15/07/2026
Today, we’re not writing about a dish. We’re writing about the woman behind every dish we’ve ever served.
Happy birthday, Chef Urmila Jetani Urmila Jetani
That’s what everyone calls her — not a title, a relationship. Elder brother’s wife. Family, whether you’re blood or not. It tells you everything about how she runs a kitchen.
Before there was a Namaste Village, before there were six doors across England, there was one woman who believed that food made with kindness — the kind with a homely touch, made with compassion rather than calculation — shouldn’t be kept behind a family door. It should be available to all. That belief is still the reason we exist.
She is our founder chef, though she’d never claim the title. The recipes were never written down — they live in her hands. And when she started the Cookery School, it wasn’t to hold onto what she knows. It’s hers to give away, so as many people as possible can reap the benefit of that knowledge — spice by spice, generation to stranger.
Every Saturday morning, before service begins, the whole team gathers — not for a briefing, for something older. Mantra. Stillness. Intention. That ritual leads back to her too. It always has.
We don’t often get to say thank you to the person who started it all. So today, we will.
Wishing you a birthday as full of warmth as the kitchen you built. From all of us at Namaste Village — you are the reason we exist. 🙏🧡
With warm hands and warm hearts,
Namaste Village
