Unpacking College Eating Culture At SU
Why are dining halls only good at making unhealthy food?
by NATALIE BASS ★ OCTOBER 7, 2021
TW: this piece discusses disordered eating and relationships with food
As summer came to an end, I was excited to come back to school this semester and get back into a productive routine. Fewer restrictions meant the prospect of an unforgettable semester with friends, games, late-night adventures... and dining hall food. With no meal swipes at Schine, there are even fewer options to eat healthy and feel good. The energy at Syracuse is filled with the discussion of not eating because it's just “easier…”
As much as I love the cookies in the dining hall, it is quite disappointing to walk to Ernie and sit down at a table with a chocolate chip cookie and grapes for dinner. Eating in college is hard, and the dining halls don’t pave the way for healthy and satisfying meals. Now, with no more meal swipes at CoreLife in Schine, I can’t think of any satisfying meals that are offered with a meal swipe. I shouldn’t have to spend my own money to get a healthy meal when I’m already paying for a meal plan.
Everyone around me says it's easier to have no lunch during the day, that there is “no time” for them to eat a meal. They go to classes all day after only drinking a cup of coffee. This causes me to feel like I shouldn’t eat either, that I should feel ashamed for eating. I question everything that I eat. Why is no one else hungry? People are fueled by not eating so they can look good for a night out or fit into their dress for date night. I think about it constantly, and it overtakes my day sometimes. It’s hard to get past it when that’s the environment that I’m constantly surrounded by.
The lack of healthy and satisfying options at Syracuse dining halls is creating a disordered eating culture on campus. This toxicity leads me and my friends to live an unhealthy lifestyle. It leads people to think that eating balanced meals is not a necessity. I see people fall into the spiral of not eating and see how it affects them. My friends and I feel low energy all the time because we barely eat real meals. It directly affects my mental and physical health. Syracuse needs to make a change to its dining options to better the mental and physical health of its students. The combined atmosphere of having limited options and of not eating to be thinner provides for a toxic environment.
Cover Photo Credit: Minimalist Baker