The sky above Chinatown is blocked by a dense layer of yellow flags and lanterns and banners; the air heavy with grease from industrial-sized frying pans. Navigating Yaowarat with any form of transportation, on foot or on a bus, during the past week has been more chaotic than ever. The annual Vegetarian Festival, which ends on Thursday, is celebrated not by just believers, young and old, in white and in every other colour, but also by the media and sponsors ranging from banks to amusement parks.
The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce has predicted spending of as much as 51.4 billion baht during the festival, which occurs twice this year due to the cycle of the lunar calendar, with the second stretch lasting between Oct 24 and Nov 1. The estimated increase of 27.7% from last year's 40.15 billion baht spending may be partly due to the double periods of observance, but it also corresponds to the growing popularity of the Vegetarian Festival over the years.
The mood and flavour of the festival eclipses the whole capital. Being a vegetarian in Bangkok has never been easier. Restaurants have added special menus to their repertoires and convenience stores are offering a variety of ready-made meals so you could go the 10 days without ever having to resort to repeating the same meal. Even the neighbourhood bars are offering mee sua, the simple staple stir-fry noodle dish, to the menu.
In a recent interview, Yutthasak Bhumisurakul, deputy managing director of CP All Plc, stated that the company expects a 20% growth in sales of vegetarian food from 7-Elevens during the festival this year.
But while vegetarian food has become so widely accessible, the real action remains in Chinatown.
Chinese bean cake.
In the Talad Noi area, the labyrinth weaving through the numerous auto shops, with piles of oiled car parts as a backdrop, leading up to Joe Sue Gong Temple, is a mecca for the standard Vegetarian Festival food, from carts selling various sweets to boiled vegetables and noodles. The candied peanut bar, tup tub, stores attract ceaseless customers and even television crews with their rhythmic pounding. Chinese opera can be perpetually heard from blocks away. The smell of burning joss sticks coalesces with the aroma of fried taro.
On Yaowarat Road, it wasn't until a few years ago that the Vegetarian Festival took to the streets, with booths and carts lining the sides of the road. In the evenings, foot traffic slows to a crawl. The atmosphere is ebullient like Chinese New Year or Songkran. What used to be contained in temples and specialised community vegetarian centres (rong je), has now taken over the entire neighbourhood.
Being a vegetarian during the festival has taken on a new meaning. While garlic, onions and other flavourful vegetables are still prohibited, there are substitutes for everything, from pork to chicken, if you can't go nine days without your meat fix.
Options at the street fair range from "takoyaki" to vegetarian larb and nam tok, which are almost impossible to detect as vegetarian, to various Thai curries, tom yum noodles, Sukhothai noodles, to pork rind made from tofu skin. Milk tea with tapioca bubbles and sukiyaki has been made dairy and meat-free.
At night, various parades go through different parts of Chinatown and the crowd multiplies.
"Years ago, we used to cook a huge pot of jap chai [boiled vegetables], for the festival. We had to pack lunch and couldn't eat out because the option wasn't available," says Pissamai Chalinrat, who has been participating in the festival for 35 years, since she was 25 years old.
"We couldn't even drink coffee then, because coffee-mate wasn't vegan. These days, it's possible to live pretty much the same way during the je period."
Fish maw soup made with cloud ear mushrooms.
And while things may have changed on the main streets, at Wat Mangkon Kamalawat on Charoen Krung Road, devout practitioners dine at Aroi Jung, a makeshift vegetarian kitchen that has been in the temple courtyard for more than three generations. At Wat Mangkon, only people dressed in all white are allowed entrance into the temple hall. Here, one remembers that the festival is, after all, a religious one.
For Tanaporn Pongpaopan, selling food at Wat Mangkon has been a family tradition for as long as he remembers. The rest of the year, the family helps out at his brother's noodle shop. But for nine days in the ninth month of the lunar calendar, everyone gathers to help, a sister manning the drinks station, an aunt frying vegetables, a relative taking food orders.
"We're here from 6am to 6pm every day," says Tanaporn, his shirt soaked through from sweat. He's kept busy throughout the day. "Most of the customers return every year."
Before Tanaporn started helping the family during the festival, keeping up with the staunch ascetic vegetarian practice used to be very difficult. He had to work and vegetarian food that fit the rules for je was hard to find. "Now, it's different," he says.
The widespread availability has also greatly impacted the market price for fresh produce. "For this period, prices of vegetables, flour and certain meat substitutes have greatly increased," Tanaporn points out. Anyone who shops for food is bound to notice the various adjustments made to different goods. "Certain vegetables are more than double the price." The family acquires their supplies from Pak Klong Talad. Despite the rise in costs, Aroi Jung has kept its prices the same, selling as many as 500 bowls of noodles a day.
Whether you are committed to making merit, pleasing the nine Chinese gods, trying to reduce meat consumption, or simply want to taste something different, it's not too late to take a trip to Chinatown for the festivities, which end on Thursday.
Pa tong ko (Chinese doughnut).
Khao ob mor din (Rice in clay pot).
A Chinese lion dance on Yaowarat Road to mark the beginning of the 10-day Vegetarian Festival last week.
Vegetarian takoyaki.
Khao larm (sticky rice cooked in bamboo).
Curries and nam phrik.
