Sarah’s Kitchen Travels
Featuring my publication – Kitchen to Kathmandu
Hello and welcome to Sarah’s Kitchen Travels
I’m Sarah Gurung, founding partner of Yak Yeti Yak in Bath. From childhood comfort food to cooking on open fires in the Himalayas food has been my passport to explore a world full of wonder. Bustling street markets in Kathmandu to small fishing villages in Guernsey each destination inspires my creations, infusing my dishes with the rich stories and traditions of diverse cultures.
Travels in pictures
Travels in pictures
Nepal
Recipes
Recipes
A varied collection of recipes I like, and some I love. I’m still building there’s more on the way
Cooking and travel tips
Insights
Things I’ve learned along the way, often quite painfully.
YYY Foundation
That was our life, children and restaurant, quietly getting on with things until, in 2015, the natural world had other ideas for us. When the first earthquake hit Nepal on the 25th April, it felt personal; it was personal, and the television news made it painfully real. The temple steps where Sera and I would sit watching Arun and Mini play had become a pile of rubble, and people were frantically digging for survivors. The scene was played over and over again, each time I watched transfixed, playing the ‘what-ifs’ over and over. Then there was the line of small spice shops, where I bought Yak Yeti Yak’s spices, collapsing in a cloud of dust. The spice seller I knew so well wasn’t amongst those jumping to safety. Later that afternoon came the third blow. Sera managed to get a phone call through to Pokhara, and learned that his sister had gone to Gorkha near the epicentre she was missing. Our family wasn’t alone; Yak Yeti Yak staff were all affected. It was the worst feeling, being so far away and unable to help. To take our minds off what was happening, we opened as usual that night, donating 100% of the evening’s takings to helping Nepal. None of us was prepared for the generosity of our customers, by the end of that night, we’d raised enough for a lorry load of food, medicine and shelters. I was even less prepared for the way people kept donating, and after four months, we became a registered charity.
YYY Foundation is still going strong, and we’re still working in extremely remote areas, providing IT resources for schools and working to end menstrual discrimination. So far, we’ve helped 10,000 people, and I still can’t quite believe that a small restaurant in Bath could do that.
https://yyyfoundation.com
Oh, and as for Sera’s sister, she turned up the next day, shaken and dusty but otherwise fine. I also found our spice seller, his brother managed to dig him out of the rubble and he’s still supplying our spices today.