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Meat-loving Thais turn vegetarian for festival
Thailand is not an easy country in which to be vegetarian. But once a year, the country’s avid meat eaters lay down their spicy meat stir-fries in favour of vegetables and meat substitutes.
During the annual ten-day Tesagin Kin Pak vegetarian festival, yellow flags representing Buddhism and good moral conduct flutter in the wind above entire neighbourhoods, while tiny mobile street carts with a lone yellow flag advertise vegetarian-friendly food.
Glistening tofu, desserts made with sesame and ginger and steaming hot vegetable broths abound.
Every year, during the ninth Chinese lunar month, the country’s Thai-Chinese community — often third or fourth generation Chinese who grew up in Thailand, but are brought up with Chinese customs — observe ten days of abstinence.
Eating meat, having sex, drinking alcohol and other habits thought to be vices and pollutants of the body and mind are cut out entirely by the truly devoted, who also wear only white. The festival began over 150 years ago on the popular tourist island of Phuket, some 840 km south of Bangkok.
Legend goes that a wandering Chinese opera troupe fell ill with malaria on the island, but made a full recovery after sticking to a strict vegetarian diet. Locals, impressed by what they took to be a miracle, began eating a strict vegetarian diet once a year.
The crowded roads and winding alleys are pure chaos but during the festival, vegetable mania reaches almost comic levels. “Are you sure that’s vegetarian?”, asked Chanun Marukpitak, 34, a Bangkok office worker who eyes a stall of roast peanuts.
Sitting quietly in a corner is Pawika Pengnineht, 75, great-grandmother to a large brood. Four generations of her family have sold food and drinks in Chinatown but that will end with her great-grandchildren, who favour office jobs.
“White symbolises purity and by giving up animal products, we aim to start a clean slate once a year,” Pawika said.
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