"Have you enjoyed a vegetarian diet today?" Nowadays, vegetarianism has become a vogue. With the increasingly prevailing vegetarianism, vegetarians have become a new group who attach equal importance to food and nutrition, health and fashion in Chongqing.

"There are few vegetarian restaurants in downtown Chongqing. Temples are undoubtedly the best destinations for vegetarians." When it comes to where one can enjoy vegetarian diets, travel enthusiast Li Li has his own idea. "Temples are often located on mountains or beside rivers. And even if a temple is situated in a busy street, it is also a precious pure land. One can breathe fresh air first and then feast oneself on vegetarian foods which will help expulse toxin. Such a healthy lifestyle makes one look beautiful at the same time."

Huayan Temple located on Chongqing's Zhongliang Mountain is long famous for its vegetarian foods, which not only inherit flavor of the temple's traditional vegetarian diets but also have a unique style. Visitors can feast themselves on palatable foods which resemble meat but are actually made from vegetables and grains.

"Twice-cooked pork" looks like fat meat at the first glance but one will find out that it is made from sticky rice after tasting it carefully. "Preserved spareribs" are in fact made from bean products. "Chopped cold boiled chicken" is so vivid that it looks just like holding up its head and singing. One will be pleasantly surprised by each dish with its special shape and fine texture.

Laba porridge, which literally means "porridge eaten on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month," is also a wonder in the temple. Senior monks follow dietetic therapy depicted in Compendium of Materia Medica to cook the porridge with 23 ingredients and water dropping from between the rocks in the temple. A long queue can be seen in the temple when it offers Laba porridge each year. Senior monks will pray for good fortune for those visitors when the latter are having Laba porridge.

Besides enjoying vegetarian diets in temples, many vegetarians also cook vegetarian foods at home. Nutritionists indicate that vegetarian foods are healthy because they contain low saturated fat and help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. Vegetarian foods can also help lose weight and purify the mind. Moreover, one will no longer have to pay a large sum for big meals. 
 
(China News Service February 23, 2006)