Thou shall not eat meat

Whenever I visit my hospital for a check-up I enjoy a very good cappuccino with buttered toast in a small coffee place nearby, run by a very nice family. When I asked for my usual, the son of the business told me that they did not have toast today. Never mind, that can happen. When I paid for my coffee his mother made it clear to me why I couldn’t have the buttered toast – they are only serving vegetarian food until the end of October. She must have meant vegan food (although I am sure there was cream on my coffee). 

Later on I read a ThaiVisa.com article about the Phuket vegetarian festival and realised that my toast-free coffee experience might have had something to do with that vegetarian jamboree. That’s when I also realised that vegetarianism is not so much a healthy way of life as a religion.

Horst Bullinger

Bangkok