A huge topic of Slow Food and Yoga Festival is sustainability and responsible tourism. We strive to put focus on how we can make Gili Air more green, and our dream is a Zero Waste Gili Air. We wish to support the local community and bring the island forward at the same time. Janset told us a bit about how The Mexican Kitchen works towards supporting the local community and sustainable tourism:
“Like all other businesses, we are proud to provide employment and skills training.
I come from an international community development background and have worked all around the world building capacity and empowering communities for almost two decades. It is wonderful to use these tools independently for one's own community.”
”We were the first culinary business to use and influence the use of bamboo straws on the island. We have also taken up sustainable practices of others - many amazing sustainability initiatives were started on this island over the past six years, and we support all of them!”
“Although an ample topic, we simply operate from the consciousness of our ethical compass. We operate from a place of respect for all living beings. We try to operate in ways to preserve traditional food culture, promote social equity, enhance the lives of people and communities and contribute to economic prosperity. We give back a considerable amount of resources into sponsoring suitable projects, we have several orphaned children under our financial care and so without getting into much detail, we believe in "todo para todos" - everything is for everyone. I sleep peacefully every night because of this.”
“At The Mexican Kitchen Gili Air we want our guests to rest assured that despite the hardships of the location and the supply chain, we take sustainability very seriously. We focus on solutions rather than matters we don't have control over. We only support sustainable retail products that are locally made, fragrant organic soaps, coconut oil, bamboo charcoal, bamboo straws etc. that are available to take home as lovely souvenirs.”
