Thailand Vegetarian Food Festival (Part 1) – Bangkok 2012 เทศกาลกินเจ

If you want more delicious vegetarian food, grab a copy of my Vegetarian Thai Food Guide right here: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/vegetarian-thai-food-guide/
And if you prefer meat filled dishes, check out the Eating Thai Food Guide: http://www.eatingthaifood.com/eating-thai-food-guide/
The Thailand Vegetarian Festival (เทศกาลกินเจ) is an annual celebration. The history of the festival dates back to the 1800’s when a group of Chinese opera performers were traveling through Thailand. After traveling around the country and performing they eventually made it to southern Thailand in Phuket. This is where they all become sick. After much contemplation and trying figure out just why they had become so ill, they finally decided that it was due to not honoring or showing respect to the Nine Emperor Gods in the Chinese Doaist belief. In order to get better from their sickness and better honor the gods, they determined it would be necessary to cleanse themselves by partaking in a number of different ceremonies, acts of purity and to eat a strict vegetarian diet for nine days straight.
I’m not fully sure how the story turned out, but what we do know is that the Thailand vegetarian festival (เทศกาลกินเจ) is now an annual event that many Thais and foreigners alike participate it. The most prominent festival takes places in the south of Thailand, most famously in Phuket, where there’s a large population of Chinese. In the south, one can witness many religious rituals, traditional ceremonies, and the most famous of everything, the self human flagellations. Some participating in the festival choose to mutiliate themselves by slicing and cutting of their bodies. They believe that they are posses by spirits and they are not actually hurting themselves in the process.
In Bangkok however, the vegetarian festival is less about self mutilation, but more about a few rituals and lots and lots of vegetarian Thai food that sprawls throughout the entire city. Yaowarat Chinatown, is the home of the most prolific ceremony where you can find some ceremonies of lots of pure vegetarian food. In this video I take to the narrow streets of Yaowarat to eat and explore. In Part 1, I first indulge in a Chinese vegetarian meal that includes tofu, cabbage and stir fried noodles. Then I check out a temple and finally go to eat a delicious sweet snack known as kanom dub dab (ขนมตุ๊บตั๊บ). If you are ever in Thailand for the vegetarian festival celebration, be sure to eat lots of delicious food and catch some of the action!
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