Indian couple wins $200,000 settlement over ‘food racism’ at US university

A dispute over microwaving dishes has ended with two Indian students receiving a $200,000 settlement from a US university.

Aditya Prakash and his fiancée Urmi Bhattacheryya told the BBC they filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of Colorado Boulder after facing a series of “microaggressions and retaliatory actions” following the microwave incident.

The lawsuit alleges the harassment began after a university staff member refused to let Prakash microwave his lunch of palak paneer, one of northern India’s most popular dishes made of spinach puree and paneer (considered the Indian equivalent of paneer), on campus because it tasted bad.

In response to questions from the BBC, the university said it could not comment on the “specific circumstances” of allegations of discrimination and harassment by students due to privacy laws, but added that it was “committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff regardless of national origin, religion, culture and other classes protected by U.S. law and university policy”.

“When these allegations emerged in 2023, we took them seriously and followed established, robust processes to resolve them, as we do with all allegations of discrimination and harassment. We reached an agreement with the student in September (2025) denying any liability in this case,” the university said.

For them, the lawsuit is not about money, Prakash said. “This is to make a point – discriminating against Indians because of their ‘Indianness’ has consequences.”

The lawsuit has received widespread media coverage in India since it was first reported last week, sparking a conversation around what many in the West call “food racism.” Many Indians have taken to social media to share their experiences of being ridiculed for their eating habits abroad.

Some also pointed out that food discrimination is also rampant in India, with many schools and universities banning non-vegetarian food because it is considered impure or dirty. People from disadvantaged castes and northeastern states often face prejudice over their food habits, with some complaining about the smell of the ingredients they use.

It’s not just Indian or South Asian food—communities from Africa, Latin America, and other parts of Asia also share their experiences of being shamed for their eating habits.

Prakash and Bhattacherya claimed that their ordeal began in September 2023. Prakash, a PhD student in the university’s department of anthropology, was heating his palak paneer lunch in the microwave when a British staff member allegedly commented that his food had a “pungent” smell and told him there was a rule against heating strong-smelling food in a microwave.

Prakash said this rule was not mentioned anywhere, and when he later asked what foods were considered spicy, he was told that sandwiches were not but curries were.

Prakash claims that the exchange was followed by a series of actions that resulted in him and Bhattacherya, also a doctoral student at the school, losing their research grants, teaching positions, and even the doctoral supervisor with whom they had worked for several months.

In May 2025, Prakash and Bhattacherya filed a lawsuit against the university, alleging discriminatory treatment and an “escalating pattern of retaliation.”

In September, the university settled the lawsuit. Such settlements are often reached to avoid lengthy and expensive court battles for both parties.

Under the terms of the settlement, the school agreed to award the students degrees but denied all liability and barred them from studying or working there in the future.

In a statement shared with the BBC, the university added: “The Department of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder has been working to rebuild trust among students, faculty and staff. Among other efforts, department leaders met with graduate students, faculty and staff to listen and discuss changes that would best support the department in creating an inclusive and supportive environment for all.”

It added: “Individuals who persistently violate the University’s policy to prevent discrimination and harassment will be held accountable.”

Prakash said this is not the first time he has encountered food discrimination.

He said that when he was growing up in Italy, school teachers often required him to sit at a separate table during lunch breaks because his classmates found the smell of his food “unpleasant.”

“Like isolating me from my European classmates, or preventing me from using a shared microwave because my food tastes bad, it’s white people’s way of controlling your Indianness and narrowing the space in which you can exist,” he said.

He added that there is a long history of using food to suppress Indians and other ethnic groups.

“The word ‘curry’ has become conflated with the ‘smell’ of marginalized communities who toil in kitchens and people’s homes and turned into a derogatory term for ‘Indian’,” he said.

Even someone like former Vice President Kamala Harris is not immune to being insulted over food, Battachea said.

She pointed to a 2024 social media post by far-right activist Laura Loomer saying that if Harris became president, White House ‘smells like curry’. Loomer denies being a racist.

In the lawsuit, Bhattacherya also claims she faced retaliation after inviting Prakash as a guest lecturer to speak on the subject of cultural relativism in an anthropology class. Cultural relativism holds that no one culture is superior to another because the cultural practices of all groups exist within their own cultural context.

During the lecture, Prakash said he shared several examples of food racism he encountered, including the palak paneer incident, without naming anyone.

Bhattacheryya said she also faced racist abuse when she made a post on X about the “systemic racism” she and Prakash faced at the university in 2024.

There were several comments below the post in support of the couple, but others said, “Go back to India,” “Decolonization was a mistake,” and “It’s not just about the food, we know many of you don’t shower.”

Prakash and Bhattacheriya said they hope the university will listen and understand their needs. Let their hurt and pain from being “othered” be acknowledged and made amends in a meaningful way.

They claim they never received a meaningful apology from the university. The university did not respond to the BBC’s inquiries about this matter.

They later returned to India and said they might never return to the United States.

“No matter how well you do, the system keeps telling you that you can be sent home at any time because of the color of your skin or your nationality. This precarity is very serious and our experience at the university is a perfect example of that,” Prakash said.

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