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When people talk about vegan food in Vietnam, they usually start with chay. For many families here, chay is part of Buddhist practice – eating simply, avoiding harm, and staying mindful. On the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, or during special days like Vu Lan (a big day of filial piety and gratitude), families often switch to chay meals as an offering of kindness.

Traditional chay food is quite humble: rice, vegetables, tofu, maybe a light soup. Often, people avoid ngũ vị tân – the five pungent spices like garlic or onion – to keep the mind calm and clear.

But things are changing too. More young people, especially in the cities, are embracing veganism for different reasons -animal rights, health, the environment. And with that, new ideas arrive. Now you can find creative vegan restaurants that use plant based meat, mushrooms, legumes, and different flours to make dishes that look and taste a lot like meat, but don’t harm any animals.

You’ll see vegan bánh mì with mushroom pâté, plant based sausages, even vegan “fried chicken” made from tofu skin. This mix of old Buddhist chay and new style vegan cooking makes eating plant based in Vietnam feel both familiar and fresh.

So if you sit down at a simple quán cơm chay, you’re tasting something that’s been part of daily life for a long time. If you visit a trendy vegan bistro in Saigon or Hanoi, you’re seeing how this old idea is growing and changing – one meal at a time.