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

[BBC] – A dispute that began over heating a dish in a microwave has ended with two Indian students winning a $200,000 settlement from a US university.

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

The harassment began, the lawsuit alleged, after a university staff member objected to Prakash heating up his lunch of palak paneer – one of northern India’s most popular dishes, made of pureed spinach and paneer (considered an Indian equivalent of cottage cheese) – in a microwave on campus, because of the way it smelled.

In response to the BBC’s questions, the university said it could not comment on the “specific circumstances” surrounding the students’ claims of discrimination and harassment due to privacy laws, but added it was “committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff regardless of national origin, religion, culture and other classes protected under US laws and by university policies”.

“When these allegations arose in 2023, we took them seriously and adhered to established, robust processes to address them, as we do with all claims of discrimination and harassment. We reached an agreement with the students in September [2025] and deny any liability in this case,” the university said.

Prakash said for them, the point of the lawsuit was not the money. “It was about making a point – that there are consequences to discriminating against Indians for their ‘Indianness’.”

The lawsuit has received significant media coverage in India since it was first reported last week, starting a conversation around what many have described as “food racism” in Western countries. Many Indians on social media have shared their own experiences of facing ridicule over their food habits abroad.

Some have also pointed out that discrimination over food is rampant in India as well, where non-vegetarian food is banned in many schools and colleges over perceptions of it being impure or dirty. People from disadvantaged castes and north-eastern states often face bias over their food habits, with some complaining about the smell of the ingredients they use.

And it’s not just Indian or South Asian food – communities from Africa, Latin America and other parts of Asia have also shared their experiences of being shamed over their food habits.

Prakash and Bhattacheryya claim their ordeal began in September 2023. Prakash, a PhD student in the Anthropology Department at the university, was microwaving his lunch of palak paneer when a British staff member allegedly remarked that his food was giving off a “pungent” odour and told him that there was a rule against heating foods with strong odours in that microwave.

Prakash said the rule wasn’t mentioned anywhere and when he later inquired about which foods were considered pungent, he was told that sandwiches were not, while curry was.

Prakash alleged that the exchange was followed by a series of actions by the university which led to him and Bhattacheryya – who was also a PhD student there – losing their research funding, teaching roles and even the PhD advisers they had worked with for months.

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

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

According to the terms of the settlement, the university agreed to give the students their degrees but denied all liabilities and banned them from studying or working there in future.