Campus Cuisine @ Adelaide Uni

Finding decent, cheap food at uni can be a tough gig even for the
initiated - but there's one place you're always sure to get some of the good
stuff - and unlike Mayo pasta, it won't leave you with alarming case of
explosive bowel.

The Basics - Locating food on campus used to be easy. First, you checked
whether your Centrelink had gone in, and then headed to the Unibar or the Mayo
accordingly. If you were a student politician, in the Choral Society or just
lucky enough to have some cash you'd head to Rumours for some kind of wacky
psuedo-fusion dish (although that lamb yiros pizza really hung on till the
end, eh?)

Now in 2008 Union control of these outlets is a thing of the past, and the
door for tertiary tucker has been flung wide open. But there's no need to head
to the DJ's food court and eat some souless, battery chicken in your lecture
break: we have some great places to eat right here on campus if you know where
to look, and the pinnacle of this campus cusine is student food stalls.

These range from the plethora of fundraiser bbqs for clubs and sports to more
specific celebrations and events that a given society might be throwing. It
basically involves a bunch of people setting up shop for a day on the Barr
Smith Lawns or in the Cloisters and flogging whatever they can to raise a bit
of cash for their cause. Everyone's welcome to these but some clubs also hold
after hours bashes just for their members. Having said that, on more than one
occaision I have scored platters of free snages, jugs of beer and even free
tshirts from the Engineering Society just by pretending to be someone who
should actually be there. Don't try it too often though lest you end up
wrapped from head to toe in GladWrap, smothered in Nutella and whipped cream
like my...ummmm...friend... once did.

The International Students - If you see 'em setting up a stall early in the
day for their country's national/independence/whatever day, by 12pm there will
be a long line of punters who have been lured by tantalizing aromas from their
lecture theatres, queing up to mung into some of the best food you're going to
get on campus. Noodles, delicious things wrapped in pastry, spicy curries, a
wobbly dessert in five coloured layers, sticky biscuits - it's a proverbial
chocolate box.

Be warned though: Sometimes you hit on a bunch who have more sinister
intentions for you, like the Evangelical Union (EU) which is known to hand out
free noodles only to relegade you into one of their bible talks in the union
cinema - not a problem if you're into that kind of thing, I spose. Watch for
Godless (the atheist club) who do their bit for counter-culture by setting up
shop whenever the EU do, and hand out 'No thanks, I'm an atheist' stickers
along with their rather generous vegie burgers.

If you need to raise a bit of cash for a cause, club or society this year, you
can actually set up your own food stall or bbq through the union (AUU). For
fifty bucks they will give you a bbq, gas and permission to use a space like
the cloisters where you can sell your wares to hungry students. Standard
prices are around $1 per snag, but if you're cooking up something exotic then
$5 for a plateful of goodness wouldn't be unreasonable. The AUU can also lend
you trestle tables and even a PA to crank out some tunes. I've run countless
BBQ's and food stalls at Adelaide and to date there hasn't been a dud one yet,
mainly because they're hard to cock up, *yes, cock up, not cook up - that
bit's easy - and rarely a failure due to the rather inexplicable popularity of
a bit of bread wrapped around a greasy sausage with a dollop of sauce.

Last of all, a word on some specific events that may masquerade as student
food stalls but are something else altogether. The first is energy soft drink
promotions, which happen on campus occaisionally. Do as you will in consuming
it, but if you wear their ridiculous cardboard or otherwise attire (this means
hats, wristbands and t-shirts) then rest assure you ain't going to pick up
anytime soon. Take it all off, fools, or expect me to do it for you. On the
other hand, attendance at the Engineering Society BBQ's, which are free for
members with all you can eat and drink bbq and beer, it's well worth signing
up to the club in O'Week. The Engie Pub Crawl is also famous for attracting up
to 1000 students for one massive night out, but once again, wearing the t-
shirt around campus after the occaision indelibly labels you as an engineer,
which again limits your chances with the ladies to a significant extent. But i
digress. Look out for Spaced, the physics club, who often run bbq's at the top
of the barr smith stairs. There's a guy who looks EXACTLY like jesus who is
always there. Awesome.

So there y'are - the lowdown on REAL student food, which is by students, for
students, and thus infinitley better for your cheap arse. Get your teeth into
some today.