Cambodia's Former Minister of Ital Propaganda (Some #PlantBased Laughs)
I miss doing daily thali propaganda with Monkey-B and Srey-Yuu at our former Ital cafe and school in Kampot, Cambodia. 🍲
Nutritional Healing & Language Learning
NO REGRETS
It has now been more than two years since we closed our Ital restaurant in Cambodia. It's funny how life works out the way it should. We were quite bummed out we had immigration lawyer problems in Ecuador, and our time there didn't turn out fruitful, resulting in our exodus before overstaying.
Ecuador has a booming vegetarian trend, and we know we could've had some success there, but we have no regrets, because with corona running the world, we would've suffered hard times in Ecuador, and likely ended up breaking our rental agreements due to the corona bureaucracy that has been destroying many small businesses around the world, especially small-scale restaurants.
STAYING POSITIVE
It's amazing how many trials and tribulations we've had thus far to be here now in Suriname struggling to to survive day-to-day. We can see light at the end of the tunnel, although not sure if that light is here in Suriname or elsewhere on the globe.
We would love to reopen an Ital restaurant, but feel the lifestyle of Suriname is too dependent upon automobiles, air conditioning, and oil. We would return to Cambodia, but that's still not possible as a family, and as it stands now, the only country on Earth we can presently travel to is Bangladesh, a place I've always been curious about.
Not sure if we could successfully open an Ital restaurant in Bangladesh or not, but the cost of living there is similar to Cambodia, and we could perhaps get back on our feet, economically speaking. Until something manifests, we are stuck with culinary memories from the past.
ITAL MEMORIES
I forgot I had a handful of thali videos from Adwa I-tal Kitchen, so I decided I had to share them with you all, both as an example of the food we used to serve, but also for some laughs and smiles. The @KidSisters didn't eat a #plantbased diet before I met their mother, the lovely @Sreypov.
Through time and many delicious Ital meals, I was eventually able to encourage them to practice speaking English for a free Ital thali set. Monkey-B used to do a daily photo with each day's thali for the Facebook page of the restaurant, and to let customers know what was on the menu for the day.
They have grown so much over the last few years, and now Srey-Yuu has Ital chef aspirations, especially after being featured on Suriname national television for her cooking skills. We used to eat a much more diverse diet when he had the restaurant, and I can tell a big difference between our physical health then and now.
I think it's obvious in this video that Monkey-B has always been and always will be a firecracker. Her little "yes I do" at the end of our video had me in stitches, Monkey-B has always had a bigger personality than can fill her shoes.
🙏 THANKS FOR WATCHING/READING 🙏
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▶️ 3Speak
Miss that! They are so cute and fun ❤️
Those were such good memories we made. I hope we make more like that again one day. !ENGAGE 5
ENGAGEtokens.I really like this one dad. Bu that day I’m not good with English too much.😅
Your English is so much better now Srey-Yuu, so proud of you! !ENGAGE 10
ENGAGEtokens.#POSH Facebook URL
Ital life! The meals look good and decent size too. I like how you make the kids the food models smile 😊 mek use of the youths yes hehehehe.
Bwoi lion everyting for a reason. Where I am seeing you guys heading is to thriving YouTube channel , I could see a vibe like videos drop on 3seak first with a countdown timer till it airs on YouTube. An itsk cooking channel with the kids woulda sell off, sell the food digitally.
I do hope something like that happens one day. With the unpredictability of visas and work permits, and these new losses of freedom of movement and self-determination, we feel now a brick-and-mortar business may be too easy to lose in this new strange world.
We have been drumming up ideas though, just gotta be in an affordable economy so we can make manifest. Bless up! !ENGAGE 40
Well lion from the outside looking in, and seeing those recent TV stints and all the good food posts you guys make, I think unu can live up anywhere digitallywith Ital food recipe videos, you could also use them as a tool to onboard people to HIVE
example: The 3speak video comes out 3 days before the Youtube and make people know in the vids.
Just thinking out loud, but I feel unu can mek things happen anywhere.
ENGAGEtokens.That's what I call extreme cuteness!!!! "yes I do". These girls are lucky to have you and @Sreypov to guide them through this weird life.
I really hope you can get a restaurant running the minute this nonsense ends, so I can find it and dive into a thali that looks that the one in the video. I am salivating.
Thanks @carolynstahl, that means a lot to me.
Yes, we do hope things change so we can reopen our cafe somewhere on planet Earth. Boy oh boy how do we miss those good times. !ENGAGE 30
ENGAGEtokens.