“Convenience overrides not only considerations of health but also the social and cultural meanings of meals and mealtimes.”(Marion Nestle, 19) This sentence argues that convenience becomes one of the main food values for people and overrides other old food values and cultures. Yes, I do find the significance of food convenience for most colleges. To be specific, I find that the primary food value for most college students is convenience in that their focus is generally centered on study; and they do not have kitchens in all of their dorms. Also, the daily schedule of most college students is irregular; they eat whenever and wherever they like.
College students are always in a
rush heading for classes, which means they do not have enough time to make food
even to eat food. Coffee shops, cafeteria, dorm and fast food restaurants,
therefore, become the main places for college students to get food. I always
see many college students order some drinks and small eats at Jazzman’s café &
bakery, a cafeteria style coffee shop, and then take out them to class, dorm
and library. Fortunately, most food in Jazzman’s is take-out food, such as
chocolate croissant, brownie, cupcakes, milkshake, sandwiches and coffee. It is
convenient for many college students and effectively saves a lot of time for
them. Also, many college students prefer Jazzman’s because of its convenient
location. It is located on the second floor in Driscoll, which is like the
center of the campus, so most students will pass Jazzman’s on their way to
classes. However, some students may stay at Jazzman’s during the break time
after ordering some food. Those students coming alone will sit at the bar or
the single tables near the windows, drinking coffee, eating dessert and
studying, while some students coming as a group may sit around the big tables
or sit on the sofa in the lounge area after ordering some food. Most of time,
they will discuss group project and do the homework together. Jazzman’s is a
really good place for students to study and quick recharge themselves during
the short break between classes, because the atmosphere there is quiet and
comfortable and the food in Jazzman’s is made fast. Thereby, students do not
have to waste too much time to wait for the food, saving the time to study and
relax. Moreover, Jazzman’s is close to Penrose library, so students who study
in the library for a long time will go to Jazzman’s and buy some ready-made
sandwiches and sliced fruit to have some nutrition and energy. Because of the
increasingly rapid pace of school life today, those students studying in the
library sometimes skip several meals and study for the whole day, thus, a
convenient place like Jazzman’s is really important and necessary for those
college students to quick recharge themselves. Burger king is a good place for many
college students to get convenient food as well. It allows us to drive to
burger king, order food in the car and eat with little effort. A few minutes
later, the food is already packaged and we can take them away to any place. And,
the cup of Burger King is designed to fit in a car cup holder, which is very
portable. Therefore, all the factors mentioned above reveal that many college
students emphasize the convenience of food for the reason that they want to
save their time to study.
Not only study, but also the reason
that college students have no kitchens in our dorms encourages them to pay more
attention to the convenience of food. In my dorm, there is only a microwave oven
and a refrigerator. So I can just buy some frozen fast food and heat them up in
the microwave oven. This looks unhealthy so I often buy some fruit and
vegetables, putting them in the refrigerator, washing and cutting them into
slices before eating. Apparently, it is impossible for college students who
have no kitchen in their dorms to cook a normal meal, instead, most of them
prefer to buy some frozen food from the supermarket, such as frozen delicatessen,
frozen vegetable blends, frozen chicken rings, and frozen pizza. Sometimes, I
will eat frozen dumplings with my friends in the dorm. However, I find that
boiled dumplings are far more delicious than frozen dumplings although frozen
dumplings are easy to cook. It is quite convenient to make frozen food because
all the things you have to do before you can eat them is to put them into
microwave oven and wait for about 3 minutes. Moreover, the containers, spoons
and forks of frozen meals are always disposable, so we do not need to wash them
after finishing eating frozen meals. How convenient the frozen meal is! Instant
noodle is also a good choice for many college students eating at the dorms. I
always buy a box of instant noodles when going to the supermarket in case of
having no time to eat lunch at university’s cafeteria. However, I think instant
noodles are so unhealthy that eating them too often will have negative effect
on our health. Sometimes, many college students eat some snacks as a meal to
satisfy their stomach since it is even easier than heating up frozen food. But
eating snacks too much will cause obesity and a lack of nutrition. As Jamie
Horwitz mentions in “Eating at the Edge”, “David Cutler and colleagues explain
that the increase in Body Mass Index over the past twenty years is a result of
calories consumed from what people call snacks, while the calories consumed at
meals, particularly at dinner, actually decreased during the same period of
observation.” Many snacks contain a lot of trans fat and calories, which will
easily increase our weight. Therefore, eating convenience is important for
college students because they lack facilities to cook their own food in their
dorms. But I strongly suggest college student to pay more attention to eating
health rather than eating convenience.
Additionally, most college
students eat for convenience because they do not have a reasonable class
schedule. Many college students have classes during the lunch time, which means
they do not have time to have lunch at school cafeteria. Most of time, they
will bring small snacks, take-out food and some drinks to the classes. My
friends and I have class at 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and
Friday, and we have to run the whole way during the 10-minute break between two
classes. So we often buy some desserts and coffees at Jazzman’s and then bring
them to the class, otherwise, we will have lunch after 2 p.m. Therefore, the
convenience of food is extremely important for college students under such
situations. At this point, the convenience food means quickly made, portable
and easy to eat.
I
also find that convenience of food is more important for college students than
that of working-class people, especially office staffs. Most working-class
people have normal business schedules. On their schedules, there are always
some breaks for lunch and dinner. Also, they have enough time to have breakfast
before going to work because many working-class people start working at 9 a.m.
Having more time to eat, working-class people can go out and eat at different
places. So they have a lot of choice of food, while college students have limited
food options. From the comparison between working-class people and college
students, I can find that the people who are not college students may also look
for the convenience of food, but convenience is not the primary food value for them.
Furthermore,
many college students do not have regular eating schedule and eat at timeless
time for the reason that the life in college is so free that we do not have to
follow many arrangements and schedules; we can eat whenever we are hungry and
wherever we like. Eating irregularly is also like a symbol of freedom for
college students, revealing that their time in university is dominated by
themselves freely. So the convenience of
food is important for these students. Moreover, eating at university is not
same as eating at home, we can choose whatever we like and do not have to care
too much about others’ tastes because many students eat alone instead of eating
with others around a big table. Eating in front of the computer, eating at
class and even eating hurriedly in the street are very common at present, while
eating as a group becomes rarer and rarer. Jamie Horwitz says, “Consider soup.
What was once an archetype of the commensal is now widely available in a
variety of single-serving packages” (42-43). In the past, people liked to have
soup with a big pot since many people ate together and shared the same soup.
Nonetheless, many manufacturers now serve out the soup into single-serving
packages because of the trend of eating alone and eating at different places. I
always see some students walking on the campus with a box of food in their
hand. So the single-serving package reflects the eating habits of many college
students; and the portability of these packages indicates their food value of
convenience too.
With my thick
observation of today’s college students, I find convenience is the main food
value and culture for them. They eat for convenience because of study, the lack
of facilities and irregular daily schedule. But think about the health. Eating
for convenience like most college students will undeniably cause health
problems. “These multifaceted disorders affect the emotions, thinking,
behavior, and physical health of afflicted individuals.” (Phillips, EL, 1) How
can we college students concentrate on study if we lack nutrition and feel sick
because of eating disorder? So we have to find the balance between study and
eating. And, this is the most wise and effective way to do everything well at
the same time.
Frozen food
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