It’s the most coveted condiment in the Caf — and it may not be available much longer.
Foul Fumes
Last month, residents of Irwindale, Calif. complained that fumes leaking from the Huy Fong Foods’ production factory, famous for its spicy red Sriracha hot sauce, were causing painful sensations, such as irritated eyes, throats and headaches, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
Not long after the complaints began, the city filed a lawsuit requesting a restraining order on factory production of the popular spicy sauce with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the article said. Although Judge Robert H. O'Brien denied the city’s request, he has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 22, according to a later article also published by the LA Times. On that fateful day, O’Brien will rule whether or not the factory will cease production and temporarily close its doors until the odor issue is addressed.
Students offer feedback
Biola students’ reactions have been rather varied regarding the factory’s potential temporary shutdown and the spicy sauce that may become scarce in availability at Biola’s campus eateries.
Haven Carrillo, a freshman engineering major, works at Eagle’s Nest and does not think temporarily halting production of Sriracha hot sauce will affect Biola students.
“There’re plenty of other sauces that Biola students use, just judging from my experience at Eagle’s Nest,” Carrillo said.
Senior psychology major Charlotte Ebbesen, who dines regularly in the Caf, would disagree with Carrillo.
“It’s disappointing because I use it on nearly everything that I eat. … [It would] make [food] a lot less flavorful and a lot more terrible, to be honest,” Ebbesen said.
The sriracha enthusiast
Perhaps one of the most affected students on campus would be Dirk Tiche, a senior political science major. Not only does he put it on everything he eats, but Tiche is a proud owner of "The Sriracha Cookbook."
Tiche first heard about the factory feud online.
“A lot of people know that I’m very interested in Sriracha sauce, and they watch me put it on everything I eat. So I just got links filing into my message box, saying like ‘Did you hear about this? This can’t be true,’” Tiche said.
His immediate reaction definitely got his girlfriend’s attention, who was in the room when the news broke.
“I was lying on my stomach looking at the laptop and I read the article, and then I just fell forward with my head on the ground,” Tiche said. “It was the most disappointing thing I’d seen in a long time, and I’m a political science major, so I read all about problems in the government and all the stuff that’s going on, and this was much more disappointing,” he joked.
Tiche has introduced many people to his favorite condiment. He said that, aside from those who just do not enjoy spicy things in general, he has never met anyone who has tried Sriracha and disliked it.
The possibility of no longer having Sriracha in the Caf is quite worrisome to Tiche.
“Well, the cafeteria is decent at Biola, but the cafeteria at Biola becomes amazing because of the quantity of Sriracha they have on their shelves,” Tiche said. “If it makes it too expensive for them to continue buying Sriracha, it’s going to seriously impact the quality of food in general at the Caf. And at Eagle’s Nest. I don’t know how you eat a breakfast burrito without Sriracha all over the top of it.”
Keeping the condiment
General manager of Bon Appetit Steve Rall saw the debacle in the news but was unaware of the court date, he said in an email. Bon Appetit has an action plan for the potential cease in Sriracha production.
“I will look into it if [Sriracha] is going to be made elsewhere. I will also look for a replacement,” Rall wrote.
While he is sympathetic toward the residents of Irwindale, Tiche joked that if things came down to it, the government should side with the factory.
“These people have the great privilege of smelling Sriracha all the time,” he said with a laugh.
