VEGGIE MUNCHIES: Visitors line up to buy local vegetarian snacks at a Food and Go Green festival in the Jakarta Fair Ground complex in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. The event is held to celebrate vegetarianism and calls on people to love the environment. (JP/Triwik Kurniasari)

Tasteful meat soup without meat and the famous pempek fishcakes without fish are among the fares on offer at a "Food and Go Green" festival in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Sunday.

Some do taste odd to the novice, but the event at Jakarta Fair Ground (PRJ) clearly shows there is a wide choice here for vegetarians.

The festival, which is held by a religious community, Vihara Metta Karuna, celebrates vegetarianism and calls on people to embrace living with the nature.

With a free admission, a visitor can exchange coupons, at Rp 50,000 each, for vegetarian snacks and food at dozens of stalls set up in the area.

At the festival, Jakartans can enjoy both traditional and international meat-free versions of local and international food, ranging from bakso malang (soup with meatballs), nasi tim (rice with mushroom and chicken), siomay (steamed dumplings) pizza and Japanese tempura.

The dishes are made from basic ingredients like flour, beans and mushrooms, said festival coordinator Sumartono on Saturday.

Like many vegetarian foods, no shallots or garlic are used in the recipes.

"Through this event, we want to show people that vegetarians can enjoy various dishes, which are commonly enjoyed by non-vegetarians," said Sumartono, who has been a vegetarian for about 20 years.

"We only need to replace the meat with ingredients made from flour and mushrooms. There is also a stall where visitors can buy the basic ingredients so they can cook them at home," he said.

He said being a vegetarian was one of the many ways to care for the environment.

"But we don't want to force people to become a vegetarian. It is optional," he said, adding that it was now quite easy for vegetarians to find meat-free food, since vegetarian restaurants were springing up throughout the city.

The festival received a positive response from visitors.

Ayun, who only became a vegetarian a couple of months ago, said she enjoyed the food at the festival.

"The pempek is good. It's like the real one. Here, I learn that being a vegetarian doesn't mean that you should only eat vegetables. You can be creative by using the basic ingredients: flour and mushrooms," Ayun, 37, said.

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