Monk's Delight (Kyoto)

The best part of Kyoto was visiting Arashiyama on the outskirts of the city. There lies the Tenryu-Ji temple and home of Shojin Ryori, a vegan meal made with precision and love by monks. Harmony is of utmost importance,the six basic flavors bitter: sour, sweet, salty, light and hot are incorporated. Also the three qualities of light/flexible, clean/neat, and conscientious/thorough. Tenryu-Ji offers this meal for 3,000 yen (approx 30 USD). This is a steal compared to some other monasteries. I wish my taste buds had a direct link to words at the moment of eating this meal. This is the dessert, a potato like croquette simmered w/ lemongrass and other indescribable flavors.

Every texture and morsel was...sublime. The goma tofu block (upper right corner) is actually made of sesame and arrowroot. I had my first taste of real wasabi, good stuff. Even the beans were sweet, creamy, just precious. The aesthetics alone were just breathtaking.

Before meal soup, simmering root vegetables and other beautiful things.

"In the Zen monastery, however, this fundamental activity of eating is considered necessary for the proper functioning of the mind and body, but never something to live for." Zen Cuisine pamphlet

Um..I live for this food! I was practically high from it.