Think about the thousands of students living in student hostels. These could be college hostels, private hostels or even PG accommodation. What could be some of the primary problems being faced by them? A long queue in the morning for using the bathroom? Things constantly getting stolen? Homesickness? What about nutrition? Hostel messes serve bad food, and that is not something we haven’t heard before. After all, they are serving a large number of students and have limited finances for the food so you can’t expect 5-star cooking or food that tastes like the kind your mother cooks. But even beyond the bad taste, it has numerous implications on the lives and health of students.
Firstly, there aren’t enough regulatory measures to actually examine the quality of food being served in college hostels. With a few people being responsible for the food, there is no real concern about nutritional value or taste. The simple logic that works for students is, either eat it or starve. That is what essentially happens. Students choose to then eat junk food from outside or simply not eat, the former being more common.
As students start off college, there are some common things that happen to all of them. There is immense homesickness and especially more so, because they don’t have the comforts they were being provided with. Secondly, there is new found freedom. They have the money, without restrictions, to spend it in any way that they want. There are plenty of street food stalls or fast food restaurants in the areas around college which are easily accessible and affordable. This makes it easier to not consume the hostel food and instead opt for junk food. This leads of a variety of problems, starting from food poisoning and upset stomachs to obesity, low immunity and other disorders that come along with nutritional deficiency.
On the other side, there are students who start consuming as little food as possible, although hostel food is not the sole reason. While it is easier to just not eat watery curry and hard rotis, many students also do not have enough money to be spending it on eating out every day. With numerous expenses such as books, fees, travel and other necessities eating up a part of their monthly allowance, it is easier to cut down on food costs rather than anything else. Combine this with two other issues faced by teenagers and college going students: Stress and Eating Disorders.
With immense pressure from parents, professors and peers regarding studies and performance, nutrition becomes a secondary priority and students often skip lunch and dinner in order to complete assignments and study for tests. Even after studying, the stress regarding performance is enough to lessen the appetite. Along with this, teenagers are the ones who suffer worst from body image issues and eating disorders such as Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa are extremely common. Teenagers get their information mainly from the internet and while they often understand the importance of not eating a lot of junk food, they end up ignoring the importance of nutritional food and exercise. They choose to starve themselves, consciously or unconsciously and understand it to be a healthy lifestyle.
What is required is a check on the quality of food being provided inside college hostels and making sure it is edible. There also needs to be a collective awareness about healthy eating habits and that eating junk cannot replace balanced meals nor can starving be considered healthy dieting.
