If I Could Build This Bridge, You Can Build Yours

Photo caption: There, me above on the day my whole family visited my nomadic aunt, Lhamo and her family; my lovely nieces next to me and my sister to the left & sister-in-law to right 

Photo caption: these beautiful women are my nomadic cousins. 

I didn’t know enough about food manufacturing regulations, labeling, or—especially—food safety. I learned by asking questions, seeking out people with more expertise, and being willing to ask for help. I learned to make decisions without always having all the answers. I also learned to let some things go and trust my instincts.

And I’m still learning, every single day. But something else happened along the way that I didn’t expect.

I began to see my own food culture with new eyes.

I grew up in the Rebgong Valley, in Tibet’s Amdo region, where fresh food was simply part of communal life. Barley, flaxseed oil, grains, seeds, peas, dairy, greens, and yak meat—these were the foods I knew, the foods my family ate, and the foods that belonged to the landscape and culture I came from.

I didn’t grow up calling them superfoods.

They were just food.

Only after I came to America and began building Amza did I start learning more deeply about Tibetan food history, the nutritional value of these foods, and how they have sustained communities for generations. Purple barley. Flaxseed. Cheese. Even the bread I grew up eating.

Foods that had once seemed completely ordinary to me started to look extraordinary. That discovery became part of the reason I wanted to build Amza in the first place.

I began to wonder: What if some of the food wisdom we need for the future is already rooted in the past?

From something familiar to something new

Amza Superfoods began with a personal question: How could I take foods and traditions that were deeply familiar to me and make them inviting and relevant to people who had never encountered them before?

I started experimenting with traditional ingredients in ways that also fit naturally into modern life. Drafting a memoir cookbook along the way only deepened my curiosity.

The vision grew from there.

Today, Amza is reimagining ancient Tibetan nutrition through modern foods made with ingredients like heirloom Purple Karma Barley, flaxseed, and Oregon hazelnuts. We seek out foods with a future—crops that are culturally meaningful, nutritionally compelling, climate-resilient, and delicious.

But I don’t think of Amza as simply bringing Tibetan food to America.

To me, it’s about building a bridge.

A bridge between cultures, between generations, between the foods that have nourished people for centuries and the foods we may need in the future.

Then came the rain

One of the moments I return to most often happened very early in Amza’s story.

On April 1, 2023, we sold Amza products for the first time at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market—my neighborhood market in Portland, Oregon.

It was a typical rainy spring day in Portland—except it seemed to rain especially hard. Several times during those five hours, it poured.

I was nervous before we started. With all that rain, I remember thinking:

What if no one buys our products? What if no one even likes our food?

But people did stop.

They were curious. They tried the samples. And whoever stopped to taste our food loved it.

At the end of those five rainy hours, we had made $210 in our first day of sales.

I remember thinking:

Maybe this could work.

That little moment of possibility has stayed with me.

Even now, I love being at farmers’ markets. I love watching someone walk up out of curiosity, take a bite, and suddenly say, “Wow.” I love talking with people and sharing the story behind the food.

There is something incredibly rewarding about watching someone discover a food that means so much to me—and realizing that it can mean something to them, too.

Growing the bridge

Of course, building a company is much more complicated than standing in the rain with a table of samples.

As Amza has grown, I’ve had to learn how to build systems, make difficult decisions, ask for help, and rethink what growth means.

The question is no longer only, “Can we build this?”

It is also, “How do we scale this thoughtfully?”

I want Amza Superfoods to grow steadily and meaningfully—sourcing responsibly, supporting and creating new opportunities for local farmers growing climate-resilient crops, keeping our premium products accessible, and building a sustainable business.

I want our infrastructure to stay aligned with product demand. I want us to grow without losing the soul of what made me want to build Amza in the first place.

For me, that means building the capacity to go farther while staying true to how we want to get there.

Looking forward

The older I get, the more I appreciate that the past isn’t simply something behind us.

Sometimes it holds knowledge we haven’t finished learning from.

Some of the foods I grew up eating are now described as “superfoods.” Some agricultural knowledge that sustained communities for generations may teach us how to build a more resilient food system—and tread more lightly on the planet. And some of the simplest foods can still surprise us with how delicious and nourishing they are.

I don’t want to put those ancient traditions behind museum glass.

I want to help them keep moving.

That is what Amza is trying to do: bring ancient food wisdom into the future of food.

And perhaps that is also what my own journey has taught me.

You don’t have to have all the answers before you begin. You don’t have to speak perfect English. You don’t need to know exactly where the road will lead.

You can start with something you believe in.

You can ask for help.

You can learn as you go.

You can build something that carries a piece of where you came from into wherever you’re going.

I’m still learning. I’m still building. And I’m still curious about where this bridge can lead.

If I could build this bridge, you can build yours.

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Keep exploring

Curious to learn more about the food traditions behind Amza Superfoods?

Listen to our conversation on Courageous Ones to discover more about the food culture and traditions that continue to shape our work. We’re proud to support a fellow Tibetan sharing an inspiring story. 

Watch the conversation on YouTube