The Water Drop Café at Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island has served the Christchurch public for more than ten years. It is widely loved by the local populace and has become their must-visit place for dining and coffee. To reward its visitors, Water Drop Café has launched new dishes from time to time. This month, it launches two new dishes: the Super Protein Patty and the Crispy Patty, with a mix of the Eastern and Western flavours. The main ingredients of the two dishes are soy protein, fried vegetables, lettuce salad, etc. The patrons to the Café were full of praises for these new dishes and expressed their wishes to recommend them to their families and friends.
Based on the belief “Before turning the Wheel of Dharma, we must first turn the Wheel of Food” and to repay his gratitude to his Mentor in accordance with the spirit “A drop of gratitude shall be repaid with a well of spring water”, Venerable Master Hsing Yun has set up Water Drop Cafes around the World especially in Western countries, to serve the public. Through the delicious vegetarian food served in the Cafés, people of different nationalities and ethnicities are attracted to FGS Temples, and after patronising the Water Drop Cafe, they will visit Art Gallery and Main Shrine there to learn about Humanistic Buddhism, sowing seeds of Bodhi in their hearts.
In order to effectively promote vegetarianism in the local community, from time to time, FGS South Island uses creativity to organise multi-cultural activities, such as, Mother’s Day Celebration, Coffee and Chocolate Carnival, Vegetarian-food Tasting Gathering, Project ‘A’ Vege festival and European style Buffets. These activities have all received enthusiastic responses from the local populace, with around 1,000 people participating in each event. Through the integration of Eastern and Western cultural values in these events, people are guided and encouraged to go vegetarian, refrain from killing and do their parts in protecting lives and loving the Planet.