My last post featured a regional cuisine we are all familiar with known as "Chase Food." The Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan equivalent is called mess food and is equally as underwhelming. A common mantra among students is "room food is always better than mess food," with "room food" referring from food brought from home in tupperware and eaten in the dorm room or food prepared in the room, always with friends. But unlike at Wheaton, students are not even given the option to cook independently and they are not given access to a kitchen. The solution: electronic rice cookers used to make curries, particularly kewa datshi- potatoes and chillies with cheese, and electric tea kettles to make Maggi. Maggia Marsala Magic 2-minute noodles are the Bhutanese college student's equivalent to Annie's mac and cheese or Easy Mac among American college students. Both are well recognized and valued brands and dorm room must-haves.
Room food has a whole culture of its own. First of all, it is never consumed alone. Friends have told me they would rather be hungry than eat alone. There is also the cultural phenomena that I refer to as "hypergenerosity." Students will sacrifice eating to make sure a friend or guest is well fed, and refusal of food is not an option. When my roommate told me I had gotten fat I told her it was her fault because she was always feeding me!
At this point I would like to draw the readers attention to the picture: fried rice and chillies. This is a standard breakfast at mess. Meals never stray from these staple items and are usually a variation of rice and chillies. Similarly, Chase rarely fails to provide students with "Buttery Penne" and all its variations. It just goes to show that on opposite sides of the world, similar themes can be identified within the college dining experience.
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