NYZ: Zen in the Kitchen - Shojin Ryori Cooking Workshop

A temple cuisine workshop where you learn shojin ryori, an ancient form of Buddhist temple cooking that uses only simple, seasonal plant-based ingredients with no meat, fish, eggs, or strong-smelling vegetables such as onions and garlic. It is led by Masami Asao Sensei, one of Japan's leading instructors, a temple chef and registered dietitian who directs Akasaka Teran, a vegetarian cooking school at Jokokuji, a 350-year-old temple in Tokyo. Participants prepare traditional Japanese dishes in the temple setting of New York Zendo Shobo-ji, and each day concludes with sharing the dishes made, followed by a ceremonial matcha offering by Johan Lee, a hospitality management expert and student of the Urasenke Chanoyu tea school. Instruction is in Japanese with an English interpreter, and there is a different menu each day.