What do Buddhist monks eat?

Following the Buddhist diet at The Sung Phuc Meditation Monastery, where there are hundreds of monks, will take you by surprise.

Vegetarianism is growing in popularity, but what do the recipes and food that real vegetarians or Buddhist monks have. The main destination is Truc Lam Sung Phuc Zen Monastery - a Zen monastery of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen lineage located in Cu Khoi ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi.

The entrance to the temple gate (Photo: Newsflix)

Going to the temple, the space is pure and dignified, making everyone calm and light, letting go of all worries and sorrows.

Dining room (Photo: Newsflix) ​

It can be seen that the dining room of Truc Lam Sung Phuc Zen Monastery is spacious, which can accommodate nearly a hundred people.

In the morning, the temple bell rings at 3 am, the monk wakes up to perform the ceremony and meditate and the Buddhists prepare breakfast.

Buddhist is preparing breakfast (Photo: Newsflix)

Breakfast has vegetarian pho with mushrooms as the main dish and vegetarian dumplings with fruit for dessert.

Vegetarian Pho (Photo: Newsflix)

Ingredients for making vegetarian Pho:

• 200g white radish or sugar cane

• 30g chives

• 200g onion

• 50g ginger

• 200g straw mushrooms

• Fresh noodle soup

• Bean sprouts, basil, cilantro

• Cinnamon stick, cardamom, cloves, star anise

• Spices: salt, seasoning, rock sugar, pepper, ...

The secret of delicious vegetarian pho is in the pot of broth. The secret recipe is to simmer white radish or sugarcane with cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves, star anise to create a sweet, rich and aromatic broth yummy. In addition, the Buddhists also prepared 2 vegetarian dishes, namely vermicelli with Sichuan vegetarian tofu and coconut sesame sticky rice for the delegation visiting Sapa. The taste of Sichuan vegetarian vermicelli arouses the taste of people by the nose-splitting aroma of pepper, the greasy taste of tofu and the flesh of mushrooms and vegetables. All create a delicious, pure and extremely nutritious dish.

Vegetarian Sichuan Tofu is packed by Buddhists (Photo: Newsflix)

Ingredients for Vegetarian Sichuan Tofu for 3 people:

• White tofu 4 pieces

• Chicken thigh mushroom mini 20g

• Shiitake mushrooms 3 pieces

• 1/2 bell pepper

• Green onion 3 branches

• Cashew color oil 1/2 tbsp

• Satay 1/2 teaspoon

• Soy sauce 2 teaspoons

• Sugar cane 1/4 teaspoon

• Seasoning seeds from vegetables 1 teaspoon

The taste of Sichuan vegetarian vermicelli arouses the taste of people by the nose-splitting aroma of pepper, the greasy taste of tofu and the flesh of mushrooms and vegetables. All create a delicious, pure and extremely nutritious dish.

At lunchtime, people take their own trays and queue to get the right amount of food for themselves like eating buffet.

Buddhists line up to get food (Photo: Netflix)

People take their own trays and queue to get the right amount of food for themselves like eating buffet. The dishes include: stir-fried vegetables, stir-fried straw mushrooms, vegetarian spring rolls, pickles, vegetable soup and the highlight is the dessert lotus seed soup.

Meals throughout the day (Photo: Newsflix)

Ingredients for making bean curd with tomato sauce:

• Tofu

• Tomato

• Spring onion

• Spices: Seasoning powder, cooking oil, fish sauce, sugar.

After praying, the monk and the buddhas began to eat slowly and quietly. The quiet space only hears the food picked up during the meal so that everyone can focus on feeling the taste from the senses and from the heart.

The Buddhist monks during the meal (Photo: Netflix)

Regarding the meaning of the worshiping ceremony before starting to eat, the monk replied that: "For a monastic, the offering of rice is to be grateful to the Buddha, to worship the Buddha and to deepen the thought that he is a human being and practice to be more attentive in the path of liberation.”

Vegetarian food is always boring and bland by default, because there are only foods made from vegetables, tubers and fruits. But through the hands of Buddhists, skillful nuns have made many vegetarian dishes from simple but delicious ingredients.

Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Going to temple is not just coming to eat vegetarian food, but coming to feel and learn more lucky, happy and lovely things in this life.

Which dish would you like to try most?

• Bean curd with tomato sauce
• Vegetarian Pho
• Vegetarian Sichuan Toffu