Food at IIM

Before leaving for my adventure I got a lot of good (and not so good) advice regarding the food in India. It basically came down to the simple advice of not eating anything to avoid feeling ill, so I thought food deserves a blog post of its own. The good thing is that I gradually got used to spicy food in Finland already as I enjoyed many dinners prepared by my friends who like chili and curry. So that aspect of the food was not a surprise. And, fortunately, I have not felt ill at all (so far). I am also one of the very few people who drinks the filtered drinking water from the tap and I am feeling very good every day (so far).

Breakfast

Breakfast I eat every morning in the kantine, where you get for less than a euro fruit, bread, some sort of egg and a local dish - chapati or something with curry. Additionally, there is chai and water to drink. Some people have gone to an expensive hotel for breakfast. There you get for something like 6 e apparently a very nice breakfast including yoghurt, coffee for those who miss it and juices. There is also a pool, so maybe this weekend I treat myself and go there for the day.

Lunch in the kantine.

Lunch and dinner I prefer eating in one of the two restaurants on the campus. Sometimes I also go to the kantine, which is cheaper but varies very little from day to day. Frankly speaking, everything includes curry and all sorts of other spices so it is difficult to find variety anyway - but everything is equally good. I eat a lot of vegetarian food, as there is very little meat dishes available. As a matter of fact, there is only with chicken available and especially the guys miss the real meat. If I would have to choose, my favorite dish would probably be something with paneer which is a type of cheese. I don't actually miss meat but I miss a fresh salad, which does not swim in souce and has more ingredients than only salad, tomato and cucumber.

Menu, which serves more the
function of interior design.

The people working at the restaurants belong to the few with whom I have a chance to speak a few silly phrases of Hindi every day. Besides the basic hello (Namaste) and thank you (Danjawaad), so far I manage to buy a big bottle of water in Hindi (bada pani ki bottle). It has reached a point when they don't sell me the water unless I order it in Hindi - they are very funny people. Just now the guy taught me a few new words: das (10), bis (20) and tis (30). On Sunday the guard in front of my dorm told me how to say good night but by the time I reached my room I had already forgotten what it was. Hopefully these numbers stay longer with me as they are useful when bargaining prices.