays made from corn, and we are actively searching for environmentally-conscious shipping boxes and wrapping.
New Opportunities with Age-Old Traditions
We find ourselves with a unique opportunity to merge modern-day vegan favorites with traditional monastic cooking methods.
With a commitment to temple-style preparation and fresh, unprocessed ingredients, our recipes can strengthen your health and happiness. Monastic cooking provides more than just delicious recipes but also new meaning and purpose in and out of the kitchen.
What Monks Eat merges cooking innovations of the 21st century with the traditional aspects of monastic culinary arts to create food products and recipes that are healthy, socially and ethically conscious, and overall delicious.