It might seem like all they eat in Thailand is meat and seafood. And yes they do have amazing seafood, chicken, pork, beef, duck and chicken dishes. We could never imagine giving these up. However, we understand many foreigners are vegetarians, vegans or even Muslim who can only eat halal food. You may think choices are very limited but in fact, that is not entirely true. There are plenty of options and ways to find Halal, Veg & Vegan Food in Thailand.

Halal Food

Muslims are the second largest religious group in Thailand at 4.6% of the population.

This means that the government and food industry already recognize the need for halal processes and certifications. Almost every meat at supermarket have the halal stamp certifcation on their packaging. They have to make sure of this not just for the thousands of Muslim tourists coming into Thailand but also for their own Muslim nationals.

However, we admit, finding halal food at street stalls might be a bit more difficult. You could ask them if a particular dish is halal but chances are they either don’t know or will say it is even if it isn’t.

There are also many halal restaurants all across major touristic cities like Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai. A simple TripAdvisor search is enough to find you the best options. There are many Indian, Pakistani and Middle Eastern restaurants in Bangkok and other touristic cities, each of them are clearly Halal-certified.

You can also use Eatigo to not just find Halal, Veg and Vegan food but also at value deals and promotion.

Apart from halal restaurants, you can also find halal hotels as well, especially in Bangkok. Who knew that could be a thing, right? These are the 4 best halal hotels in Bangkok.

• Al Meroz Hotel – marketed as the best and completely Halal hotel. There are no bars in there and it is close to the Muslim communities and an Islamic center.
• Grand Sukhumvit Hotel\
• Nouvo City Hotel
• Shangri-La Hotel

You can see how much effort Thailand is putting into gearing towards the Muslim community and tourists.

Vegetarian & Vegan Food

There’s vegetarian, there is vegan and then there is eating Jay food

In Thailand, the words “kin jay/jeh” supercedes even veganism. So if you’re ever looking for strictly vegeterian or vegan food, just say to the restaurant or street food stall staff – “kin jay, ka/khrup”.

Read our useful Thai words to know for more information.

By simply saying “kin kay” might not be enough as this would sometimes leave the staff clueless and confused. Instead what you can do is the following:

1. Ask for a vegeterian menu by saying “mii ahaan jay, mai?” This is you asking if they have any vegeterian food at which point they will bring or show you a menu with vegeterian dishes. Usually this consist of stir-fry vegetables, tofu or mock meat.
2. Be specific. Saying jay means no onion or garlic also (as it is closest to Jainism and vegan diet). If you want a vegeterian meal (egg and dairy is ok), then you say mangsawirat.
3. Thailand is great at substituting things in dishes, so you can simply ask to remove a particular ingredient from a dish that you like. For example, when we don’t feel like eating meat but want to have our favorite dish, we say “mai sai kai (chicken), sai pak”, which means don’t put chicken, put vegetables. Also remember the keyword – jay. You can easily point at a dish and say “jay”.

Thailand has many fruits and vegetables

Apart from substituting out the meat, there are many vegeterian dishes too. Pad Thai, Som Tum, fruit salads, spicy mushroom salad, vegetable fried rice and so much more. The possibilities are endless.

Photo cr: rachelcooksthai.com

Photo cr: www.eatingthaifood.com

However, be cautious as these dishes are often cooked with fish sauce or oyster sauce. You can ask them to not put it by saying “mai sai nam pla/nam man hoy”.

7-11 is not your best friend either

Most of the items in a 7-11 either contain meat, bits of meat or have traces of non-veg ingredients. You will find the odd cheese sandwich or veg protein-based meal but your options are quite limited. Besides you want to avoid 7-11 food in any case.

Learn names of meat and non-veg items

It might be useful to learn names of things you don’t like or can’t eat so you can say “mai sai _____”. Suppose you can’t eat beef but fish is ok, you can say “mai sai nua, mi pla mai?”

Now you might be thinking, hey you guys aren’t vegeterians or vegans, how do you know? Well we did the research for you guys but we also asked some of our friends. Here’s what one of our vegan friend and expat has to say

Dana Boulin

“My first tip would be to come to Bangkok during the Jay festival. All you have to do is look for that sweet, sweet yellow flag and you know you can find vegan food easily.

The rest of the year there might be some challenges, but there are still a few gold mines you can tap for a vegan fix. Of course you can alway go to any night market and if your Thai is good enough you can always request your favorite dishes to be made Jay. Although depending on the enthusiasm of the particular vendor, your experience might vary.”

He also suggests some particular restaurants he has tried (in Bangkok) and vouches for:

Pala Pizza – veggie and marinara pizzas are both fully blown vegan and they have a bunch more vegetarian pizzas on the menu as well.

Broccoli revolution – one of the best vegan burgers. Or you can check out BK Magazine’s list of best vegetarian burgers in Bangkok.

Veganerie – for desserts. Try their berry crumble.

Also try May Veggie home for a wide variety of vegan-only whole foods.

Let us know if you’re interested to find out more about the halal & veg food scene in Thailand. If you want to know specific restaurants, we can also give some recommendations in our next post.