Students given green light for alternative food sales

By Nicholas Gerda

After meeting with President David Arnold and several administrators on Sunday, the Foreign Students Association (FSA) was given formal permission today by food provider Delicious, Inc. to continue independent food sales from their booth.

An e-mail sent to FSA by Delicious Inc.’s representative, Dalia Mattar, expressed support for temporary food sales by the group. The e-mail follows a week of verbal and written requests by the consortium asking FSA to stop selling food.

An exclusivity contract between AUC and Delicious, Inc. requires student organizations to submit a request in order to sell food not provided by the consortium.

“We obviously have a food problem and I think creative solutions to solve the problem are encouraged and welcome,” said Arnold in a meeting with student representatives on Sunday.

“I think we have to improvise and come up with some creative solutions. You know, apples and salads and sandwiches will have to do until we get to the sushi stage, or until we can get to the fuul and tameyya outlet.”

Student organizations step in to resolve food shortage

By Nadine Dafrawy and Rania El Embaby

Student organizations at The American University in Cairo (AUC) have begun to offer students alternative food options in response to the on-campus food shortage and the lack of food variety.

Both the Student Union (SU) and the Foreign Students Association (FSA) have set up booths offering sandwiches, salads and snacks at lower prices than those of Delicious Inc., the Egyptian-Saudi food consortium now managing campus food outlets.

Anyone trying to buy food from Cilantro, Jared’s Bagels, Mercato Italiano and Cinnabon, the only available food outlets, has discovered regular food shortages and long queues since last week.

“It is ironic that the elite people of AUC are standing in a food queue,” said Farida Mokhtar, an economics sophomore.

The FSA booth, working in collaboration with International Student Affairs (ISA), sells sandwiches and salads bought from Eurodeli, a popular food chain.

Sandwiches at the FSA booth are 5 LE cheaper than those at Cilantro and Mercato Italiano.

“Where the school fails to provide, we have stepped in and [are] trying to [find] solutions,” said Andrew Clark, FSA president.

Meanwhile, the sign next to the “SU Market” reads No more hunger!

The SU Market offers soda cans and snacks such as potato chips and chocolates at prices similar to those of the old campus AUC cafeteria. Soda cans at the SU market are 2 LE, while those at Jared’s Bagels, for example, are 3 LE.

SU member Aya Hamed said, “We’re trying to provide an alternative solution. We try to see what fits best to AUC students and bring them what they’ve been used to.”

According to Hamed, SU members pay daily visits to retail markets to meet demand.  “The profits which we obtain are used to buy more products for the next day,” she added.