Difficult to Swallow: The Problems of Food at Ashoka (Part 1)

This is the first of a two-part piece about the various food outlets on campus and the problems they face.

Food has always been a popular topic of conversation in public and private spheres of Ashoka. Most arguments are aimed at describing the terrible quality of mess food. However, in an attempt to describe the lack of appeal around mess food, we take for granted the existence of a major component of Ashokan cuisine: the food outlets on campus. Keeping all debates in favour of and against mess food aside, this article presents to you the state of the food outlets on campus, examines their problems, concerns and the thoughts of the owner of these outlets about Ashoka and Ashokans alike.

When our team asked for an interview with the owners of the different outlets on campus, they were generous enough to leave their busy counters and give us their precious time. The reply to the question of “What do youfeel about the students of Ashoka?” was quite positive. All the owners are happy with the behavior of Ashokans towards them.

Fuel Zone has stood its ground from the start since Ashoka began in 2014. Sandeep Bhaiya, the immensely popular owner of Fuel Zone, feels that serving Ashoka students has been a great experience, because of the bonds which he has built with the students and their generally cooperative nature. He even said that the staff from other eateries have been quite cooperative. While the popularity of their inventive shakes and sandwiches have driven the sizable profit Fuel Zone reportedly earns, the true essence of this outlet’s public appeal is visible in the emotional bonds with students have made with it over time.

Chanchal Bhatti, the owner of the newly opened Foodies says, “I have had a marvelous experience at Ashoka so far. The students here are extremely polite, and this is something I haven’t witnessed even in my own college. They are co-operative, and polite to everyone, right from the owners to servers.” Such a feeling was shared by the owners of different outlets, and Shaina of Hazelnut even went on to say that if it was not for the students, she would have left Ashoka by now.

However, we received mixed responses when we asked if the administration has been cooperative in listening to them and solving the problems they face. Bhatti, when asked if he has faced any problems at Ashoka, answered in the negative. His short time at Ashoka prevented him from giving us a solid answer about administrative cooperation. “I haven’t interacted with them enough to know whether they are helpful or not,” he said.

The Hunger Cycle is often buzzing even at 2 am with midnight snackers. Started by YIF alumnus Soumit Saha, THC finds the Admin helpful in delivering a wide range to students.

The Supervisor at Chit Chaat, the outlet owned and managed by ICS, also finds no problems with the admin. However, this could be due to the fact that it is managed by ICS, the catering service handling the mess, its issues are always sorted easily by its two appointed managers.

But this is not the case with all the eateries. In general, the eateries in the mess block benefit a lot more than the eateries in the sports block, as people are reluctant to walk a long distance for a shake or ice cream — this affects the business in a huge way. This has also led the owners of outlets in the sports block to ask for space in the mess block, but the admin, as usual, wasn’t responsive to their requests.

Read the second part to the article here.

Payal Somani (Class of 2021), Md. Faiz (Class of 2021) and Gaurav Nandan Tripathi (Class of 2020)