Thai Vegetarian Festival 2015 Explained: Everything You Need To Know About ‘Gin Jay’

On Monday, Oct. 12, 2015 many Buddhist Thais of Chinese descent will take on a strict vegan diet for the nine-day Thai vegetarian festival. Here's everything you need to know about "Prapheni Gin Jay."

According to the blog Expique, the 2015 Thai vegetarian festival will take place from Oct. 12 to Oct. 20. Yellow flags will grace the windows of street food stalls, restaurants, and food courts to signal which foods follow the strict vegan rules of "gin jay": no meat, no dairy, no pungent spices or foods like garlic, onions, or chilis, and no alcohol.

No need to chase down waiters to grill the on ingredients in certain dishes, or ask for special menus, like vegans have to do in the States.

Expect a lot of boiled and sti-fried veggies and tofu in the "gin jay" dishes. A great place to check out around this time of year is Bangkok's Chinatown district, Yaowarat, which is sure to have plenty of festivities.

According to Thailand Breeze, "gin jay" is an annual vegetarian festival held in the ninth lunar month based on the Chinese calendar. It starts on the first day of the waxing moon and lasts for 9 days. The festival is mostly celebrated by Thai-Chinese. Some devout Buddhists "gin jay" all year. The main reasons are to cut down on the number of animals killed for food and to cleanse the body and mind. For more info about the festival, click here

For more info on my personal "gin jay" journey, watch the video below!

Tags
gin jay
vegetarian
Thailand
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