Highlights
- Indian PhD students awarded $200,000 settlement after allegedly facing discrimination over heating traditional food in university microwave.
- Case has triggered widespread discussion about "food racism" with communities from Asia, Africa and Latin America sharing similar experiences.
- Couple lost research funding, teaching roles and PhD advisers following complaint about palak paneer's smell before winning legal battle.
A discrimination case that began with a complaint about the smell of palak paneer has exposed what many are calling "food racism" in Western institutions, after two Indian students won a $200,000 settlement from a US university.
The lawsuit filed by Aditya Prakash and his fiancée Urmi Bhattacheryya against the University of Colorado, Boulder, has sparked a global conversation about discrimination faced by ethnic communities over their traditional cuisine, with thousands sharing similar experiences on social media.
Food racism debate
The case has received significant media coverage in India since it was first reported last week, with many Indians recounting incidents of facing ridicule over their food habits abroad.
Communities from Africa, Latin America and other parts of Asia have also shared their own stories of being shamed over their dietary practices.
The controversy began in September 2023 when Prakash, a PhD student in the Anthropology Department, was heating his lunch of palak paneer, a popular north Indian dish made from pureed spinach and paneer cheese.
A British staff member allegedly objected to the "pungent" odour and claimed there was a rule against heating foods with strong smells in that microwave.
When Prakash enquired which foods were considered pungent, he was told sandwiches were acceptable whilst curry was not. The rule, he said, wasn't mentioned anywhere.
"Acts like stopping me from using a shared microwave because of how my food smells are how white people control your Indianness and shrink the spaces you can exist in," Prakash told the BBC.
The couple alleged the incident triggered a "pattern of escalating retaliation" by the university, resulting in them losing their research funding, teaching roles and their PhD advisers.
They filed a lawsuit in May 2025, and the university settled in September, awarding them their degrees while denying liability.
For Prakash, this wasn't his first experience of food discrimination. Growing up in Italy, school teachers asked him to sit separately during lunch because classmates found his food's smell "off-putting".
"There is a long history of food being used to put down Indian and other ethnic groups," he said, adding that the word "curry" has been turned into a pejorative term for "Indian".
Bhattacheryya pointed to former vice-president Kamala Harris facing similar discrimination, referencing a 2024 social media post by far-right activist Laura Loomer claiming that if Harris became president, the White House "will smell like curry".
The University of Colorado stated it was "committed to fostering an inclusive environment" and took the allegations seriously but denied any liability in the settlement.
The couple have since returned to India and say they may never go back to the US. "The point of the lawsuit was not the money," Prakash said. "It was about making a point that there are consequences to discriminating against Indians for their 'Indianness'."
