Food (Bronwyn)

This month I’ll be talking about some of the food I’ve have while here. One thing of note is that I’m vegetarian. In my experience, the options for vegetarian meals are much more limited than for those that eat meat.

TNU has four canteens. There is the first canteen, the second canteen, the halal canteen, and fengweishilang. Fengweishilang is separate from the other canteens and is more like a food court. Its above a section of shops on campus and is a bit more expensive than the other canteens.

I usually go to the second canteen for food as it has  more variety than what the other canteens offer, with each floor having a few vegetarian options to choose between.

On the ground floor of the second canteen there are a lot of options for breakfast such as 粥 （porridge)， 油条(fried dough sticks), 鸡蛋 (eggs), 包子 (bao buns), and 面条 (noodles). There are also fruit shops on campus so some people get fruit for breakfast. You can get milk and cereal at the shop on campus so if you want breakfast similar to back home that’s an option.

The first floor of the second canteen has a buffet during lunch and dinner which is fairly cheap and has a lot of options. There are places to buy noodle based dishes and soup. The first floor also has a lot of stalls which only sell meat based dishes so at the beginning I would have to go up and ask what had meat and what didn’t, as it wasn’t always clear from the menu.

The second floor of the second canteen is a food court, which is more expensive than the floors below. It has fewer vegetarian options but most places are willing to make a vegetarian meal if you tell them you don’t eat meat. One thing is that cross contamination is inevitable so it would be harder to eat at the canteen with allergies.

The first canteen is similar to the second canteen, but it is farther away from the dorms and the classrooms. The first canteen is also made up of three floors and is cheaper than the second canteen. The first canteen also has limited options for vegetarian food but functions in the same way as the second canteen as you can ask for something without meat and you’ll usually get something tasty.

The halal canteen is also similar to the first two but it’s much smaller, only taking up one floor. It’s near the west gate of campus. Out of the three canteens the first canteen is the cheapest, but I prefer the second canteen as it is closer and has more options per floor for vegetarian meals.

I really enjoy ordering 饭团 (fantuan) which is a rice ball stuffed with various fillings. You can order this in the second canteen and it’s quite nice, it’s also fairy cheap when compared to other food at the canteen as it’s 8 yuan.

The last canteen, fengweishilang, is similar to the food court on the second floor of the second canteen as it is more expensive than the other floors, but it also has a self serve buffet which is an easy way to get a vegetarian meal.

All of the food in the canteen has been really lovely so far. We also use an app called 饿了么 to order in food as the canteen closes at 7:30pm so if you want to eat later there are less options. It isn’t too hard to be vegetarian here, it just limits the options for where you can eat.