Eat, Laugh, Connect: How Food Brings RC4 Together
Eat, Laugh, Connect: How Food Brings RC4 Together
Written by Xilu Wang
Relaxing, upbeat music fills the RC4 dining hall as the sound of chatter and laughter rises above the clinking of cutlery. Lines form at each stall as residents, fresh out of their lectures and tutorials, queue with friends to get their dinner. Groups settle into tables — some capturing pictures of their colourful plates for Instagram stories, others sharing about their day over warm bowls of noodles. The air hums with good vibes.
What’s remarkable is that this scene isn’t tied to any grand celebration. It’s an ordinary weekday— and yet, the dining hall feels alive. Every semester, RC4’s dining hall introduces a variety of special meals scattered across the weeks. From live cooking stations and fruit salad bar during breakfast to themed dinners celebrating cuisines from around the world, these meals transform the dining hall into a space that feels both familiar and exciting.
Fruit salad bar during breakfast in the dining hall
From Japanese donburi to American burgers, from Mexican burrito bowls to silky mee tai mak, these special menus bring flavours from around the globe into the heart of RC4. For Jiayi (Year 2, Computer Science), these events are the highlight of her semester.
“After a long and tiring school day,” she shares, “inviting my RC4 friends and sometimes even classmates from outside to join me for dinner makes everything lighter. It’s fun, it’s comforting, and it feels like a homecoming.”
Instagram stories posted by Jiayi on Special Meal Nights
Sometimes, she ends up sitting beside familiar housemates she rarely has chances to talks to during busy school days, or meeting new people through shared dining tables. The special meal nights, she says, carry an unspoken warmth — an ordinary weekday dinner turns into something that connects people.
This semester, the dining hall has gone a step further to make these experiences even more immersive. On Japanese meal nights, anime music and themed decorations set the scene; during burrito bowl nights, chefs don colourful sombreros. These small touches spark conversations, laughter, and cultural curiosity among residents. “It’s something you can’t easily experience in other campus canteens,” Jiayi adds with a grin.
Beyond themed dinners, the spirit of care in RC4 often comes in smaller, everyday gestures. The dining hall’s meal enhancements — a dessert, drink, or snack added to each meal — bring moments of delight into routine days. These treats might be as simple as a piece of cheesecake, a pastry, or a surprise drink, yet they brighten the week and remind residents that food can carry warmth in quiet ways.
The same warmth extends beyond the dining hall. Each house has its welfare subcommittee that prepares thoughtful “welfare drops” throughout the semester. From acai cups and bubble tea to homemade jellies during exam weeks, these gestures come at just the right time when stress is high and spirits are low. For many, it’s a small but meaningful reminder that they’re cared for within a close-knit community.
Ice-cream Night prepared by Draco house welfare subcommittee.
During festive occasions, this care becomes especially visible. In the recent Mid-Autumn Festival, residents were treated to mooncakes in flavours like matcha mochi and chocolate. For Yanxi, a Year 1 Economics student from China, that simple touch meant a lot. “Mid-Autumn is a time for reunion,” she shares. “Even though I’m far from my family, having mooncakes and seeing lanterns around made me feel remembered — like someone understood what this festival means.”
Free mooncakes at Mid-Autumn Festival, photo taken by Yanxi.
Across RC4, food keeps finding its way into shared experiences — through communal dinners, surprise desserts, or even workshops where residents learn to make treats together. Whether it’s baking with friends in a dessert workshop or sharing snacks at a house gathering, these moments remind us that food is never just sustenance here. It is a language of care, a bridge across cultures, and a way of nurturing connections that go beyond words.
As plates are cleared and the chatter fades, what lingers isn’t just the taste of the meal, but the feeling of belonging it creates. Perhaps that’s what makes RC4’s food culture truly special — it nourishes not only the body, but also the bonds that make this community feel like home.
