A (fun) evolution of VinUni's canteen

HA NOI - In a year rife with infection risks and fluctuating students’ demand, let’s look back at how the VinUni's canteen managed to cook the pandemic away and feed the second cohort.

How VinUni's canteen evolves during AY2021-22?

Disclaimer: The writer spent her entire year living in VinUni's dorm and frequently ate at the canteen. Her taste buds and preferences might not be without bias, so her best wish is to speak on behalf of her roommates.

TRAILER.

The first few weeks at VinUni's canteen were no different from an epic Marvel trailer, packed with a huge variety of dishes and seemingly amazing customer service.

As someone who did not move in until the early of December due to COVID-19, the canteen had successfully brought forth my internal foodie and gave me hopes for campus life.

But little did I know, the canteen, unlike other typical canteens around the world, exists at VinUniversity, and here changes are inevitable.

PILOT.

Right before our Move-in day, breakfast also moved to the Minimart, but the wide selection of dishes remained.

I remembered struggling to decide which dishes I should eat for breakfast, among all the banh mi (bread), banh cuon (steamed rice rolls), xoi xeo (sticky rice with mung beans), banh bao (dumplings), and bong lan trung muoi (salted egg sponge cake).

On other days, there were crab soup, steamed corn, or cookies.

It was even better at dinner, with student-friendly, unhealthy snacks, ranging from stuffed pizza, grilled chicken skewers, fried pork cartilage sausage, and, the one and only, nem chua ran (fried fermented pork roll).

This explained why my money ran out real quick in the first 2 weeks.

RISING ACTION.

But eating at VinUni was not always smooth sailing.

A few weeks after our official move-in, COVID-19 started to reappear. The fear of getting infected, combined with our lack of motivation to walk all the way to building E to grab some lunch, finally culminated in what would change the way the canteen operated forever.

On December 12th, 2021, JA211 officially started the trend of ordering food right to their dorm room.

The first, historic menu included 2 braised curry chickens, 1 pork rib noodle soup, 1 sauteed minced pork with chayote and carrot, 1 vinegar salad, 1 deep fried pork, 1 poached bok choy, and 1 rice!

‌Ever since, the canteen had started taking food delivery into their own hands. But it became clear that the students' hearts are harder to get.

In the final month of AY2021-22, due to dwindling demand, the canteen began to restrict ordering time by only accepting orders before 5p.m.

RESOLUTION.

Despite the fast pace of change, one thing remains constant: Good food at reasonable prices

Once in a while, they still made some delivery lags.

I did not order the dragon fruit, you did not order the dragon fruit, who ordered the dragon fruit? The canteen!

But after all, they are not Shopee. They were a cooking service and they did it through care and love. And I would like to thank them for all the good food they had cooked and delivered to us.