Great news for those living on the veg, the Vegetarian Festival is back on Yaowarat Road in Bangkok after a two-year pandemic absence.
Vegetarians from all over “vegiverse” can get down to the “beet” and “shake the mushroom” from today until October 4.
Thai-Chinese people all over the country celebrate the vegetarian festival, or Kin Jay in Thai, every year for nine days and nights from the first to the ninth day of the ninth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar. And this year, the festival falls on September 26 to October 4.
Yaowarat Road boasts arguably the biggest Thai-Chinese communities in Bangkok.
Yesterday, locals and representatives from Chinese shrines in the Yaowarat area attended the opening ceremony. The statue of Guanyin was brought out for the street procession. Locals joined the parade in white dresses with yellow vegetarian flags in their hands. Some 1,790 plates of vegan stir-fry noodles were given away to people.
Starting today, two lanes on Yaowarat Road will be closed and filled with more than 150 food shops selling vegan food and drinks. The yellow flags will be decorated along the road, and the area will be livelier with a crowd of people enjoying food and vibes, especially at night.
The media reported that the vegetarian festival in Thailand this year will be the most vibrant in several years while the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce predicts that the nine-day festival will generate over 43 billion baht, which will be 5.2% more than last year.
The media reported that most vegetarian shops hiked their food prices due to the rising price of ingredients. One seller informed the media that they used to sell the pickled mustard greens at 160 baht per kilogramme but they now sell them at 200 baht per kilogramme.
The vegetarian festival will be held in several other provinces like Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakarn, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Sawan, Chiang Mai, Songkla, and the extreme ritual in Phuket. Let’s learn more about the vegetarian festival in Thailand here.