The controversy that started over the issue of heating dishes in the microwave has ended with two Indian students winning $200,000 from an American university.
Aditya Prakash and his fiancee, Urmi Bhattacharya, told the BBC that they had filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of Colorado, Boulder, after facing a series of “micro attacks and retaliatory actions” following the microwave incident.
The harassment began, the lawsuit alleges, after a university employee objected to Prakash eating his lunch of palak paneer — one of northern India’s most popular dishes, made from pureed spinach and paneer (considered the equivalent of Indian paneer) — in a campus microwave.
In response to questions from the BBC, the university said it could not comment on “specific circumstances” surrounding students’ claims of discrimination and harassment due to privacy laws, but “is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff under the laws of national origin, religion, culture and other categories of the university”.
“When these allegations surfaced in 2023, we took them seriously and followed established, robust procedures to address them, as we do with all claims of discrimination and harassment. We reached a settlement with the students in September. [2025] and disclaim any liability in this matter,” the university said.
Prakash said that money was not the issue for them. “It was about making a point – that there are consequences for discriminating against Indians for their ‘Indianness’.”
The case, which has received significant media coverage in India since it was first reported last week, has been described by many as “food racism” in Western countries. Many Indians on social media have shared their own experiences of facing ridicule for their food habits abroad.
Some have also pointed out that food discrimination is also rampant in India, where non-vegetarian food is banned in many schools and colleges on the assumption that it is impure or dirty. People from backward castes and north-eastern states often face prejudice in 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 in Africa, Latin America and other parts of Asia have also shared the experience of being shamed for their eating habits.
Prakash and Bhattacharya claim that their examination began in September 2023. While Prakash, a PhD student in the university’s anthropology department, was microwaving a lunch of palak paneer, an employee in the UK allegedly commented that his food had a “strong” smell and told him there was a rule for heating microwaved foods.
Prakash said that this rule was not mentioned anywhere and later when asked which food was considered spicy, he said that it was not a sandwich but a curry.
Palak Paneer is prepared using pure spinach and paneer cheese cubes [Getty Images]
Prakash alleged that the university took gradual action after the exchange that led to him and Bhattacharya — who was also a PhD student there — losing their research funding, teaching roles and even the PhD mentors they had worked with for months.
In May 2025, Prakash and Bhattacharya filed a lawsuit against the university alleging discriminatory treatment and a “pattern of escalating retaliation”.
In September, the university settled the lawsuit. Such settlements are usually reached to avoid lengthy and expensive court battles for both parties.
Under the terms of the settlement, the university agreed to grant degrees to the students, disclaiming all liability and barring them from studying or working there in the future.
In its statement shared with the BBC, the university added: “CU Boulder’s anthropology department has worked to rebuild trust among students, faculty and staff. Among other efforts, department leaders met to listen to graduate students, faculty and staff and discuss changes that will better support the department’s efforts to create an inclusive and supportive environment for all.”
“Individuals determined to be responsible for violating university policies to prevent discrimination and harassment are held accountable,” it added.
Prakash says this is not his first brush with food discrimination.
When he was growing up in Italy, his school teachers would ask him to sit at a separate table during lunch break because his classmates could smell his food, he says.
People in North-East India often face prejudice regarding their eating habits, with some complaining about the smell of the ingredients they use. [Getty Images]
“Actions like isolating me from my European classmates or preventing me from using the shared microwave because the smell of my food can reduce how white people control your Indianness and the places where you exist,” he says.
He says food has a long history of keeping Indians and other ethnic groups down.
“The word ‘curry’ has been associated with the ‘smell’ of marginalized communities toiling in kitchens and people’s homes and has become a derogatory term for ‘Indian,'” he says.
Bhattacharya says that no one, like former Vice President Kamala Harris, is immune to food humiliation.
He pointed out a 2024 social media post by right-wing activist Laura Loomer that if Harris became president, the White House would “smell like curry.” Loomer has denied being racist.
In the suit, Bhattacharya also alleged that she faced retaliation after inviting Prakash to speak as a guest lecturer on cultural relativism in her anthropology class. Cultural relativism is the view that no culture is superior or inferior to another because the cultural practices of all groups exist within their own cultural context.
During the lecture, Prakash shared several examples of food racism he had faced, including the Palak Paneer incident without naming anyone.
Bhattacharya says she faced racial abuse in 2024 when she posted a thread on X about the “systemic racism” she was facing at the university.
Below the post, there are several comments supporting the couple but “Go back to India”, “Colonization was a mistake” and “It’s not just food, many of you don’t bathe and we know it”.
Prakash and Bhattacharya said they need to listen and understand what they want from the university. To acknowledge their hurt and pain at being “othered” and to make amends in a meaningful way.
They claimed that they have not received a meaningful apology from the university. The university did not respond to questions from the BBC.
They have since returned to India and have said they will not return to America.
“No matter how good you are at what you do, the system is telling you that you can be sent back anytime because of the color of your skin or your nationality. The ambiguity is intense and our experience at university is a good example of that,” says Prakash.
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