International students face glaring food insecurity and a lack of ethnic food
When Shruti Nadkarni arrived from India to pursue her PhD at the University of Guelph, she spent her first month here living off a diet primarily made up of bread and mayonnaise, losing a dangerous amount of weight in the process.
As a graduate student, she came with funding in her pocket. But as an international student, she wasn’t familiar with the local cuisine, and was shocked by how expensive it was.
“In my country, you can get vegetables anywhere. And you can bargain and reduce the prices,” Nadkarni said. “So it’s easily available, it’s so accessible, and it’s way cheaper.”
