It is no secret that Hamilton’s dining halls often serve plain, unseasoned food. However, Bon Appetit is generous enough to provide a selection of condiments to make up for this perceived issue. Of course, the condiment that most people reach for is the tantalizing Sriracha sauce.
This particular hot sauce is so popular that spicy food lovers were in a state of panic when its production was halted in 2013. This was the result of a lawsuit against the company which makes the sauce, Huy Fong Foods, but luckily this suit was dropped, and Sriracha continues to be a kitchen staple four years later.
Knowing the public outrage caused by Huy Fong Foods’ short-term halt on Sriracha production, one can imagine how hungry college students feel when they discover that it is missing from their dining hall. It is not uncommon to find that there is no Sriracha left after three full bottles were stocked the day before.
Toward the end of the fall, the dining halls were slower to restock Sriracha, which aggravated those who use it regularly. Some students may assume that this is simply the result of the hot sauce’s popularity. While it is true that many students rely on this condiment to season their food every meal, many are suspicious of how quickly new bottles disappear.
There are rumors that people steal Sriracha bottles from the dining halls, which would explain why the supply is so irregular. There was an instance of students getting caught attempting to steal tubs of ice cream from Com- mons last semester, so it is conceivable that people may also be stealing condiments. However, stealing something as small as a Sriracha bottle would be much easier to get away with than a two-gallon tub of ice cream. One could simply slip it into their backpack, or under their jacket, as they exit the dining hall.
Kavya Crasta ’21 claims that she is very passionate about Sriracha. When asked about her Sriracha habits, she said, “I use it on every type of meat. The dining halls barely use any seasoning, and I hate eating anything that tastes bland.”
When asked what she does when there is no Sriracha, Crasta responded, “I would get really mad, because Tabasco sauce cannot compare to Sriracha. It is too vinegary.” However, Crasta claimed that McEwen recently acquired a new condiment that is a tolerable replacement to Siracha, which she identified as the “jar of chili-garlic sauce in the rice-bowl section.”
Crasta asserts: “without Sriracha, eating in the dining halls becomes so much less enjoyable. Without it, I don’t know what I’d do. I would probably lose a lot of weight.” When asked why she believes that the dining hall’s Sriracha supply is so irregular, Crasta voiced her suspicions about Sriracha being stolen. She asserts that if she ever catches someone stealing it, she will “yell at them.”
Crasta is not alone in her frustration toward the possibility of Sriracha thieves. For many Continentals, this condiment is the only seasoning that can make dining hall meals enjoyable. These students, all of whom pay for the meal plan, would be rightfully outraged to discover that a few people are hogging entire bottles of Sriracha for themselves.
Perhaps, Bon Appetit should consider finding solution that would make Sriracha more difficult to steal in large quantities. This could be accomplished by using a steel condiment pump, such as the ones that dispense ketchup, instead of leaving out individual bottles. This idea may frustrate people who like to bring the Sriracha bottles to their table, but it may be worth it to ensure that this delectable hot sauce is available to everyone at every meal.
