His Cooking Future Is Heating Up

Nurbu Sherpa comes by his name honestly. His father was a sherpa in Nepal, climbing and guiding climbers up Mt. Everest.

Nurbu himself plans on climbing Everest – but first, he plans on going to school at Johnson & Wales – and doing so on a large scholarship.

Nurbu has won a $100,000 scholarship - $25,000 each year for the four years it takes to graduate from the culinary institute.

English Language Learners teacher Robert Thorn says that he believes that Johnson & Wales is “arguably the pre-eminent four-year culinary university in the world.”

In Nepal, Nurbu says, he lived in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

On vacations, he and his family would travel to the village where his grandparents lived, Namche Bazaar, in the mountains.

There were no cars there, Nurbu says, only planes, helicopters and horses.

“It was pretty peaceful,” he says.

Even so, the village was connected – with internet, phones and electricity.

Nurbu began cooking when he was a kid, and starting taking culinary classes after he moved to Montville, in 2008.

He has no real culinary preferences, he says, but enjoys cooking everything – and, he says, “I like to try new stuff.”

“If I get a recipe, I’ll just cook it,” he says.

He watches a lot of cooking shows on TV, and does a lot of what he calls “regular cooking,” good preparation for what he hopes will be his future, as the owner of a restaurant, in New York or California.

Or Hawaii or Florida, he adds with a smile.

He is prepared for the rigors of culinary school, and has some insight into what they are. During a visit to Johnson & Wales, he cooked for eight hours straight.

Thorn says Nurbu has smarts beyond cooking. He’s a member of the National Honor Society, and has plans, Thorn says, to “travel the world… and see nice things.”