We are conditioned to fear the roadside food vendor. The mere mention of flies or dirt makes us run to what we perceive to be the safer option of our office cafeteria. It offers air conditioning, printed menus and packaged food, which makes it seem smarter. But now, entrepreneur Dr. Yashawant Kumar has caused a storm of controversy on LinkedIn when he questioned our trust in the caterers.
In a controversial blog entry on LinkedIn, Dr. Yashawant says that while roadside food could make you ill for two days, working from the office means that you will fall ill slowly with a “slow, sealed, air-conditioned prescription” for disease. The average lunch consists of polished rice, well-cooked dal and greasy vegetables. Without any essential fibre or nutrition in such foods, it leads to gradual development of diseases like Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and fatty liver disease after consuming it 250 days a year for decades.
The issue is compounded by workplace culture. Many professionals inhale these meals at their desks in under ten minutes while scrolling through emails. Yashawant points out the irony in companies spending millions on health insurance and wellness apps while “quietly manufacturing” disease in their own canteens. He dismisses many corporate wellness programmes as a distraction, asserting that employee health is actually won or lost at the lunch counter.
To fix this, Yashawant suggests a simple policy shift: mandating at least one genuinely nutritious, filling and affordable meal option that can compete with heavy staples like biryani. It is not about willpower; it is a systemic workplace problem. As the discussion grows online, professionals are beginning to connect the dots. The return on investment for a better canteen is a healthier workforce, yet it remains one of the most ignored aspects of corporate life.
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