Student-run Food Takes Over the Roeterseiland Cafeteria
By Antonín Tesař and Luna Lampikoski | Culture | May 28, 2025
Cover Illustration: School Lunch, June 12, 2019. Anton Murygin / Unsplash
De Nieuwe Mensa is a student-run food stand at Roeterseiland Camp serving affordable, healthy and plant-based food for and by students at the University of Amsterdam. In this article, the Amsterdammer sits down with the initiative’s board members to discuss the behind-the-scenes.
On the first day of the 2024/25 spring semester, a new face appeared in the Roeterseiland Campus student cafeteria. De Nieuwe Mensa officially launched their stand serving affordable, healthy and plant-based food for students. Run entirely by University of Amsterdam (UvA) students, cooks prepared generous servings of dahl and rice for the long lunchtime queues, costing only four euros per meal. Having been in operation for three months now, the Amsterdammer sat down with De Nieuwe Mensa board members and PPLE students Matteo Abraham, 21, Noah Bisinger, 20, and Chris Cleef, 20, as well as 19-year-old cook and Computational Social Science student, Brendan Corcoran, to discuss the behind-the-scenes of the initiative.
Anti-Kantine Roots
The initiative’s roots are in the Anti-Kantine movement, which began in 2023. “The background is, it started without Noah or me […] with a guy named Titus van der Valk. […]” explains Abraham. Under Van der Valk, Anti-Kantine passed out free sandwiches on campus in protest of the expensive cafeteria food. The protests were popular among students and received mainstream media coverage. When Titus left Anti-Kantine, Bisinger, Abraham and Cleef took over as its main organizers, and with the help of ROSA, continued to pass out free meals for students in protest of the cafeteria prices. “The difference was we were distributing proper food […] for example, the lentil dahl we [De Nieuwe Mensa] sell now.”
Their roots in Anti-Kantine, especially their experience with cooking warm meals for cheap at a large scale, helped convince UvA that something could be done about providing students with affordable meals at university. “It was probably more a lack of imagination than a lack of resources or will. […] Then in the meetings they [UvA] didn’t really question whether we could actually cook food for that many people.”
Despite Anti-Kantine being a significant part of De Nieuwe Mensa’s history, De Nieuwe Mensa emphasizes that it is separate from Anti-Kantine. “The biggest difference between Anti-Kantine and De Nieuwe Mensa is that Anti-Kantine is a protest, and this [De Nieuwe Mensa] is the corporation,” says Cleef. Bisinger adds, “We made a very conscious decision not to be Anti-Kantine. We are De Nieuwe Mensa […] But I still think we don’t want to be like a corporate entity selling food. We’re very much a student organization where everybody working there is a student.” Cleef continues, “We want to bring the culture of accessible, cheap student food back. ”
Starting De Nieuwe Mensa
In the summer of 2024, after one year of the Anti-Kantine movement, Bisinger, Cleef and Abraham, with the encouragement of two UvA Facility Services staff members, Andre Posthumus and Guido Meijer, pondered with the idea of bringing De Nieuwe Mensa to life. Strengthened by new people from other student organizations joining the initiative, they started planning in September 2024, registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce and involved themselves in many discussions with the UvA.
Their first conversations with the UvA, as Abraham puts it “looked more like us complaining” about the food prices in the cafeteria and were “a bit confrontational.” He continues, “A bunch of people left the project from the UvA side, ” one of which “comes by and eats our food now, which is quite ironic. ”
“When we started to discuss our plan, there was honest doubt from their [UvA] side that what we were planning was going to be successful,” shares Cleef. “For us it was really clear that there was demand. We are students, we know that people are poor and really want food,” Bisinger continues. “They [UvA] are so distant from the student body that to understand these basic things they need large surveys,” he adds. After several questionnaires and surveys across campuses, the UvA came to a conclusion that perhaps the food on campus is indeed overly expensive. “It took them five months to get to that point. They’re very much an institution,” says Abraham.
However, the help and belief of two UvA staff members, Posthumus and Meijer, showed the boys that someone in the university believed in their idea and wanted to give them “an honest chance.” “There was one moment when somebody pointed out that those two guys were coming to the meetings after their work day at seven in the evening and spending an hour to an hour and a half to discuss with [us], out of their paid time,” shares Abraham. He continues: “That’s when I realized they’re not students […] this is not part of their job, they’re doing this because they think it’s important. ”
“I think that’s one of the main things that also changed my perception of the UvA over time. Initially I thought […] why are they anti-student? But I […] understand now that there are some normal people in the UvA like Posthumus and Meijer who are very sweet and supportive in many ways, but then the institution as a whole can be quite cumbersome,” reveals Bisinger.
