Ever since he wrote a cookbook sharing his secrets for feeding his fellow monks, Milopotaminos' cell phone rings constantly with requests to speak at seminars, appear on television and do cooking demonstrations.

He's an unlikely candidate for sudden celebrity; in the nearly four decades since he took charge of cooking on the secluded Mount Athos sanctuary, little about what he does has changed.

''It's the same way meals were prepared 100 years ago, or 50 years ago,'' Epifanios says of the meat- and dairy-free diet, much of it cooked over a log fire. ''It's a clean diet that people once ate across the eastern Mediterranean.''

This year he shared that diet, collecting 126 of his recipes in a book that provides a rare glimpse into life in this community of some 1,500 monks in 20 monasteries that strictly limits outside access, including barring women.

And people appear to like what they see.

''People are curious because we use different ingredients and different methods,'' he says.

Epifanios already has appeared on a popular Greek cooking show and his publisher, Synchronoi Ozizontes, says the leather-bound cookbook has sold 12,000 copies, a healthy figure for the local market.

Athens nutrition scientist Paraskevas Papachristou says books such as Father Epifanios' get a great deal of attention because Greeks generally want to eat healthier.

Published in April, ''Cooking on Mount Athos'' (so far available only in Greek) offers unpretentious, tasty recipes. Don't expect arugula with balsamic vinegar. Rather, lots of chickpeas and bitter wild greens.

''Monks at Mount Athos don't eat meat,'' says Epifanios. ''The word butter is never mentioned in the book, and we don't add flour to thicken sauces. We just let the ingredients boil down.''

Slow cooking suits the heavily bearded monks, who rise well before dawn and spend much of their day in prayer.

''We have a lot of time, without families, wives and children to tend to,'' Epifanios says.

Dinner, and its unhurried preparation, is where the talking takes place. Monks, migrant workers and guests sit around Epifanios' table peeling potatoes, slicing vegetables and topping up glasses with monastery-made wine or the potent grape-residue spirit, tsipouro.

On special occasions, it's the same food made on a much larger scale. The monks use two hefty wooden poles to place pots more than a yard wide onto outdoor fires.

''People are less in touch with their natural surroundings nowadays,'' Epifanios says. ''They used to eat what they found around them and what they could gather."

Braised cod with plums

Traditional versions of this dish call for salt cod, which is cod that has been salted and dried. Though delicious, salt cod can be tedious to prepare, as it must be soaked in water for hours to remove excess salt.

This version has been adapted for fresh cod, a substitution that also reduces cooking time.

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 pound plums, halved and pitted

1 1/2 pounds cod

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a large, deep frying pan over medium-high heat, combine olive oil, garlic and onion. Sauté until onion just begins to soften, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add plums and sauté another 2 minutes. Arrange cod over onions and plums, then add enough water to come halfway up the cod. Sprinkle cod with salt, then bring water to a simmer, cover and cook 15 minutes, or until the cod flakes easily.

Sprinkle lemon juice and parsley over cod, then season with pepper.

Serves » 4 to 6 servings