Various Thai dishes, including the famous "fish cake," have been displayed in restaurants and food stalls since the opening Sunday of the country's annual Gin Jay Festival or the Vegetarian Festival.

What is unusual in this festival is that everything in Thai cuisine, such as fish ball, squid salad, roasted chicken and so on, which usually contain meat, chicken or seafood, are cooked as vegetarian food.

Hundreds of small food stalls, hanging bright-yellow flags which indicate availability of vegetarian dishes, lined both sides of Yaowaraj Road, Bangkok's Chinatown, the favorite of foreign tourists. The area became even more crowded since the opening of the festival.

Lat Supa and his wife, who run a Thai food restaurant in the city's suburb, were among those invited by the organizers to prepare vegetarian dishes that would taste like meat.

"The festival lasts for 10 days. Since almost everybody wants meat, our job is to prepare dishes that are vegetable-based but would equally be more nutritious and would taste as good if not better than meat," the 42-year-old chef Lat said.

He said that the bean curd or tofu is the best ingredient for producing "fake meat".

At the fourth day of the festival, the couple's small eatery has already catered to some 2,000 satisfied customers.

As a devout Budhhist, Lat promised that he will abstain from eating meat during the festival. He said he believes that the act will give him and his family good luck.

According to a recent poll conducted by the Bangkok University, 70 percent of Bangkok residents are determined to stick, at least in part, to a vegetarian diet during the 10-day festival.

Forty percent of the respondents said they wanted to follow what their religion asks them to do while 24.6 percent said they are abstaining from eating meat for health reasons.

No one can explain how the festival started. One popular theory is that it was observed for the first time about 170 years ago in Phuket by members of a Chinese operatroupein the midst of an epidemic, in order to purify their bodies and minds and to get rid of evil.

Nowadays, the festival is still very much alive in the southern part of the country. Some devotees even pierce their tongues, cheeks, or other parts of their bodies as partof the festivities to wash away their sins and to pray for good luck.

For the young generation, the festival is also a good chance to temporarily change their lifestyle. Wearing white outfit and holding scented candles, which are the traditions of the festival, Latthapol Spitevarit bought three bags of vegetarian food from the stalls in Chinatown.

"We eat too much meat these days, which is not very good for our health. Eating vegetables can help clean up my body," Latthapol said.

Latthapol said that he has joined the Gin Jay festival for consecutive 10 years and after the festival, he always felt healthier.