Owners of a shabu restaurant in Nonthaburi province today insisted that a monk’s alms bowl used for a promotional video is not actually for customers to dip their meat into.
Kirin Ritboon, Kanatip Kiriphan, and Natthaphon On-in, owners of Maimookornuer, said today that while they used the bowl to cook in a TikTok video, it was just an idea they cooked up to promote their shop after it went viral for all the wrong reasons and drew criticism as inappropriate and unhygienic.
They told reporters that their restaurant has been open for a mere three months and was in dire need of promotion. The idea to use the alms bowl came from visiting a temple fair and making merit.
Responding to accusations it was inappropriate, Kanatip said the bowl is a mere object, and Buddhism teaches that one should not become attached to things.
@maimookornuer ข้าวก้นบาตรของจริง #ไม่หมูก็เนื้อ #หมูกระทะ #หมูกะทะเยียวยาทุกอย่าง🍛🍝🍤🥘 #บางใหญ่นนทบุรี ♬ เสียงต้นฉบับ – BoyPeerasakk
The TikTok video has attracted a swarm of comments since yesterday, a couple days after it was originally posted, with many questioning if it was right to use such a bowl for cooking.
“Once done eating, don’t forget to return it to the monks, they need it by 4am,” one person wrote.
Kanatip however insisted that the bowl was not taken from a temple. He did not mention where he got it.
He said the containers they use for the restaurant are shaped like an alms bowl but are made from food-grade stainless steel. He and his co-owners did not expect the video, which has garnered more than 600,000 views, to draw a backlash, and that they merely want their hot pot restaurant to stand out from other places.
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