As you may know, the annual Thai Vegetarian Festival in 2011 lasted from September 26th until October 6th.
Due to finishing a month long vegetarian Thai food challenge back in July, I didn’t “eat Jay” for the entire festival, but I was able to chow down on a few tasty vegetarian goodies.
Here are 14 mouthwatering food photos from the Thai Vegetarian Festival 2011. Enjoy!
1. Deep Fried Mushrooms
1. Deep Fried Mushrooms
Extra crispy and deep fried, you can’t go wrong with these vegetarian mushrooms from Baan Suan Pi food court.
2. Taro Sausage
2. Taro Sausage
It looked almost like a meaty bratwurst, but instead of greasy meat, these guys were loaded with taro. They were excellent when dipped in the sweet and sour sauce!
3. Meat Sausage
3. Meat Sausage
It was so close to meat, I could even see the speckles of pork fat sprinkled throughout this vegetarian version of Isaan northern Thai sausage.
4. Glutinous Nutty Rice
4. Glutinous Nutty Rice
This blob of red glutinous rice was dotten with nuts and beans and served along with a few pieces of fake meat for flavor.
5. Larb Woon Sen and Bitter Melon
5. Larb Woon Sen and Bitter Melon
This lunch plate of rice was topped with Larb Woon Sen (mung bean salad) and some nicely stewed bitter melon. Again, this was from the Baan Suan Pi vegetarian food court at Ari BTS station.
6. Pumpkin and Protein Balls
6. Pumpkin and Protein Balls
As long as it’s not those silky smooth fake meats, I’m ok with the texturized protein balls that taste a bit like bread. Mixed with pumpkin, this was a vegetarian hit!
7. Mixed (Blackened) Tofu
7. Mixed (Blackened) Tofu
Though this tofu was probably loaded with unhealthy carcinogens (it was cooked over a fire), it was lip-licking!
8. Pad Prik Gaeng Jay and Bitter Melon
8. Pad Prik Gaeng Jay and Bitter Melon
I liked the bitter melon stew so much that I went back another day for more. This time around I also ordered their Pad Prik Gaeng Jay which was bursting with flavor, but a little on the greasy side.
9. Pad Gra Pao Jay
9. Pad Gra Pao Jay
This mixed dish of the famous Pad Gra Pao was cooked with an array of vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, and protein balls. When I asked her to make it spicy, she smiled and hooked it up nicely!
10. Yellow Noodles
10. Yellow Noodles
As a popular Jay dish, stir fried yellow noodles are widely available and can be plain, but pretty good if you’re hungry.
11. Cinnamon Rolls
11. Cinnamon Rolls
That’s right! Thai vegan Jay cinnamon rolls from Yaowarat (Chinatown).
12. Look Choop
12. Look Choop
Mung bean candy is one of those Thai desserts that looks pretty fake, but tastes pretty good!
13. Cotton Candy Wraps
13. Cotton Candy Wraps
One of my favorite treats during the Thai vegetarian festival are these little cotton candy wraps filled with peanuts.
14. Somtam Ponlamai
14. Somtam Ponlamai
Fruit somtam (Thai fruit salad) is one of my all-time favorite dishes to devour during the Thai vegetarian festival! There’s something about flaming hot chilies and fruit that just goes so well together!
Get the "Bangkok $1 Menu" + Monthly Updates (100% FREE)!
Mark Wiens – has written 366 posts on Thai Street Food and Pictures | Eating Thai Food.
Mark Wiens is a Thai food fanatic. If he's not devouring something on a neighborhood street in Bangkok, he might be on a pilgrimage to locate durian. Visit his travel food website at Migrationology and follow him on Facebook.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Huge congratulations for these extraordinary photos. You must nearly have your book photos finished now. I’ve never seen such food photos with such clarity – just a mouthful away!
John in France recently posted..Carcassonne – I was there in the year 1209.
Thanks John! The food is so colorful here, it’s really begging to be photographed. The problem we had was choosing which photos of all the great food to include. Glad you enjoyed, thanks for commenting.
These all look delicious and make me wish I was still living in Thailand. Love that Thailand hosts a huge vegetarian festival each year.
Laurel recently posted..My Favorite Room in the Munich Residenz
Yes, it’s an awesome festival and it means people aren’t completely oblivious to what you’re talking about when you say you’re vegetarian the rest of the year (usually lol). We still have more veg places we’ll be sharing from our veg month, stay tuned!
Nom nom! Asian food has so many great veggie dishes – much more tempting than the Western options.
Sophie recently posted..River Music and Water Spirits
Agreed Sophie! Also easier to be veg when there’s great spices and sauces laying around everywhere. Thanks for the comment.
Mmmm, that nutty rice looks amazing! Great photos, Mark.
Technosyncratic Travel Blog recently posted..Photo Essay: Stonehenge
That nutty rice was awesome. Full of cashews, beans, sunflower seeds and was borderline sticky rice because it had such a thick consistency. They actually served it with some fake meat, but we enjoyed the rice way more. Thanks!
Yeah… I think I could go vegetarian with these dishes. Mung bean candy doesn’t look too good to me, but thumbs up on everything else. Yum!
Those mung bean snacks are subtle, but tasty. We can’t figure out how they get them all polished and shiny on the outside lol. True, they’re not my fav, but worth a try if you spot them. Thanks Cathy!
Mark, I have to admit I was all prepared not to really like this post. I eat my vegetables but not big on vegetarian food. Have to admit this surprised me because this food looks pretty good. Would love to the mushrooms and many of those faux meat dishes look good.
Jeremy Branham recently posted..Where in the world am I? And the winner is…
This isn’t even everything we ate! There were so many tasty things during the festival. If you’re not really vegetarian then it’s even more fun because you run back to steaks later haha. Thanks for commenting Jeremy, we look forward to sharing more tasty items from this part of the world with you.
VERY professional food photography – hats off!
Asian cuisines seem particularly good at vegetarian creations.
robin recently posted..El Idioma
Thanks Robin, Mark will be proud to read that once he’s back from traveling.
Any idea what the Thai name is for those cotton candy morsels with peanuts/sunflower seeds/sesame etc. inside? I’ve tried googling but only come up with the Korean name. If I know in Thai, I might actually be able to locate them again!
Hey Sarah,
I know that it’s a Chinese dessert, and I have asked a few Thai friends what the name is in Thai and none of them seem to know. I just found out that in English it’s known as “Dragon beard candy,” but sorry that I don’t know what they call it in Thai.
Mark Wiens recently posted..Photo Favorite: Motorcycle Taxi Drivers Lining Up in Bangkok
{ 2 trackbacks }