HCM CITY — The “Lotus Flower Season” vegetarian food festival is being open at HCM City’s Đầm Sen Cultural Park from August 19 to 26.

Vegetarian food is becoming popular for various reasons, with some objecting to eating meat out of respect for life and religious beliefs while others prefer a healthy life and environmental protection.

The festival is held to celebrate Vu Lan, the annual Buddhist event that eulogises motherly love, held in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, (August 25 this year), meeting a rising demand for vegetarian food in the city.

More than 300 vegetarian dishes such as brown rice, oat porridge, bún riêu chay (vegetable noodle soup) and bánh xèo gấc (Vietnamese spiny bitter gourd pancake) and 50 vegetarian drinks are being served at the festival. — VNS