Dining halls are known for their numerous options to accommodate student’s appetites. Not everyone enjoys pizza and sandwiches on a daily basis. BU Dining has been introducing new stations, such as the Asian section, to increase in variety and (try to) offer international students a taste of home.
Yet as we try these “ethnic” dishes, we realize:
No matter how hard dining halls try, it just does not (and may never) match up with what we had back home. Here are the times the dining halls try to reach authenticity, yet go in the wrong direction.
1. Beef Gyro
Some may say it is hard to distinguish authentic and inauthentic gyros. Some may say that it is just like a sandwich, and that nothing goes wrong with sandwiches. Although easy to make, dining halls still seem to drift in the wrong direction outside the Asian section. Whether it’s the cold beef, lack of seasoning on the beef, or the lack of Tzatziki sauce, which is crucial when it comes to enjoying beef gyros. A gyro isn’t that typical homemade sandwich we make: We don’t put whatever we want into it, and we don’t ignore putting certain ingredients in it.
2. Evil Jungle Prince with Chicken
I bet many of you are thinking: “Evil Jungle Prince?” Is that supposed to mean something? This popular Thai dish consists of chicken, rice and mixed vegetables in red or yellow curry. Maybe it’s the spice from the curry that makes this dish “Evil.” That is if there is any of that spice…
If you paid attention, you’d notice that the dining hall’s version of this dish is missing one significant ingredient: CURRY.
3. Red Curry with Squash
Photo by Lilian Lee
This other Thai dish fails at a lesser extent than the previous one: It contains curry. Just wished that the squash was more obvious. I mean, it is called “Red Curry WITH Squash” not “Red Curry” on its own.
Did you notice the difference?
It seems that no matter how hard dining halls try, the taste will just never be what we got back home. But then, I guess that’s also a good thing: You learn to cherish home and your mom’s cooking right? I mean, you never know how special something is until you’re far away.