Explore the Evolution of College Canteens: From Chilli Cheese Toast to Chicken Biryani & Beyond

Remember standing in line for chilli cheese toast when you were in college? A lot has changed since then.

With UPI payment systems and in-house apps, students now pick up their orders in a scan. The staid menus of the past have been upgraded with pastas, chaat counters and specialised kiosks.

At St. Joseph group of Institutions in OMR, Chennai, A Ayyappan takes a piping bag filled with white and red icing to decorate a cake. The campus houses around 7,000 students. There are seven cakes on the table, each with ‘Happy Birthday’ written across.

“These are for the hostel students and we make almost 15 a day,” he says. They can be purchased by professors, day scholars and non teaching staff at ₹150 for a kilo, but are given free to the hostelers.

From birthday cakes to biryani, everything here is made on the campus for students and staff.

Flagship treats

At the 108-year-old Women’s Christian College in Nungambakkam, brownies by Hannah Herur, the baker and caterer who is fondly known as Brownie Aunty, are a legacy item. “We celebrate birthdays with brownies. It has become a tradition. We saw our seniors do it, and now we do too,” says Matilda K, student.

“I have been on campus for 16 years now and try to give students the best. I usually ask them to try the food and make changes accordingly,” says Hannah. “We also make sandwiches and chilli cheese toast, that’s all the rage right now,” she adds. 

The food court model

As this academic year began, MOP Vaishnav college saw a change in the canteen management. The cafeteria is now run by brands Hot Breads and Nitya Amritam in the form of a food court serving breakfast combos with idli, dosa, pongal, adai, thalis and sweets like poli and kozhukattai. Meanwhile doughnuts, sandwiches, and cakes are available too.

Sree Keerthi, who recently transitioned from student to professor at MOP Vaishnav misses the canteen’s old menu, but has found some new favourites. “When I was a student, the sambar rice was so popular that students from other colleges would also come and enjoy it. While I do miss it, I now enjoy basundi or chaat.”

“Students today lead very busy lives and want the canteen to also be a place for them to hang out or have their discussions in. That’s when we decided to change it into a food court,” says Archana Prasad, Principal.

Several colleges across the city including Loyola college, Chennai Institute of Technology, IIT-Madras and Anna University have adopted a similar food court model. While accountability and quality assurance is one of the main reasons, it is also more convenient for the students as they can grab a bite at any time of the day.

“Since many students study till late, food is available almost all day long except between 4am and 6am. We have a Cafe Coffee Day kiosk and there’s Zaitoon for when we are bored of regular mess food,” says Deva Ganthan, a student at IIT-Madras.

At the Anna University campus in Guindy, students dine in food courts across four canteens. Local brands like Leo Fortune and other vendors have set up shop serving chaat, baked goods, juices and set meals. During lunch, the chicken rice and vegetarian meals are popular and in the evenings students try not to miss the chola puri.

Although a food court distributes the crowd across outlets, paying and getting their order is still a struggle. “To help save time, students order and pay through the Smart Q app. This way we have to just scan the code and collect our order,” says Mark Kevin, a student.

Updating the college mess

At St Joseph group of institutions, the dining area is similar to that of a large wedding hall where students are served by the college’s wait staff. Close to 1,000 plates are placed each in the boys and girls dining areas.

Huge vessels of steaming chicken biryani are brought in. There are vegetarian and diet-friendly options as well. The menu is different every day of the week. On Wednesdays, there is fish fry for lunch and on Fridays it is Chicken 65. Everyday there is a dessert made in-house which includes ada pradhaman, ice cream or payasam.

“While the menu is set and is posted online, on occasions like Onam or Ugadi, we bring in chefs from Kerala and Andhra to prepare authentic meals and also have alternatives for students who want a regular meal,” says the mess in-charge.

At the messes in IIT too, meals are planned in advance. They have 11 canteens. “We usually consult with a nutritionist before planning our meals. Everyday students get eggs, fresh fruits or salads to ensure they get a balanced diet. It is self service, so the student only takes how much they want and there’s no food wastage as well,” says Kalyan Jakke, student and member of the mess monitoring committee.

“Students from the Food Science and Management Department conduct weekly surprise audits to see if the canteen serves healthy and hygienic food according to FSSAI norms. Although it is a vegetarian canteen, we collaborated with the vendors to make sure students get protein-rich, balanced meals and we try to keep trans fat away as much as possible,” says Rekha Mahizhnan of the Department of Food Science at MOP Vaishnav.

As students become the primary target groups for restaurants and cafes across the city, college canteens are adapting menus to cater to students on campus with reasonably healthy meals that are also easy on the pocket. Today’s restaurant-like ambience and food courts may be new, but some things do not change: like coming together over shared plates of biryani.