Visitors buy traditional southern Vietnamese cakes at the 2025 Vegetarian Food Festival in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Linh Doan / Tuoi Tre
The festival, held from October 31 to November 4 at Binh Phu Park in Binh Phu Ward, is the first time the venue has hosted such a large-scale and long-running vegetarian festival.
According to organizers, the festival gives visitors the chance to explore, experience, and enjoy a wide variety of vegetarian dishes.
It also introduces clean plant-based ingredients and nutritious foods that promote health and support a sustainable, green lifestyle.
A stall serves the vegetarian version of bun nuoc leo Soc Trang (Soc Trang noodle soup) at the festival. Photo: Linh Doan / Tuoi Tre
Fried and grilled dishes draw festival-goers. Photo: Linh Doan / Tuoi Tre
The festival offers a wide variety of vegetarian dishes to suit different tastes, from noodle soups to grilled and dry dishes, as well as a variety of desserts.
Besides Vietnamese vegetarian dishes, visitors could also enjoy vegetarian sushi and Thai-style salads.
A stall serves Thai-style vegetarian dishes at the festival. Photo: Linh Doan / Tuoi Tre
Thanh Truc, a local resident who brought her family to the event, said she usually eats vegetarian meals on the 15th day of the lunar month, sticking to a few familiar noodle dishes.
She was surprised by the diversity of vegetarian dishes. When skillfully prepared, they are interesting while being nutritious and healthy.
Beyond satisfying visitors’ culinary interests, the festival also offers a range of activities.
These included an international vegetarian seminar covering topics such as green tourism, sustainable cuisine, green economy and sustainable development, as well as trends in vegetarian food, with participation from Vietnamese and international culinary experts.
Competitions were held for chefs and bartenders creating vegetarian dishes and drinks, along with a food waste recycling day, vegetarian cooking demonstrations, buffet events, photography and writing contests, music performances and games.
The jury scores a dish in a vegetarian cooking contest at the festival. Photo by courtesy of the organizers
