Thai Buddhist Temple Food

Just 5 minutes in front of Ashby Bart Station, towards the downtown Berkeley Bart station, was a small temple. I didn’t go there for the temple, but for the Thai food they sold sorry they distributed on Sunday afternoons. It was very popular, and I too went there several times.

The big line to get the food was there. It had several vegetarian food – mostly tofu based – they had meat dishes too. They had a small snack bar too, selling coconut based light sweet deserts that I liked and not seen in Berkeley or elsewhere in the States.

The temple didn’t accept cash – only tokens – which you get first and use the tokens to get the food.

To me it looked like tax avoidance scheme, but the temple authorities will disagree vehemently.

No cash, food fresh and tasty, and I liked it. Prices were slightly lower than what one paid for similar thai food in the area.

One thing I liked like East Asian food everywhere, when they say vegetarian, it often means vegan because they didn’t use milk.

In San Francisco one of my favorite vegan restaurant was in China Town, nearly 2 miles from my office. I think Chinese vegan food might become popular in India.

For me, most places in India is a problem because of dairy introduced almost in every dish. In places in Delhi towards the Punjab side, I have found milk product in places I never imagine.

Mixed vegetable curry means paneer plus some vegetables. I have found chola with paneer, even tandoori paratha with paneer, paneer in the water, and so on.

In India cheap food is mostly the answer. Paneer is too expensive for them. In Patna ate samosas, later found small paneer has been introduced in them. Or aloo patties. remember my early days in America when beef oil was a thing to avoid with caution. Even in Rajdhani I could hardly eat anything in spite of paying for it which was included in the ticket. Recent didn’t have to pay for food, on a few occasions, new ticket options were introduced, and it was a big relief.

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