The foods you can and cannot eat during Thailand’s Jay Food Festival

Notice the yellow flags hanging around your usual food spots? It means the Thai vegetarian food festival has already begun. In case you’re wondering how Thailand’s Jay Food is different from your regular vegan and vegetarian diets, here’s what you need to know. 

It’s that time of the year again: the yellow flags with the red letter “Jay” are waving in front of your usual eating spots, the items with yellow stickers begin to dominate the convenient store’s shelves, and your colleagues suddenly decline your usual Korean barbecue buffets despite them never saying a “no” to meat. 

These signs mean Thailand’s Jay Food Festival has already begun. It’s the yearly vegetarian food festival where most Thai-Chinese abstain from eating meat to revere the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin. 

Despite its ‘vegetarian’ label in the festival, Jay food is not technically the same as the vegetarian or vegan diets. Here are the differences between Jay food, vegetarian, and vegan diets.   

Thailand’s Jay Food vs Vegetarian vs Vegan diet: What’s the difference?

In case you don’t know this already, the main differences between vegetarian and vegan diets are that while both vegetarian and vegan diets may forego any ingredients involving meat (fish, shellfish, and prawns included), vegetarian diners can still opt for products that come from animals–think dairy products and eggs. 

But what about Thailand’s Jay Food? Well, it’s a little bit more complicated. Normally, people would assume that Jay dishes are completely identical to vegan dishes, since the festival promotes the act of mercy by abstaining from meat. 

Why you can still consume oysters on a Jay diet

Still, if you’re a fan of oysters, you can still eat them. The legend has it that the monk Xuánzàng, while on his journey to the west in his quest to spread Buddhism, was unable to find any food. As a monk, Xuanzang didn’t want to shed any blood, so he prayed to the gods to give him food that he could eat without sinning himself. Suddenly, the ground shook and unveiled a multitude of oysters, hence the reasons why you can still eat oysters during the Jay festival. You can’t pair them with a glass of champagne, though, because a Jay diet bans everything that has alcohol or psychoactive properties–yes, this include marijuana and magic mushrooms as well.  

Restrictions

There are some restrictions on the vegetables to Jay food as well. As certain veggies have strong odours, people believe that these pungent scents may disturb their meditative, peaceful stance while they’re on Jay mode. These veggies include onions, garlic, chives, rakkyo, and spring onions.