By Tay Jing Xuan (20S03C) and Jerome Tay (20S06Q)

Readers have good reason to be excited about this coming National Day, with it having begun to unravel itself in ways unlike its predecessors. If you are pondering over prospective gifts to present the nation with, fret no longer. The Executive Committee of the canteen has come up with an ingenious idea to help all ye faithful patriots.

This proposal – what could it possibly be?

For those who have impressively skipped reading the title, the authors refuse to reiterate themselves (but shall do so at the insistence of their editor). You read right – the Executive Committee has collectively decided to increase food prices in the canteen by a reasonable 5.42%. In lieu with the age of our country (54, shame on those who did not know this) along with the current year, the original amount was at an underwhelming amount of 5.419%.

After much debate, the committee has made the hard decision of rounding up the value to 5.42% due to the technicalities of economic complications. For further details regarding these complications, refer to this link after your perusal of the article.

According to the chairperson of the committee, Yi-Ken Billies (19S06E), “the increase in food prices may seem small, but if we consider thousands of students buying food every day up till August, the money raised would reach way above our target of $1007.28.”

This change will be implemented around roughly one week after the day of publishing this article, on the 9th of April. Billies states that this “should be enough time for students and staff alike to adjust to the increase in canteen food prices”.

Which stalls are affected by the change?

To read about such an interesting development, the authors know that readers are anxious about whether their daily meals will turn costlier. They are here to enlighten you.

The stalls affected are as follows:

• Lum and Chan Chicken Rice
• Prata stall
• Raffles Yong Tau Foo
• Tan’s Chinese Cooked Food
• Fruitful Fruits stall
• Noodles and Porridge
• Don Paradise
• The Western stall, however, will be spared from this effect as part of RJC’s efforts to promote Western integration into the school’s culture.

What do fellow Rafflesians and teachers think about this?

The authors, with permission from the committee, broke the news to a few students and staff in advance in an effort to get an idea of how the Rafflesian population would react to this change.

A disgruntled student, Lauv Mai Loh (20S06J), said in response to the authors’ incessant rambling: “The Milo is going to be less worth it now! I think I’ve hit Milo-est point!” The authors are inclined to agree (and are in no way responsible for the dissemination of the terrible pun made).

When the authors interviewed another student, Veh Rie Xian (19A01B), who was absorbed in the devouring of a plate of prata, they were replied with a shrug and a placid: “I don’t mind paying extra for good food, honestly. This won’t affect me too much.” The authors recall their empty wallets at the time of typing, sighing heavily in envy.

Former-food-columnist-turned-teacher, Mr Patrick Wong, was initially reluctant to provide a statement regarding this matter. After further probing, he eventually gave in. “I guess this is a good way to get students more involved in giving back to the community,” he declared amidst a mouthful of wanton mee.

To wrap up,

All the authors know as of now is that the Executive Committee of the canteen intends to use the money to purchase a gift for the country in early August. When questioned about the identity of the present, the charismatic authors were only promised “a good surprise”, while certain members of the committee uttered an expression with suspectedly Greek origins. The authors believe it to be along the lines of the lexical item known as “Yeeticus”.

To view the official final pricings of the canteen items, head on over to this link. To find out more about the members of the Executive Committee of the canteen, click here instead.