Buddhist cuisine

Ingredients

Following its dominant status in most parts of East Asia where Buddhism is most practiced, rice features heavily as a staple in the Buddhist meal, especially in the form of rice porridge or congee as the usual morning meal. Noodles and other grains may often be served as well. Vegetables of all sorts are generally either stir-fried or cooked in vegetarian broth with seasonings and may be eaten with various sauces. Onions and garlic are usually avoided as consumption of these is thought to increase undesirable emotions, such as anger or sexual desire. Traditionally, eggs are not considered vegetarian. Seasonings will be informed by whatever is common in the local region; for example, soy sauce and vegan dashi figure strongly in Japanese monastery food while Thai curry and tương (as a vegetarian replacement for fish sauce) may be prominent in Southeast Asia. Sweets and desserts are not often consumed, but are permitted in moderation and may be served at special occasions, such as in the context of a tea ceremony in the Zen tradition.

Buddhist vegetarian chefs have become extremely creative in imitating meat using prepared wheat gluten, also known as seitan, kao fu (烤麸) or wheat meat, soy (such as tofu or tempeh), agar, konnyaku and other plant products. Some of their recipes are the oldest and most-refined meat analogues in the world. Soy and wheat gluten are very versatile materials, because they can be manufactured into various shapes and textures, and they absorb flavorings (including, but not limited to, meat-like flavorings), while having very little flavor of their own. With the proper seasonings, they can mimic various kinds of meat quite closely.

Some of these Buddhist vegetarian chefs are in the many monasteries and temples which serve allium-free and mock-meat (also known as 'meat analogues') dishes to the monks and visitors (including non-Buddhists who often stay for a few hours or days, to Buddhists who are not monks, but staying overnight for anywhere up to weeks or months). Many Buddhist restaurants also serve vegetarian, vegan, non-alcoholic or allium-free dishes.

Some Buddhists eat vegetarian on the 1st and 15th of the lunar calendar (lenten days), on Chinese New Year eve, and on saint and ancestral holy days. To cater to this type of customer, as well as full-time vegetarians, the menu of a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant usually shows no difference from a typical Chinese or East Asian restaurant, except that in recipes originally made to contain meat, a soy chicken substitute might be served instead.

Variations

According to cookbooks published in English, formal monastery meals in the Zen tradition generally follow a pattern of "three bowls" in descending size. The first and largest bowl is a grain-based dish such as rice, noodles or congee; the second contains the protein dish which is often some form of stew or soup; the third and smallest bowl is a vegetable dish or a salad.

Regional

Regional cuisines have also contributed to the popularity of Buddhist food practices. In places like Hangzhou, China, the environment naturally supported a diet based on vegetables, tofu, fungi, grains, and freshwater fish. This clean and simple style of daily eating were practiced long before Buddhist dietary rules spread across China. As Buddhism grew, its cuisine developed alongside regional food cultures. Chinese culture has always valued food for health, medicine, and philosophy, which aligns well with Buddhist ideas about mindful eating and using food as part of spiritual practice. Local ingredients and traditional dishes shaped many of the vegetarian meals now found in temples and monastic communities.

In today's world, Buddhist cuisine in South Korea has become a way to respond to social issues while still practicing the religion. Buddhist nuns have used temple food to address problems like food insecurity, public health concerns, the loss of community, and environmental stress by giving new meaning and purpose to temple food. This helped the people around them and also supported the nuns’ own spiritual growth. The growing popularity of temple food has also promoted Korean cuisine, known as hansik, and has led to more commercialization.

Dietary ethics and debate in global settings

Outside of Asia, some countries, such as the United States, use Buddhist dietary practice to reflect modern ethical concerns. There are ongoing debates among American Buddhists about whether eating meat fits with the principle of non harming. Some practitioners point to early Buddhist texts to argue that eating meat is allowed as long as the animal was not killed specifically for them as mentioned earlier. Others believe that vegetarianism or veganism aligns more closely with Buddhist ideas of compassion, animal welfare, and environmental responsibility.

In Tibet, there is tension around following Buddhist dietary practices. Being vegetarian or vegan is often seen as unrealistic there because the environment makes it hard to cultivate enough food or to rely on plant based proteins. Some Tibetan vegetarians focus on compassion for all beings and believe that rejecting meat is the right choice. Others argue that, because of the harsh conditions, they are an exception and that eating meat is acceptable since it affects their strength, health, and basic survival.

Views from Tibetan masters discourage meat eating even when it meets the “threefold purity rule.” They argue that the Buddha only allowed this rule temporarily as a way to slowly eliminate meat eating, not to justify it long term. Because of this, many Tibetan teachers do not accept meat eating today and see the rule as outdated. They also point out that factory farming, environmental destruction, and the psychological harm involved in modern meat production give even more reasons for people to reject meat. To them, avoiding meat is more consistent with the Buddha’s teaching on non-harming, unless someone is in an extreme situation where they have no other choice are permitted to consume meat.

History

The earliest surviving written accounts of Buddhism are the Edicts written by King Ashoka, a well-known Buddhist king who propagated Buddhism throughout Asia, and is honored by both Theravada and Mahayana schools of Buddhism. The authority of the Edicts of Ashoka as a historical record is suggested by the mention of numerous topics omitted as well as corroboration of numerous accounts found in the Theravada and Mahayana Tripitakas written down centuries later.

Asoka Rock Edict 1, dated to c. 257 BCE, mentions the prohibition of animal sacrifices in Ashoka's Maurya Empire as well as his commitment to vegetarianism; however, whether the Sangha was vegetarian in part or in whole is unclear from these edicts. However, Ashoka's personal commitment to, and advocating of, vegetarianism suggests Early Buddhism (at the very least for the layperson) most likely already had a vegetarian tradition (the details of what that entailed besides not killing animals and eating their flesh were not mentioned, and therefore are unknown).