HUNGRY students at a local university now have a healthy and economical alternative to eating at nearby unlicensed food stalls after the campus canteens shutdown for the day.

Tongji University has opened outdoor campus food stalls amid a crackdown on illegal vendors, which has reduced dining options for students.

“Students are usually hungry after studying late into the night,” said Fu Qinjun, director of the school’s food services department.

“But our canteens usually stop service after 7pm or 8pm, so they turn to outside vendors. But the quality and safety of the food served are not good enough, and some are quite expensive. So now we are trying to provide a cheaper, healthier choice for them.”

The campus stalls began operating last Friday and are open daily from 7pm to 11pm. The food is cooked by 20 chefs recruited from the canteens’ pool of 100 cooks.

Crayfish, escargot and chicken feet are just some of nearly 100 dishes on the menu, which is much more extensive than what is offered by unlicensed stalls.

The stalls are attracting more than 1,000 students a day, with some waiting nearly an hour to sample the popular barbecued dishes and crayfish.

Sun Yixi, a civil engineering student, said he favored the campus stalls over the unlicensed ones for health and financial reasons.

“I used to buy roujiamo (a bun filled with pork and shredded vegetables) and malatang (a Sichuan dish with meat and vegetables boiled in spicy soup) at those unlicensed booths after studying at night,” he said.

“Even though one of my classmates became ill after eating food bought from a vendor, I still visited roadside stalls as I did not have many choices.”

But Sun said he will stay away from those operations in future.

“The canteen has more on offer and their prices are low,” he said. “One classmate and I spent about 100 yuan on more than 10 dishes, which would be at least 150 yuan at restaurants. Prices at vendors are close to the canteen, but the food quality is uncertain.”

He added: “In addition, we have clean tables and seats we can use in the canteen, so we can have group discussions there, and don’t have to worry about the weather conditions.”

The university said it will run the stalls all year, except for holiday periods.