When Yeshi and his brother Nyima arrived home in Tibet one Wednesday morning in April after an absence of 25 and 35 years respectively, a huge gathering of family members was there to greet them.
It’s a big family, and they’d been away a long time. But one week in and almost everyone in the welcoming committee was still at the house. A nephew and a niece took leave eventually – one sells apartments in Chengdu and the other stamps birth and death certificates in a nearby town – but for everybody else the home is their workplace. They live to support one another’s existence.
There are numerous jobs around the house, but food is the main focus of activity. There are no shops in the village so all produce is home-grown, ferried back from the family’s nomadic camp, or traded with friends in nearby towns. Everything is unprocessed and needs work.
Growing vegetables in the fields outside Yeshi’s home or in the greenhouse just up the hill from the house is a full-time job in itself, but making tsampa (roasted barley flour, the staple food that Yeshi’s family cannot do without), is arguably the most painstaking activity. Barley is roasted in large quantities over the home fire and then lugged to the village watermill for grinding. Bagging it up and getting it back to the house is dirty work, take it from me. The powder stays in your clothes and hair for days.
Preparing fruit, vegetables, nuts and spices is the stuff of daily life. Ingredients depend upon the season. In April, when we were there, our family were busy washing and then drying job lots of wood ear mushrooms. They combed through Tibetan yerma (commonly known as Sichuan peppercorn) to sift out any impurities. They shelled walnuts under the shade of their tree. And then there was food prep for dozens of family members at any one time, not to mention the washing up.
You can understand why some younger relatives seek work outside of the village. Food is just one job that requires the daily efforts of all family members (other duties deserve their own posts). But having everybody at home all of the time is a revelation. Childcare happens naturally as there are always plenty of adults on hand. Nobody is left wondering what to feed themselves for tea. Everybody leans into the tasks that they enjoy and do best. Communal effort is constructive and rewarding.
How have we veered so far from this model? Modern living may come with its conveniences but surely fails us in so many ways.
Taste Tibet is here to help with the stress of it all. Hot food and freezer food is available once again at the restaurant from tomorrow, Wednesday. Here are our opening hours this week:
Weds – Fri: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Saturday: 12-3 (lunch) / 5-9.30pm (dinner)
Sunday: 12-3 (lunch) / 5-9pm (dinner)
This week’s menu is up on the website – check it! Come by for take away, dine in or you can order home delivery through Deliveroo.
Freezer stocks are looking excellent this week – come forage – but chilli oil is flying out the door so pop in quick for yours or click here for online orders.
Looking forward to seeing you all 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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