Many of you know that Mr and Mrs Taste Tibet also run a sideline operation that is called parenting. Master and Little Miss Taste Tibet are 8 and 6 now. You may have spied them in the front of the van on one of our deliveries. Sometimes there is no hiding them: on Sunday, when we made our food drop in Wallingford, one of them was scaling the fence in the car park at one point, while the other had a short-lived tantrum on the sidelines.
Some of you have asked us how we are managing to keep Taste Tibet moving during lockdown with our kids in tow. They’ve been off school since March, of course. Meanwhile we haven’t stopped banging out the momos, and we’ve started delivering them to all kinds of far-flung places in and around Oxford.
The truth is that the kids are well used to this life already. We have been taking them to festivals across the country since they were tiny, and they have long since learned the art of entertaining themselves while mum and dad work. Yeshi says that when he was little he used to go out on the mountains all day, just popping back home when the hunger called. And so it is for our kids: they run around all day at the back of the stall, play, read or squabble in the van, and pop their heads into the tent when they are in need of a momo.
In some ways, it’s a relief that school is out, as it rather gets in the way. We’re not sure how we will make our deliveries work once the kids go back, and at least one of the children would definitely prefer to be playing football outside the kitchen than writing his weekend news.
Every parent feels the guilt, and we certainly worry about the amount of “unschooling” that we’ve been inadvertently practicing since COVID-19 forced the institutions to close. We are definitely not the most present of parents, and often we’re so busy with work that we’re barely engaged with the children at all. But there are moments! Yesterday the kids helped to clean the van (water is a recurring theme here – they also love to “wash up” – basically anything that involves a hose or a spray tap is just the best thing ever). And they probably have a freedom that most children only dream of – a lot more like Yeshi’s childhood than the one that kids usually experience here.
Next week we are taking some time off to enjoy our little ones before they (will they?) return to school. Get your order in now for this Thursday, Friday or Saturday as we won’t be delivering at all the week of 25th May. And if you are one of our many amazing customers who order from us every week, then make sure to feed your freezer this time to tide you over!
We are so grateful to those of you who are keeping us going during this mad time, and who are recommending us to friends and family along the way. Thank you everyone, stay well, and hope to see you again soon.
Very best wishes,
Mr, Mrs, Master and Little Miss Taste Tibet, as well as all those who work so hard for us behind the scenes x
