When Yeshi was growing up in Tibet, zero waste happened naturally. There was no landfill. His family wore shoes, belts and bags made from yak hide, and their chuba, traditional cloaks, were fashioned from sheepskin. As for food, the family grew or produced almost everything that they ate, so there was no packaging to contend with. Yeshi remembers large jute sacks of this or that in the corner of the kitchen: even storage containers were biodegradable.
When there was a surplus of veg, this was shared with the animals. Any food waste was processed into manure for farm use, but there was very little of this. Potatoes, carrots – nothing tends to be peeled in Tibetan cooking, but rather scrubbed instead. And mooli tips, cauliflower leaves and broccoli stems turn out to be delicious if you know how to use them. Tibetans never throw out any part of the vegetable, except where it’s inedible.
As a food business, waste management is our greatest challenge and responsibility. To a large extent, we have cracked it. Our menu is small and carefully considered – many dishes share common ingredients. This way we can buy most of our raw materials in bulk, so packaging is limited. There’s not much we can do with onion peel, but whatever food scraps we incur at the prep stage go into a designated bin that’s collected once a week. Then, when we are done at the end of the night, we blast-chill any hot leftovers and box them up for sale in our display freezers. We gift any surplus food and everything that doesn’t freeze well to Oxford Mutual Aid.
We close for Christmas after Saturday service this week. If you’d like some food for your freezer to tide you over during the break, pop down any time during opening hours and bulk buy! We are well stocked at the moment with individual portions and family-sized boxes that cost less and reduce waste.
And if you’re after a stocking-filler, we have the ultimate. Our chilli oil is out in limited quantities, but back in stock for now! Grab one before it disappears until the new year.
We are open our usual hours this week, as follows:
Wednesday: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Thursday – Saturday: 12-3pm (lunch) / 5-9.30pm (dinner)
Come for takeaway, to dine in or home delivery through Foodstuff. This week’s menu is live on the website now.
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds: 5-9.30pm
Thurs – Sat: 12-3pm 5-9.30pm
☏ 01865 499318
