Although not easy, particularly when one ventures out of cities heavily trafficked by Foreigners, eating both vegan and vegetarian are possible in Thailand. The following refers to traditional Thai food and culture, not Western restaurants. Often the latter will employ English speaking staff which will render your request of omitting ingredients much simpler should there be no available options on the menu.
Traditionally Thai food doesn’t contain dairy, this includes desserts. Dairy is usually consumed as sterilized milk, yogurt, ice cream and other forms of Western confectionery (i.e. chocolate).
From my experience, your average roadside market and cook will often be left confused by requests to omit ingredients. Sometimes they will simply refuse. For example, at a market in Buriram, Isaan, I requested my meal without the accompanying sauce. The woman refused to sell it to me on the grounds it wouldn’t be as delicious without it. Despite my coaxing and assurance that I’d in fact enjoy it, I left empty handed. To avoid this, or any other mishap (i.e. someone sneaking a small amount of fish or oyster sauce in your order), I suggest informing whomever you are dealing with that you are the Thai word for vegan (vegetarians, pay attention and do the same):
Gin jae.
The literal translation is to eat vegetarian, but the Thai vegetarian diet corresponds with with vegan restrictions.
The G is pronounced as it is in the word ground. Check this link to hear how to pronounce jae. Practice this until near perfection at worst and pay attention to tone. The tone is necessary.
Alternatively, you can print out the following:
Your average person can read, but not always. However, between the two, you should fare well.
Being vegan in Thailand is often deeply respected as there is a link to Buddhism embedded within the practice. Despite being a predominately Buddhist country, the majority of Thais are omnivores. Being vegan is often viewed as an elevated way to live. Stating you are vegan (again, yes you too vegetarians), is a more fruitful and a better received way to go about things rather than asking for something to be omitted, a.k.a. changing someone’s recipe or possibly viewed by some, the Thai way of doing things.
Search out this symbol.
This is the national symbol for vegan. You will find it emblazoned outside of restaurants, at market stalls, and on food packaging easily found at common food retailers such as Big C and Tesco Lotus.
Food specifically prepared for vegans and vegetarians is always (or rather should be / is meant to be) MSG free, this includes prepared sauces used in the recipe.
The prevalence of soy products. Different brands of soy milk are easily found throughout the country. From a 7-Eleven in Bangkok to a muay thai bout deep in the sticks, it is likely you won’t go thirsty. Tofu is widely available at roadside restaurants, markets and grocery stores. To cut down on time, I suggest looking into a roadside/street restaurant’s glass front to spot a brick of tofu. Non dairy creamer is also available for you coffee drinkers.
Grain milks including brown rice, corn, job’s tear and multi-grain are available and usually stocked at major food retailaers and 7-Elevens. They are generally sold in individual serving box form.
Gluten products are available, to a lesser degree, but are easily found at restaurants and products market vegan.
It is possible to find independent retailers similar in function to Western health food stores. From my experience they are welcomed surprises and their presence anywhere should not be assumed.
Caution:
Fish sauce is used in Thailand roughly as frequently as salt is used in Western countries.
A friend warned me about the practice of food stall owners substituting vegetable oil for what they called, pig oil. Pig oil is less expensive than vegetable oil and is sold in bags in markets. Some vendors will originally purchase vegetable oil for the container, then refill with pig oil. Both oils are similar in colour. She recommended going to physical restaurants and not the more budget friendly street restaurants and vendors, most often frequented by students at time of writing (i.e. pay the 60 baht for a meal as opposed to the 30 baht if you are concerned).
Anything to add? Please do!
For Thailand hotel reviews, travel information and tips, check out Backpacking Thailand, my free Thailand resource.
Solid advice. Izzy – a vegan Brit living in Thailand – warned me that many of the soy milk brands contain added whey – Vita Soy does not.
You might enjoy our internet radio show about my hunt for good vegan food in South East Asia, or find my original report about Thailand useful.
look for Taoist temples which have also restaurants.They are vegan but do not use onons or garlic
good food a low prices. They use a lot of texturized vegetable like meat
Thanks a lot for this very helpfull post.
Glad it helped Kiki!
Thanks… Nice direct information without a lot of blurb… What is jay then? is it a religious thing?
