Eating Healthy

                                                                        Banana Leaf

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•                            Buddhist feast

Two times recently I have eaten vegetarian and also had my camera handy to snap a pic.  Actually I eat vegetarian food often but I don't always have a camera.  There is no dearth of interesting places to eat here in Penang, the city in Malaysia that is somewhat like New Orleans in that it is associated with all kinds of good food.

The top picture is known as banana leaf and is served in  specialized Indian restaurants.  Upon entering banana leaf restaurants the first thing to do is wash your hands.  Traditionally this food is eaten with fingers.  I don't particularly like eating this way so I can request spoon and fork.  After washing up, customers sit at a table and a large banana leaf is plopped down in front.  Servers pass thru the restaurant with pots of rice and vegetables and serve directly from the pot to the leaf.  Everything I have eaten in this type of restaurant has been delicious, a bit spicy, filling and cheap.  

The second photo is a picture of a vegan lunch I had at a Buddhist temple.  This month is the feast of the 9 gods and strict Buddhists eat only vegetables during these 9 days.  Most temples set up dining tents and serve food all day long, however this is a bit upscale and I was invited by Chinese friends to a sit down dinner.  There must have been over 10 dishes served  as our party sat around a big table with a lazy Susan in the middle.  Not surprisingly I left stuffed.

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