Speaking of vegetarian meals prepared by monks or nuns, people in Hanoi are talking about meals prepared by Venerable Thich Dam Anh who presides at Phung Thanh Pagoda, in Cong Trang lane, Kham Thien Street, Hanoi.

The vegetarian meals prepared by Venerable Thich Dam Anh are famous not only for what’s on the menu but also for the care with which the food is prepared.

A life devoted to vegetarian food

The Venerable became a vegetarian when he was only 14 months old. He started to prepare vegetarian meals at the age of 14.

So far he has created more than 400 vegetarian recipes with ingredients commonly used by ordinary people.

At other pagodas, meals are often prepared by Buddhist nuns and followers. But at Phung Thanh pagoda, all the meals are prepared by Venerable Thich Dam Anh himself.

To prepare for a meal, the Venerable goes to Bac Qua market to choose the fresh vegetables and fruits he needs.

Food preparation starts at 3am so the meal will be ready to serve when the sun rises – the best, purest moment of the day.

Any meal prepared by the Venerable has all the same courses as any non-vegetarian meal prepared during Tet. For example, barbequed eels, stewed chicken, fish soup and stewed pig’s trotters are among the common courses. But ingredients for them are bean sprouts, green beans, mushrooms, rice paper and pomelo peels. One of the many specialities prepared by the Venerable is loach fish cooked with soy sauce. The loaches are made from water taro stalks.

Another course prepared by the Venerable is mushroom rice soup – an indispensable course in any meal at a pagoda.

Venerable Thich Dam Anh has been called the master cook of vegetarian foods. But the monk is very modest about his cooking.

“Many monks and nuns at other pagodas are better at cooking than I am. They are from Quan Su, Ba Da, Ly Quoc Su and Van Ho pagodas and elsewhere,” says the Venerable.

But the Venerable is not happy that nowadays people in Hanoi often buy ready-made vegetarian foods from Taiwan or Ho Chi Minh City.

“Nowadays they don’t want to spend much time preparing the meal nor develop culinary skills as they all have enough work to keep them busy”, the Venerable concedes.

To make a good vegetarian meal, according to the Venerable, the cook must devote himself entirely to preparing food as he wishes to offer the best food to the Buddha.

The Venerable’s childhood

During his childhood, Venerable Thich Dam Anh lived a hard life. At the age of 10, his maternal grandmother sent him to Am Hon pagoda in Van Linh, now part of Bac Giang City.

Under such circumstances he grew up and became a good person. At the age of 15 he started to do some charity work by collecting old clothes and blankets for poor patients being treated at hospital. Even now he is haunted by the sight of people dying of hunger in the streets in 1945.

“At that time, we, monks and nuns took a portion of our meager food supply to share with people in the streets in the hope of keeping them alive,” said the Venerable, “helping less fortunate people has become a mandate in my life.”

The Venerable has traveled to almost all corners of the country to contribute to lessening the hard life of the disadvantaged.

“My purpose in life is to help people who are less fortunate than me,” said Venerable Thich Dam Anh.

He said Buddhist monks and nuns and followers in the pagoda often paid visits to war veterans, leprosy patients, orphans and blind people across the country and presented gifts to them.

In helping the disadvantaged, sometimes, the Venerable had gone into debt. For example, in 2006 following the havoc played by the Chanchu tropical storm, Venerable Thich Dam Anh was able to raise about VND12 million to help the storm victims.

However, that sum of money was small compared to the number of needy families in the storm-stricken area and the Venerable decided to borrow VND150 million for the victims.

During the 2008 Lunar New Year Festival, the Venerable himself was able to raise more than VND100 million to buy cloths, blankets and presents for poor people living in the northwestern and central parts of Vietnam.

Last November, learning that the storm No 9^th had caused extensive damage to the people of the Central Highlands, the Venerable was able to raise nearly VND 1 billion to help victims’ families.

At the age of 85, though his health has been deteriorating, particularly following a cardiac arrest in March last year, the Venerable recently went to Hai Phong to present 6 newly-built houses to 6 poor families.

Venerable Thich Dam Anh said “one good turn deserves another”. To acknowledge his kind heart and good deeds, he has been awarded many certificates of merits and badges, and they are all well-kept in a wooden trunk.

The noblest award the Venerable has received was the Labour Order- third class, presented to him by State President Nguyen Minh Triet.