College
Culture & Food
The cultural significance of food
changes vastly from one area to another. The meaning of food to people in
Europe, Africa, and Asia is much different than it is to people in America.
Even within America many different cultures of people place their own
individual values in their food. There is what people from other countries
think of as the “typical” Americans who eat mainly fast food and are becoming
obese. But also, there are the more hippie and green types of people who eat
all local, natural, and organic. The food you eat depends mainly on the way you
were raised and the culture you are living within. When a young adult moves
away to college, there is a new type of food culture that arises. Students are
so busy with schoolwork and social aspects of college that they have almost no
time to think about where their next meal is coming from, thus arises the
culture of convenience.
When thinking of
college food, the first thing that comes to mind is a cafeteria. A cafeteria is
the fastest most convenient place for students to dine where food is always
available. At home students had only a few options of what to eat for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This was either what there parents were making or
the food they had at their house that was probably also bought by their
parents. Going to college is the students first time in their life that they
can choose exactly what they eat and are not being monitored by anyone but
themselves. There are as many unhealthy options as one could possibly imagine.
Most students are not used to having a soft-serve ice cream machine sitting in
their kitchen as well as fresh made fries always at the ready. Because these
foods taste good and are so convenient, students are tempted to get them. They
are in a rush and want quick food and energy, which these junk foods provide.
For
the health conscious student, there is also a salad bar out all the time as
well as some sort of steamed vegetable. Still, these are not very high quality and
certainly not local or organic. Students who are used to eating better quality
lettuces and vegetables have no option but to settle for the mediocre quality
of the cafeteria because it is so convenient. It is not realistic for a student
to keep the ingredients of a salad bar in the mini fridge in their rooms.
Students are forced to eat whatever quality food is put before them in their
cafeterias because for one, they are forced to buy and meal plan, which is
quite expensive. And secondly, they do not have the time or means of transport
to do otherwise. Students are sucked into a lifestyle of convenience in which
they can only eat what is readily available.
During the week sometimes students do not even have the
time to eat lunch or dinner in the cafeteria. Because of their busy class
schedules they do not have time to walk all the way back to their dorm for a
meal. This forces them to grab some kind of premade food from a café or
convenience store around campus. The reason they are eating this kind of food
is not for pleasure but because it is what is available at location and time in
which they are searching for food. This idea is backed up by the article Convenience Food: Space and Timing which
claims that “convenience foods” are becoming increasingly popular not because
of people wanting and liking them, but because of the organizational problems
that come along with the increasingly busy daily lifestyles of people (525).
In American culture eating is a social event, so the
majority of people enjoy eating in groups. Most people grow up having lunch
with friends at school and then family dinners when they come home. However as
you get older your life becomes more complex and it is harder for this to be
routine. College is one of the most social times of your life where you are
constantly meeting new people and doing things with them. If students were
surveyed the results would mostly likely come back that they would rather eat
with friends than alone. (INSERT QUOTE ABOUT LIKING TO EAT IN GROUPS AND WHY).
However, this is not always possible giving the time constraints and different
schedules of all students. A lot of the time students do not have an open time
for lunch at the same spot on campus as one of their other friends. Because of
this often students will eat alone doing some kind of homework to keep them
occupied. This greatly changes the culture surrounding eating. Instead of it
being a fun social event where you get to enjoy food and share stories with
friends or family, it is a time of solitude in which the student is eating
mediocre food only because they are starving. It is not an enjoyable fun
experiences but instead just something that has to be done to keep your body
happy.
Another increasingly common form of eating is what is
called “eating on the go”. This is probably the most convenient way of eating
when you have absolutely minimal time to get the nutrition that you need.
Eating on the go could be simply picking up a sandwich and eating it on the way
to class, or grabbing and apple on the way out of the cafeteria. Certain foods
have even become specifically designed for this purpose. One great example is
made by Campbell’s, “None leave behind the pot, stove, bowl, spoon, or
table more fully than Campbell’s Soup at Hand”(Howitz 42). Soup at hand is a
easy graspable mug with can be microwaved and fit in the cup holder of a car.
Eating on the go is a completely different concept of eating than what is thought
of as a traditional meal. It is hard to decide whether this can even be called
a meal. You are getting the energy and nutrition you need from eating whatever
food you choose to grab and eat while walking, which is the evolutionary and
survival purpose of eating. However, it is lacking the aspects of sitting in a
space, probably at a table with others while conversing and eating. This is
culturally what people in American consider to be a meal.
The
increasingly popular concept of eating for convenience is changing the cultural
aspects of food for American’s. While everyone from business people to stay at
home parents doing errands have embraced this new form of eating it is probably
the most common around college campuses. This is because of the ability of the
youth generation to pick up and adapt to new trends as well as the very busy schedule
of college students. This change to eating quicker meals by ones self may not
seem significant however it has the ability to greatly change the culture
around eating.
Note: need to find one
more source and finish conclusion
Work Cited
Alan, Warde."Convenience
food: space and timing", British Food Journal, Vol. 101 Iss: 7 pp. 518 –
527, (1999). Web 25 April 2012. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/00070709910279018>
Horwitz, Jamie. "Eating at the Edge." Gastronomica: The
Journal of Food and Culture, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp.42-47. University of
California Press, 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/gfc.2009.9.3.42?origin=JSTOR-pdf>.
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