Waling homestays operators trained on cooking, hospitality

By Radha Krisna Dumre,Waling, Dec. 23: The homestay operators in Suntalabari of Waling Municipality-4, Syangja are happy after taking five-day Kitchen Management Training. 

The participants said that though tourist came to visit the village popularly known as the village of oranges, they were unable to provide proper hospitality and did not know how to serve best food. But, they had learned cooking organic food in a tasty and presentable way in the training, they added.

Manisha Gurung, a participant, said, “We are now capable of preparing breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner from the food produced in the village.” Likewise, homestay operator Pushpa Gurung said that even though they knew cooking earlier, the training had helped them to mobilise the local goods in a proper way. 

Prince Gurung, trainer, said that they had delivered a training on how to prepare delicious food from locally grown items, proper serving manners, hygiene, cleanliness and other things needed to operate homestay. Waling Municipality Deputy Mayor Kabita Tiwari Gaire said that since homestay is one of the means of tourism business, it is expected to help in raising the economic standard by creating employment in the village.

Waling Municipality, United Nations Development Programme and Diyalo Organisation had collectively organised the training for eco-friendly homestay operation under the Green Recovery COVID-19 and Rescue Response Initiative Project. Out of 25 participants, five were men. 

Trainer Gurung informed that they had taught to make millet bread, potato chips, orange jam, bread chips, fruit salad, pepper spices and others in the training. Meanwhile, the homestays in Suntalabari are going to be turned to eco-homestay and eco-tourism. Diyalo Organisation chairperson Sita Gaire Pangeni informed that the necessary infrastructures, environmental preparations and other works for eco-homestay were being carried out.

Likewise, deputy chair Khemraj Gurung informed that Suntalawari Homestay was established in 2013 emphasizing orange tourism.The homestay can be reached in about 45 minutes from Waling of Siddhartha Highway.