The Case for Cooking in College

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series sharing videos made by Human Health students in the Health 1, 2, 3 program. To see an overview of the program and this series please read this post.

By: Rachel Xue

If you have never cooked anything besides cup ramen in your life, I challenge you to find a recipe of your favorite pasta dish, sandwich, stew, or stir-fry and cook it from scratch! Buy all the ingredients, watch a video on YouTube, figure out a time you’re free, and get cooking! Don’t worry if you make mistakes, if you make a mess, if it takes hours instead of 30 minutes. Everyone starts somewhere. And anyone can cook.

Don’t worry if you make mistakes, if you make a mess, if it takes hours instead of 30 minutes.

You might be asking, but why? Why should I learn to cook? Evolutionary biologists believe that we humans began cooking our food because it was advantageous to survival –by cooking our plants and meat, we were able to digest them better, upping the amount of energy available within them and cutting down on the energy costs of consuming raw food, such as fighting off pathogens and trying to digest the indigestible.[2] But Darwinism aside, there is also evidence that making a habit of cooking results in a healthier diet overall. Nutrition scientists observe that people who cook frequently tend to meet target intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and micronutrients, as well as eating much less processed, convenient foods and fast-food.[3] It seems that in general, people who cook at home are eating healthier than those who often go out to eat.

If that isn’t convincing enough, let me ask you a question. Is your schedule so packed on certain days you can’t find time to fit in lunch? Are you, like me, an upperclassman who is suddenly living far away from any dining hall, without any meal swipes, and getting sick of ramen? Have you opened your fridge and realized you have no food left and no money or time to get on a shuttle to restock? Have your “meals” become mainly chips and cookies? Are tired of your college food routine?

If you feel uncomfortably seen right now, then I have another challenge for you! Grab your roommates or a couple friends and start coordinating your schedules. What days of the upcoming week do you have free to cook a meal? If you overlap, great! You can work together in the kitchen. If not, fantastic! If everyone can coordinate so that as a team you can accomplish at least one meal a day, you are on-target to completing the challenge.

Discuss your dietary restrictions, grocery and recipe plans, all the small details before you start. The idea is to share the responsibility, cost, and workload of a full week of meal prep. How you decide to execute it is up to you!

Participating in this collaborative cooking setup will teach you much more than I can tell you here, so I encourage you to try it out, even if you can’t make it the full week! To encourage others to partake in the challenge as well as, you’re also encouraged to film a vlog to document and share your experience with us. In the meantime, if you’re still skeptical, I can outline my theory for this idea.The greatest predictor for cooking skills is finding enjoyment in cooking, meaning people who cooked the most were those who had fun doing it.

In one study, college students who cooked meals in a social setting, such as among roommates or friends, reported cooking and eating healthy meals more frequently and that they enjoyed the experience.[4] My goal is to show students that cooking can be fun, especially in the company of friends, and to empower all students to feel comfortable in the kitchen. In multiple studies, people reported the greatest gain they got from taking cooking classes was a boost in self-confidence.[1] I have to agree –there is a certain sense of empowerment in being able to open your fridge and know what you can combine together into a dish, in being at the grocery store and having a clear idea of what to buy, having a plan for the food you load into your shopping cart.

Too busy? By sharing the responsibility of cooking, we can overcome many of the barriers to cooking college students often bring up. Coordinating your schedule with your team can help fill in the gaps of days you are too busy to cook. Cost an issue? Splitting the cost of groceries between multiple people will save you money as well as prevent food waste; you even save time here if someone can get groceries for the entire group. Can’t find the motivation? Your teammates will definitely hold you accountable–you wouldn’t let everyone go hungry, right? Lack cooking skill? Your friends are an untapped goldmine of knowledge. This is a unique chance to learn from and exchange advice with people you trust and most likely people who come from diverse backgrounds. It’s also just a great way to get to know your roommates better and spend quality time with your friends.

I feel it’s important to address that, even now in our modern era, there are gendered and classist expectations about who should be responsible for cooking.[1] In particular, this challenge is targeted toward people who have never previously felt a need to learn to cook. I believe knowing how to cook is an essential skill everyone should have, and that college is the perfect environment for students to experiment and learn from their peers. When we truly normalize cooking for everyone and encourage a culture where cooking skills are common and expected of everyone, regardless of class or gender, we can all begin to engage in a more fair “food democracy” and increase people’s enjoyment of cooking. And ultimately the more people are willing to cook, the healthier and more aware of our nutrition choices we will be.

Now, let’s getting cooking! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA9km5aGsmk&t=1s

References:

1. Caraher, M. & T. Lang (1999). Can’t cook, won’t cook: A review of cooking skills and their relevance to health promotion, International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, vol. 37(3), 89-100, DOI: 10.1080/14635240.1999.10806104
2. Carmody, R.N. & R.W. Wrangham. The energetic significance of cooking, Journal of Human Evolution, vol. 57(4):379-391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.02.011
3. Monsivais, P., Aggarwal, A. & Drewnowski, A., 2014. Time Spent on Home Food Preparation and Indicators of Healthy Eating. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 47(6), pp.796—802.
4. Murray DW, Mahadevan M, Gatto K, et al. Culinary efficacy: an exploratory study of skills, confidence, and healthy cooking competencies among university students. Perspect Public Health. 2016;136(3):143-151. doi:10.1177/1757913915600195