This oil-filled vada is the ‘dangerous food in the world’, not our words

For many of us, eating in a university hostel was synonymous with limited choices and constant concerns about hygiene. Recently, an internet sensation brought attention to this issue when a hostel resident, Suganth, shared a harrowing experience with his hostel food. In the now-deleted video, Suganth was served a South Indian delicacy: Sambhar Vada with coconut chutney. The clip showed him squeezing the sambhar-soaked vada, but instead of sambhar, excess oil dripped out. The overlay text on the video read: ‘Hostel food’, accompanied by a blurry face emoticon.

The caption next to the video read: “My hostel Vadai…” However, the video has now been deleted by the user.

Before the video was taken down, it went viral on the internet and was viewed more than 37 million times, according to reports. It also sparked a firestorm of reactions from social media users in the comments section.

According to NDTV, one user commented: “Same problem with my company’s food,” while another joked: “Dangerous food in the world.”

“Continue getting oil from Wada for a month and you will have an oil factory in your room and you can also give rations,” one person jokingly remarked.

Some users humorously pointed out the health concerns, with one saying: “99 missed calls due to heart attack.”

Another funny comment read: “Cholesterol: I’m coming.” Someone joked, “There’s some vada in your oil.”

Many were surprised by the amount of oil, with one user exclaiming: “I can cook kg of chicken with that oil.” Another added, “What is this, looks like you can make 5 dosa with oil from that Vada.”

There seems to be no end to the stories about the food problems in the hostels. Last year, a shocking incident took place at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) in Bhubaneshwar. A person named Aaraynsh shared a disturbing image on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) – a dead frog discovered in the hostel’s food. In the caption, he highlighted that parents pay around Rs 17.5 lakhs to get their child an engineering degree, yet this was the quality of food served in the college hostel. “Then we wonder why students from India migrate to other countries for better education and facilities,” he added. The post had caused a wave of anger and disbelief among people on social media.