It's All Relative: Navigating First-World Woes

Thanks so much to everyone for your huge support during back-to-school week. We could sense the relief at our stall, and heard of at least a few momos parties happening over the weekend. Hope you all enjoyed!

But back to school is of course not the end of things, and we're all struggling a bit to cope with new normals + serious fatigue. Here at Taste Tibet HQ we have a large number of massive projects on the go all at once, and it feels like it's taking its toll. Many of you are asking when our new shop on Magdalen Road will be ready just at the point at which we are beginning to run into some big end-of-project brick walls that look likely to delay everything.

Yeshi reminds me that we are not in a life or death situation and that these are very much problems of the first world. When he was 8 or 9 (the age our son is now) he herded livestock out on the mountains and would sometimes be away from home for months. He suffered from terrible homesickness, and sometimes extreme hunger and thirst. One day, when he was about fifteen, he stayed out all night searching for animals who had veered off course. He was alone and far from camp, and terrified.

As for home, that was a place of no great luxury either. There was no electricity and no bathroom - when you needed to go you just headed up the hillside in search of a quiet-looking spot. Well we have four luxurious bathrooms now in Magdalen Road so things are not looking so bad...

Has anyone heard of earthing? Or grounding? Apparently the answer to all our stress and dis-ease is to take off our shoes and run around barefoot. The earth has health-giving properties, and connecting to it with our feet, our hands, or - Tibetan style - in a seated meditative position really does help, so if you see us wandering around Aston's Eyot looking like we forgot our shoes...

And food is a solution too, of course. We will have proper fresh, healthy, home-made grub on the menu as usual this week. Find us pitched up outside Silvie on Thursday or Friday, 5-9pm (eat in or take home) or pre-order for home delivery this Saturday. Click through to our online shop to check out this week's menu (sneak peak below).

Good luck with all that you are dealing with - we've all got it going on. Solidarity! And we look forward to feeding you again soon.