A dispute that started over heating a dish in a microwave oven 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 had filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of Colorado, Boulder, after facing a series of “microaggressions and retaliation” following the microwave incident.
The harassment began, the lawsuit alleges, after a university staff member objected to Prakash heating his lunch of palak paneer — one of northern India’s most popular dishes made from mashed spinach and paneer (considered an Indian equivalent of cottage cheese) — in a campus microwave because of the way it smelled.
In response to questions from the BBC, the university said it could not comment on the “specific circumstances” surrounding students’ claims of discrimination and harassment because of privacy laws, but added that it was “committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff, regardless of national origin, religion, culture and other classes protected by US law and university policies”.
“When these allegations came to light in 2023, we took them seriously and adhered to established and robust processes to address them, as we do with all complaints of discrimination and harassment. We reached a settlement with the students in September. [2025] and disclaim any liability in this case,” the university said.
Prakash said for them that the purpose of the trial was not money. “It was about making a point – that there are consequences for discriminating against Indians for their ‘Indianness’.”
The trial has received significant media coverage in India since it was first reported last week, sparking a conversation about what many have described as “food racism” in Western countries. Many Indians on social media have shared their own experiences of facing ridicule for their eating habits abroad.
Some have also pointed out that food discrimination is also rife in India, where non-vegetarian food is banned in many schools and colleges due to the perception that it is impure or dirty. People from underprivileged castes and northeastern states often face biases related to 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 shared their experiences of being shamed for their eating habits.
Prakash and Bhattacheryya claim their ordeal began in September 2023. Prakash, a PhD student in the university’s Department of Anthropology, was microwaving his lunch of palak paneer when a British staff member allegedly noticed his food had a “pungent” smell and told him there was a rule against heating food with strong smells in the microwave.
Prakash said the rule was not mentioned anywhere and when he later asked about foods considered pungent, he was told sandwiches were not, while curry was.
Palak paneer is prepared using pureed spinach and cubes of paneer cheese [Getty Images]
Prakash claimed the exchange was followed by a series of actions by the university that 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 an “escalating pattern of retaliation” against them.
In September, the university settled the lawsuit. Such settlements are usually reached to avoid lengthy and costly court battles for both parties.
Under the terms of the settlement, the university agreed to give the students their degrees, but denied any liability and barred 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 with graduate students, faculty and staff to listen and discuss changes that best support the department’s efforts to foster an inclusive and supportive environment for all.”
“Individuals who are found 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.
Growing up in Italy, his teachers often asked him to sit at a separate table during lunch breaks because his classmates found the smell of his food “disturbing”, he says.
People in Northeast India often face biases related to their eating habits, with some complaining about the smell of the ingredients they use. [Getty Images]
“It acts to isolate me from my fellow Europeans or to stop me from using a communal microwave because of how the smells of my food are how white people control your Indianness and shrink the spaces in which you can exist,” he says.
He adds that there is a long history of food being used to put down Indians and other ethnic groups.
“The word ‘curry’ has been conflated with the ‘smell’ of marginalized communities that toil in people’s kitchens and homes and has been turned into a pejorative term for ‘Indian,'” he says.
Bhattacheryya says even someone like former Vice President Kamala Harris is not immune to being insulted over food.
She points to a 2024 social media post by far-right activist Laura Loomer saying that if Harris becomes president, the White House will “smell like curry.” Loomer has denied being racist.
In the lawsuit, Bhattacheryya also alleged that she faced retaliation after inviting Prakash to speak as a guest lecturer on the topic of 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 says he shared several examples of food racism he encountered, including the Palak Paneer incident, without naming anyone.
Bhattacheryya says she also faced racist abuse when she posted a thread on X about the “systemic racism” she and Prakash faced at university in 2024.
Under the post, there are several comments supporting the couple but also some saying “go back to India”, “decolonization was a mistake” and “it’s not just about the food, many of you don’t bathe and we know it”.
Prakash and Bhattacheryya said that what they wanted from the university was to be heard and understood; for their hurt and pain of being “messed up” to be acknowledged and for reparations to be made in a meaningful way.
They claim they never received a meaningful apology from the university. The university did not respond to the BBC’s inquiry about this.
They have since returned to India and say they may never return to the US.
“No matter how good you are at what you do, the system constantly tells you that because of the color of your skin or your nationality, you can be sent back at any time. The precariousness is acute and our experience at university is a good example of this,” says Prakash.
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