Before I came to NTU, I thought I would cook my own food in the evenings and when I had arrived I was a bit disappointed to not find a real stove in the kitchen, but just a heating plate, a toaster and a microwave oven. Nothing really to cook the food I had had in mind, and the small store on campus did not either have the choice of produce that I had hoped to find. But then I soon realized that it is no point to cook food when it is so much easier to pass by one of the many food stalls and get a delicious Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean or Malay take away! So now my greatest difficulties are to decide what to choose: Do I want some delicious Malay beef today, shall I go for the Indian vegetarian dishes or the mutton curry, choose a Korean bibimbap, or take some Chinese dumplings?
The food in the university canteen’s is surprisingly cheap. A big lunch may cost around 4-6 Singapore Dollars, which translates into not more than 24-36 SEK. It would be extremely difficult to find lunch for such a price and such a quality on Stockholm University’s campus! Maybe Stockholm University should open up an area with food stalls and invite a variety of small restaurants to serve Indian, Chinese, Lebanese, Japanese, Italian, ……. dishes? What a difference this would make compared to the boring and often tasteless choices that are around?
The lunch places in the canteens open around 10 am and serve food until around 6 or 7 pm. For dinner there are other options in a student/staff canteen and if one wants to eat in a more posh style, there is the university club house. I prefer the canteen, which is always full of students and families, who sit and eat there, sharing the many dishes they have on the table, while the small children watch movies on an Ipad. The choices in the evening canteen are not as wide as for lunch, but the many Malay, Korean and Chinese dishes all look and taste delicious.
Today and yesterday I had Indian food for lunch, and Chicken curry and Chinese dumplings for dinner. What will be my choices for tomorrow? Maybe Malay or Vietnamese food, or some Chinese duck? Certainly one never goes hungry here on campus!
Barbara Wohlfarth 