Day 83: Shokudo

Osnabrueck Mensa

On a more cheerful note: I just love the Shokudo, the student cantine here. There have been two times before in my life where lunch had been a high point of the day, something to look forward to everyday, which immensely increases quality of life: Firstly, there was the cantine in Osnabrueck – it habitually wins the yearly German student cantine competitions, the staff being surprisngly friendly for the region, a nice bright modern building, simple German tasty varied cheap food.

The "calle de la amargura" outside UTC San Pedro campus - bars and cafes, no shortage of nice food

Then, in Costa Rica, outside the San Pedro campus, there were a number of nice food shops: many times, it was the national dish, gallo pinto, fried rice and beans with fried plantanes and egg or meat – but other options were readily available, there was no shortage of choice. Not to forget about the drink selection: rather fresh tropic fruit juices or rather fresh tropic fruit milk shakes? or coconut water from a freshly opened coconut? It is a plentiful country.

The plastic food display of the food selection of the shokudo

In the shokudo, the cantine of Tokyo University, you can choose from: stir fry which is freshly prepared for you as you watch with the ingredients you pick – a variety of ramen (= noodle) dishes, more thai style, korean, chinese or japanese, more meaty, more vegetably, more plain, more spicy? The same variety for rice dishes, and a big salad bar with fruit, veg and some cooked snack food type things. There are other nice and affordable restaurants in and around campus – but I just love good cheap simple food. I get hungry as I write – it is 12.30, time for the shokudo! Yippieh!

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