Chiang Mai’s vegetarian festival is meant to be loud, crowded and slightly chaotic. At the ready-made vegetarian food stalls around Warorot Market in Mueang district this year, it was none of those. Fewer customers than usual wandered up to pick through the trays, and vendors blamed the economy, which has left people with less money to spend.
Some stalls are giving the first three days a chance. If trade doesn’t pick up, they say they will cut the number of dishes they cook each day.
The shops selling ingredients in the same market looked much the same. Dried shiitake mushrooms, textured soy protein, tofu, tofu skin and mi sua noodles were all moving more slowly than in previous years.
Duangnet Netrasut, who owns Je Lek vegetarian food shop, said business has been quiet from the start. Vegetables, seasonings and cooking oil all got more expensive in the weeks before the festival, she said, and the flooding has cost her some regular customers too. She has kept her price at 35 baht a bag, but by midday she still hasn’t sold half of what she cooked.
People are counting their money more carefully, she said. Some who used to stock up on several dishes at once now buy day by day, and less of it. She expects this to be the weakest festival she has seen.
