INFO: Hibernate: select category0_.CATEGORYID as CATEGORYID16_, category0_.CATEGORY as CATEGORY16_, category0_.CATEGORYLEVEL as CATEGORY3_16_, category0_1_.PARENTID as PARENTID17_ from CATEGORY category0_ left outer join SUBCATEGORY category0_1_ on category0_.CATEGORYID=category0_1_.CHILDID where category0_.CATEGORYLEVEL=1
INFO: Diff time in ADDRECIPECONTROLLER: 1388
INFO: Writing CATEGORIES: [beans.Category@1bf00a9, beans.Category@4e23c3, beans.Category@df416]
SEVERE: failed to lazily initialize a collection of role: beans.Category.subCategoryList, no session or session was closed
org.hibernate.LazyInitializationException: failed to lazily initialize a collection of role: beans.Category.subCategoryList, no session or session was closed

<c:forEach items="${categories}" var="cat" varStatus="rowCounter">
                    <li class="level_1">
                      <div id="${cat.categoryId}"><c:out value="${cat.category}" /></div>
                     
                      <c:choose>
                        <c:when test="${fn:length(cat.subCategoryList) > 0}">
                          <ul>
                            <c:forEach items="${cat.subCategoryList}" var="subCat" varStatus="rowCounter">

@Entity
@Table(name = "CATEGORY")
public class Category implements Serializable {

  @Id
  @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.AUTO)
  @Column(name = "CATEGORYID")
  private Long categoryId;

  @ManyToMany
   @JoinTable(name = "SUBCATEGORY",
     joinColumns = { @JoinColumn(name = "PARENTID")},
     inverseJoinColumns = { @JoinColumn(name="CHILDID") })
  private Set<Category> subCategoryList;

public static List getCategories() {
  Session session = HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession();
  session.beginTransaction();
   List<Category> categoryList = session.createQuery("select c from Category c where c.categoryLevel=1").list();

    session.getTransaction().commit();
   
    return categoryList;
  }

long l_1 = System.currentTimeMillis();

    List categories = RecipeManager.getCategories(); // calls DAO-class through service class

    long l_3 = System.currentTimeMillis() - l_1;
    loggerObj.info("Diff time in ADDRECIPECONTROLLER: " + new Long(l_3).toString() );

<filter>
    <filter-name>openSessionInViewFilter</filter-name>
    <filter-class>org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.support.OpenSessionInViewFilter</filter-class>
  </filter>
  <filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>openSessionInViewFilter</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
  </filter-mapping>

public class HibernateUtil {

    private static final SessionFactory sessionFactory;

    static {
        try {
            // Create the SessionFactory from hibernate.cfg.xml
            sessionFactory = new AnnotationConfiguration().configure().buildSessionFactory();
        } catch (Throwable ex) {
            // Make sure you log the exception, as it might be swallowed
            System.err.println("Initial SessionFactory creation failed." + ex);
            throw new ExceptionInInitializerError(ex);
        }
    }

    public static SessionFactory getSessionFactory() {
         return sessionFactory;   
    }
}

<hibernate-configuration>
  <session-factory>
    <property name="connection.driver_class">com.mysql.jdbc.Driver</property>
    <property name="dialect">org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLInnoDBDialect</property>
    <property name="connection.url">jdbc:mysql://localhost/foodbase</property>
    <property name="connection.username">root</property>
    <property name="connection.password">admin</property>

    <!-- Enable Hibernate's automatic session context management -->
    <property name="current_session_context_class">thread</property>

    <!-- Disable the second-level cache  -->
    <property name="cache.provider_class">org.hibernate.cache.NoCacheProvider</property>

    <!-- Echo all executed SQL to stdout -->
    <property name="show_sql">true</property>

    <mapping class="beans.Recipe" />
    <mapping class="beans.RecipeComment" />
    <mapping class="beans.Category" />
    <mapping class="beans.SubCategory" />
    <mapping class="beans.Test" />
  </session-factory>
</hibernate-configuration>

<bean id="sessionFactory" class="org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.annotation.AnnotationSessionFactoryBean">
    <property name="configLocation" value="classpath:hibernate.cfg.xml" />
  </bean>