Operations
Corcoran reveals insight into the behind-the-scenes of De Nieuwe Mensa’s weekly menu, which currently consists of dahl on Mondays, aloo gobi on Tuesdays, chili sin carne on Wednesdays, chana masala on Thursdays and “Try-out Fridays.” At the beginning, Abraham found recipes online and scaled them according to the portions needed. “When selecting recipes, we don’t go for crazy, obscure tastes,” Corcoran says. Appealing to most palates is a top priority, and oftentimes small bowls with salt, chili, lemon juice and coconut milk can be spotted at their stand for customers to add extra flavor to their own dishes. Based on customer feedback, dishes are modified if something does not work. “Our chickpea curry was initially very spicy, so we adjusted it through trial and error,” Corcoran shares.
During “Try-out Fridays,” they experiment with new recipes arising from discussions of sales and feedback. They have three main constraints for new recipes, the first two being that all dishes must be vegan and have the lowest production cost possible, that being around 1 euro per meal. In addition, their recipes must accommodate the capacity of their kitchen supplies. Abraham shares that they cannot produce more than 400 portions due to the size of their only pot, which is 100 liters. Because of this, the recipe must also be cooked in one pot where “ingredients go in sequentially,” and rice is made separately.
De Nieuwe Mensa has “one pretty big supplier” and gets their vegetables from local Dutch farmers. They have an Indian supplier for rice, and just recently attained a bread supplier. “We don’t have to go get the bread ourselves anymore, which is fantastic because we had to get the bread like 20 minutes away. It was Chris cycling with a bag full of bread, and me with another.” describes Abraham. “Local entrepreneurs, small businesses are super ready—they jump at opportunities and are really ready to help.”
The First Weeks
“The first week was horrible. I think we all experienced hair loss. It was really stressful,” says Abraham. “There were so many issues with the suppliers, with the food, lines and getting stuff out on time.” Corcoran shares how the initial arrangement, with two cooks and one server, did not work and more employees had to be hired so that more people could work at a time. In addition, with time came a greater understanding of rush hours and busier days.
In the first week, they only sold 220 meals a day, putting them at a net loss. Now, they sell between 300-400 consistently. Abraham emphasizes that while it is their business, they are non-profit. Having very thin profit margins, all employees are paid 14 euros an hour, with extra money being reinvested into the project “for equipment, staff or reducing prices,” explains Corcoran.
The Power of Students
Starting with 10 employees, they have now grown to around 25 total. The board consists of nine members who handle administration, human resources, orders, managing recipes and the kitchen. “But when it comes to decisions, new recipes, improvements, it’s a big discussion among all the cooks and servers. […] Everyone’s voice is equally important, and it’s really nice that everyone’s ideas are shared and discussed.”
Abraham, Cleef and Bisinger share that their dream is to expand to other campuses and universities. Initially, they received a starting budget from the UvA, and now they are financed by the Alumni fund, making this dream more accessible. Also involved are various student organizations—Plant-Based Universities, Green Office, the UvA’s Central Student Council (CSR) and the ASVA Student Union. “It’s a collective effort, it has been from the very beginning,” says Noah.
The Future
Currently, De Nieuwe Mensa has a contract with UvA Facility Services until summer 2025. “We hope the university renews our contract,” says Corcoran. “Cirfood [UvA’s caterer] has a 10-year contract with UvA expiring in January 2027,” says Bisinger. He goes on to explain that the UvA may create a hybrid system with different providers in the future, rather than having one provider. Having a sole provider, as opposed to several, is part of the reason for the high cafeteria prices. “We want to be one part of that,” Bisinger says, referring to the hybrid system.
Additionally, they hope to expand to other UvA campuses and even other universities. Mentioning that this expansion may be based more on sharing their vision of what university food can practically look like with students elsewhere, Bisinger concludes: “We’re not a for-profit organization. There’s nothing in it for us to be a big organization. It’s kind of cool, but other than that, we’re really just doing it because we love the thing of having good food that’s affordable and accessible on campus.”
Antonín Tesař and Luna Lampikoski is a university student in Amsterdam. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Amsterdammer.
