How did Taste Tibet get to be Tilda Swinton’s top food pick at Glastonbury?
In the week that the festival usually kicks off (it’s not happening this year – it’s a fallow one) we’ve been looking back, and honestly – this wasn’t in our stars.
When I was little we were not a festival-going family. My main frame of reference for Glastonbury was my posh mum lamenting the state of the portaloos. But she was just going off images from the TV – we were definitely not experiencing them first hand.
As for Yeshi, in his own childhood he could not have conceived of a world like Glastonbury. He spent his summers out on the Tibetan Plateau with just his yaks and sheep for company. He never encountered big crowds until he landed in India as a young adult.
Fittingly, our first visit to Worthy Farm was all thanks to His Holiness XIV Dalai Lama. It was just before he turned 80, and – bizarrely – he made a stop at Glastonbury Festival during a short visit to the UK. The Tibetan community were allocated tickets so that we could celebrate his birthday with him.
In the grey glow of the Sunday afternoon, His Holiness made his debut on the Pyramid Stage. Patti Smith brought him on and the crowd sang happy birthday. There was even a cake.
Our kids were 1 and 3 at the time. We were the only parents mad enough to have their toddlers with them in that particular mud-caked field, but we survived, and it emboldened us.
Years later, and veterans by now of many of the UK’s biggest music festivals, Taste Tibet landed our first pitch at Glastonbury. We’ve since become a fixture here, with a prime location and a host of wonderful regulars.
As a family, we’ve enjoyed unsurpassed moments of joy in these fields. Our son has juggled flower sticks at the Stone Circle at sunset. Our daughter has seen her musical heroes and found herself in the middle of a real-life Joe Wicks workout all the space of a day.
Along the way, we’ve also seen the best of humanity, and it’s been amazing to have our kids experience that with us alongside. People helping them into the front row or up onto our shoulders. Litter pickers at sunrise. The kindness of strangers as rarely experienced anywhere else.
Glastonbury – we’ll take those portaloos and crowds any time. This was not the world we were born into but how we miss it in a fallow year.
We’re open again from this Friday. Our full opening hours are as follows:
Fri: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Saturday: 21-3/ 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3 / 5-9pm
This week’s menu is up on the website – check it. Come for dine in, take away and excellent stocks of freezer food. And if you haven’t yet tried our iced chai (available for dine in or take away) get ready for a life-changing experience.
Newsletter subscribers enjoy some excellent offers on our freezer meals this week: sign up here to unlock all the deals.
And for fully-illustrated newsletters, head over to our Instagram for all the pics!
Looking forward to seeing you soon,
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm
Saturday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9pm
☏ 01865 499318
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