“What are you eating, Berkeley?” features short interviews dishing on food with random Berkeley residents. For this edition, we spoke with three Cal students, Daisy Haro, Albert Qu and Diana Castro. 

Daisy Haro. Photo: Hailey Johnson

“My favorite food is Mexican food and my favorite dish is birria. My mom likes to make it and my dad helps her. It’s basically steak with a bunch of red sauce. Most people make it in the traditional Mexican style with either goat or sheep meat. You put it in the oven and let it broil, then its usually served with a side of Mexican rice. My mom has also made a healthier version of it with chicken, which is just as flavorful as the other meat options because of the sauce. My parents don’t make it that often though, because it’s a little time consuming.”

— Daisy Haro

Albert Qu. Photo: Hailey Johnson

“My favorite place to eat is Subway! Just kidding. There is this place on Euclid called D’yar. It’s a Mediterranean restaurant and it has really good falafel. I really like falafel because I am a pescatarian and it’s a good meatless option. Plus it’s delicious.

I chose to be pescatarian mainly for environmental reasons. With fish, I can still get a lot of good nutrients, without harming the environment as much as eating other meats.

I also really like vegan chicken, which is not very healthy, but is really delicious.”

— Albert Qu

Diana Castro. Photo: Hailey Johnson

“My favorite place to eat is Thai Basil, mostly because I was never really exposed to Thai food until I came to Berkeley. For some reason, I don’t really like the actual pad Thai, so I usually get the pad see ew with egg.

I’ve tried a couple of other Thai food places in Berkeley, but I wasn’t a big fan, so I just keep going to Thai Basil. The space is fairly small so it can be a little troublesome if you go in a large group, but usually, it’s no big deal since it’s in that little Durant plaza and there is outside seating. If it’s a nice day, definitely sit outside. One bad thing is that you have to plan your trips because it’s cash only. You can’t just be spontaneous unless you’re one of the few people who actually carries cash.”

— Diana Castro

Hailey Johnson is a senior at UC Berkeley studying English. She studied film at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before transferring to Cal. She now works as a blogger for The Daily Californian...