Thanks Sharon, To be honest, I have no idea!
Jay refers to Jainism. Which is a religion similar to Buddism and practices nonviolence as a tenet. When you say “gin jae”, you are saying “I am Jain”.
Thank-you so much Jacob Snyder. I can’t even begin to explain how much I appreciate your comment. It helps connect the dots for me on small gaps in my understanding, not so much about eating vegan/vegetarian, but the experiences I had getting to know some of my aquaintences in Buriram. There were some gaps in communication that my Thai/English dictionary couldn’t assist with and I couldn’t understand on my own. I hadn’t heard of Jainism before your comment. Again, THANK YOU.
Thanks for the clarification Jacob. While it might be easier to say “gin jae” to indicate your eating preference, I wouldn’t want people to think I am a practicing Jain, so I’ll be looking for an alternative phrase.
Gin means eat, so the phrase is more likely referencing the eating habits of Jain people.
‘Jae’ is more specifically veganism as opposed to vegetarianism. You should be careful when ordering food as the word comes from the ‘Jainism’ religion – as stated above – this means that the diet although being mostly vegan it’s followers do not eat onion and garlic, however DO eat oysters and oyster sauce so be wary of this.
‘Mangsawerat’ is a more accurate term for vegetarianism for all those wondering. You just have to be super careful when ordering, good luck!
I’m going on an exchange semester this summer to Thailand. Now I know what to expect and what to look for (like the big 17) when I’m there. Your post was very helpful, thank you!
Let eat vegetarian food for healty
I’d like to correct a bit on your Thai spelling of “gin jay”, it is supposed to be written as “กินเจ”, using “แจ” might confuse the locals at first because it is pronounced differently and doesn’t translate to words. Also, the vegan snacks you found in 7-11 are only available in October, mostly because it is the annual vegetarian festival here, although some 7-11s do have vegan microwave food options(they’d have the vegan symbol on them). Other than that, I think your blog is really helpful!
Correct there Sonia and on all accounts. The first character in เจ is a vowel that can be pronounced two different ways depending on context. It can be similar to either the english “air” (short vowel and drop the r) or “ay.” For our purposes it is “ay.” so the correct spelling for jay is “เจ” and that is the symbol to look out for and to show – certainly not เเจ.
Next month m going to buriram
..i want veg food…i dont know where i get food without use of fish oil and pig sauce…
I m indian…i also need some touch in food of india
Vegan in Thailand at the mo. 7/11 have 2 vegan things available to eat. A frozen rice and soya meal, which is a bit spicey, but nice and a steamed bun. Quite tasty. They will microwave them for you. The coffee creamers aren’t vegan, at least the ones I found. They contain sodium caseinate which is milk protein. Look for the yellow sign that looks like a 17 is the best advice. And the jae word is widely understood. Not all soya milk here is vegan. The yellow vitamilk is a good one. October they have a jae festival and vegan food is widely available.
Thai bread contains milk, but the large supermarkets sell European type bread. Not found vegan margarine anywhere.
It is worth mentioning a bit more, as someone has above about vegetarian vs vegan in Thai.
The word jai/jay is specifically referring to a dietary choice made due to Buddhist beliefs. If you tell someone you ‘gin jay’ they will often assume that means you are also celibate as part of your (considered by Thais to be extra strict) religious beliefs. So it doesn’t really equate to western veganism as you’re effectively saying “I eat a strict Thai Buddhist diet”. Which is usually only available in specific jai restaurants that sell only jai food.
Thais include oyster sauce in the ‘jay’ food classification due to a story in the Thai Buddhist texts about a Thai monk who becomes stranded on a desert island and has to resort to eating oysters to survive as they are the only source of food. As a result Thais now classify oysters as vegetables, and hence are OK in jay food.
Vegetarianism, or not eating meat or fish, but not specifically for religious reasons has a different name in Thai. Mang Sawilaat (pron. sa-wee-laat) is commonly understood throughout Thailand to mean no meat, fish or products made directly from fish or meat like oyster and fish sauce. However, it usually includes eggs and dairy, but I’d recommend using mang sawilaat over jay and then specify no egg (mai sai kai/no with egg) to minimise confusion.