The vegetarian food market in HCM City has been busy since early this month as the Vu Lan festival approaches.

HCM CITY (Biz Hub)— The vegetarian food market in HCM City has been busy since early this month as the Vu Lan festival approaches.

"We're sorry, could you please call again later? We're very busy serving our customers at the moment," a salesclerk of the An Nhien vegetarian restaurant in District 3 told Viet Nam News yesterday evening.

Taking place in the seventh lunar month or the spirit month, the festival promotes vegetarian food.

Vegetarian restaurants are also doing brisk business in many parts of the city, attracting visitors with healthy food.

Vegetarian food is sold not only at street markets but also in shops and supermarkets, such as Co.op Mart, Satramart, Big C and Maximark. Types of vegetarian food vary from instant, semi-processed to frozen, and come with a range of spices.

According to retailers, vegetarian food has seen stable growth in recent years. At the same time, new kinds of products have been introduced into the market, especially on such special occasions as festivals and full moon days.

Vegetarian food provided by companies such as Au Lac, Vissa, SG Food and Cau Tre are now popular. They do not only bring high quality but also different types of products to customers.

"On occasions like this, restaurants in the city often make new-fangled kinds of vegetarian food to serve different tastes of a much greater number of customers," said vegetarian Dang Hong Ngoc.

In addition to normal dishes like vegetarian rice and "beef" vermicelli, there are now also rolled noodles and "roast meat" vermicelli, she said.

During the Vu Lan season, which according to legend is to remember the dead, supermarkets do not only increase the amount of vegetarian food but also launch promotional campaigns to encourage customers. — VNA/VNS