🍽️ Vande Bharat Meals: India’s Fastest train Serving Its Slowest Standards
For a train that symbolizes modern india — sleek, swift, and selfie-ready — the Vande Bharat Express has one major flaw: its food tastes like betrayal. Passengers paying premium fares aren’t expecting Michelin stars, but they at least deserve edible dignity. Instead, what they get is cold curry, soggy rice, and a bill that looks like a five-star brunch menu.
When you charge luxury prices and serve railway leftovers, it’s not a service — it’s state-sanctioned extortion on wheels.
1. The ₹300 Meal That Feels Like a Prank
Let’s call it what it is — a scam plated in plastic. The food onboard 20706 Vande Bharat is being roasted online (pun intended) because passengers are being served what can only be described as dog food with packaging. For a ticket that costs as much as a short-haul flight, travelers are getting meals that make airplane food look like art.
It’s not just unappetizing — it’s unacceptable.
2. IRCTC’s Political Buffet: Monopoly Masquerading as Service
Here’s where it gets murkier. The catering contracts for Vande Bharat are largely under IRCTC’s semi-government control, with most vendors reportedly having political affiliations. Translation? Complaints disappear faster than dessert.
You can send feedback, tweet outrage, tag the ministry — nothing changes, because the supplier and regulator dine at the same table.
3. Opt Out or Starve Smart
Seasoned passengers have learned the hack — opt out of onboard meals. Pay only for tea.
Instead, order from online delivery services like RailRestro or Zoop — they’re quicker, cleaner, and actually care about customer reviews. When a local dhaba delivers better food to your seat than the “flagship” express, it tells you everything you need to know about IRCTC’s priorities — profits over passengers.
4. The european Model india Refuses to Learn From
Every european rail system figured this out decades ago — stop pretending to serve meals at your seat. Instead, have designated dining coaches. Passengers can walk in, eat what they want, and pay only for what they choose.
No force-feeding. No fake “complimentary” meals.
Meanwhile, in india, we’re stuck in a colonial loop of plate politics — one menu for prestige, another for practicality.
5. Clean the train, Not the Image
Here’s the irony: Vande Bharat is marketed as India’s “symbol of modern travel.” But no amount of blue LED lighting can distract from the stench of mismanagement. The food quality isn’t a minor glitch — it’s a symptom of systemic rot.
Instead of pretending to be an airline on tracks, the railways should focus on the basics: clean compartments, punctual service, and transparent pricing.
Speed means nothing when the stomach churns faster than the wheels.
⚡ Final Take: Pride Can’t Be Packaged in Plastic
The Vande Bharat Express was supposed to be the face of new india — fast, futuristic, flawless. Instead, it’s becoming a case study in how vanity projects rot from the inside when accountability is outsourced.
A nation’s pride can’t be built on packaging.
And passengers don’t deserve to eat political loyalty — they deserve a decent meal.
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