As freshers' week fades with the hangovers that go with it, thousands of 18
and 19-year-olds are realising that they have left the family kitchen
without learning how to boil an egg. Judging by my experience and that of
everyone I know, most will stagger through the next three or four tumultuous
years of studying and socialising on little more than toast. By the time
they leave, some students may have morphed into passable cooks but there
will be others eating tuna straight from the tin and giving themselves
points for healthy living after knocking back banana and lager smoothies.
This year's freshers have missed out on compulsory cooking classes, which are
to be brought in for 11 to 14-year-olds in schools from 2011. And while
school meals are regulated down to the nearest grain of salt, there are no
minimum standards for universities, no national or local food policies.
Universities are autonomous and the Department for Innovation, Universities
and Skills takes the view that young adults can look after themselves.
Plenty of people disagree. Rosie Blackburn, the project officer for Good Food
on the Public Plate project run by Sustain, the lobby group campaigning for
better food and farming, believes there's lecture hall-sized room for
improvement. “What I have seen and tasted [on campuses] is rubbish. And
overpriced. Shops are full of chocolate and crisps. Universities should
provide sustainable and nutritious food that students want to eat, providing
more fresh produce and cooking it properly.”
Professor Kevin Morgan at Cardiff University, an economist with two student
children, feels that universities are not taking their responsibilities for
providing healthy meals seriously enough: “The provision is appalling.
Universities have been remiss about addressing the issue of food, nutrition
and health.”
But there is hope. The University of the West of England in Bristol has a
farmers' market on campus, while nearby Warwick is launching help sessions
on budgeting and cooking for its 3,000 freshers.
Meals are no longer served in the halls of residence and there is a choice of
18 places to eat on campus, five of them run by the students' union. “We are
very lucky and proud of what we have. I can't see how you could have a more
complete catering offer,” says James Gadsby-Peet, the outgoing
communications officer for the students' union.
What Warwick is already offering gives a taste of what is to come elsewhere.
Wraps, healthy stir-fries, salads and paella are commonplace. Campuses are
redesigning their catering and opening cafés and bars more like those in
town. Terms like “grab and go” and “tear and share” are bandied around.
Charles Dudley, the director of residential, sport and trading services at the
University of Sussex, which has carried out a big review of the catering,
says the move is demand-led. “Seven or eight years ago students were saying,
‘lasagne and chips, please', now we're listening to what our customers
want.”
Could food soon be a factor in choosing a university? With mounting evidence
linking good nutrition with studying effectively, students could surely do a
lot worse.
How three unis are changing the menu
Leeds
Any recent Leeds graduate recalling a campus diet of curry, chips and beans
might feel their age when they hear what has happened since they left. A
year ago the catering was revolutionised. Students opting for half-board are
among the 10,000 a day served in the 1,000-seat refectory, where the menu
covers a huge range from takeaway sushi to local roast beef with Yorkshire
pudding, and umpteen salads are also offered. Traffic light labels guide
students towards healthier choices. Sports science and physiology
second-year student Tom Reynolds recommends pick'n'mix stir-fries cooked on
the spot by a wok chef.
Although Lara Verney chose self-catering to stretch her student budget, she
praises the alternative. “Leeds is good for food, it's all really nice and
if you want to eat healthily there are loads of options. It's quite a trendy
place and the food is part of that.”
Third-year Ravi Hannah, who is proud of the risottos, bolognaise and hearty
soups he throws together with cheap veg, says students need help in the
kitchen. “Hardly any of my friends eat fruit and veg. One lived off ready
meals and cereal.”
Sussex
“Grazing and snacking culture leads to obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle,”
says Daniel Vockins, the president of Sussex student union last year. He is
referring to the commercial emphasis of the review of catering on campus.
There are kitchens in all campus accommodation. But for those who can't or
won't cook, “a nutritional well-cooked dinner is not easy to come by”,
laments Mow Magzoub, a second-year student.
In the evening when his favourite canteen isn't open for comforting, no-frills
pasta, lasagne and salads, it's burgers, or nachos and chips.
Everyone agrees that the food scene needed a shake-up. Students and staff have
been consulted and there have been focus groups. But on the campus, which
promotes Fair Trade and where Nestlé is banned and all eggs are free-range,
Vockins claims that “the impetus for more sustainable, socially responsible,
nutritious and socially cohesive food is coming from the union not the
university”. This includes what Magzoub describes as an “awesome” fruit and
veg market stall on a Tuesday, a food highlight on an otherwise
poorly-provided-for site.
“There could be a lot more access to fruit and vegetables. And my vegetarian
friends are frustrated by the lack of options on campus.” Ben Day, who left
last summer, says that food prices on campus are extortionate.
Their preferences may not be met by the catering head Charles Dudley's vision
of “niche operations to satisfy customers' needs”. He is transforming the
traditional refectory into a “food avenue with sub brands along it”, though
the more Asian-leaning menu of wok, sushi and noodle dishes will indicate
nutritional content, and is aiming for Food for the Brain accreditation.
“If it's the start of actually making food on campus nutritional, brilliant,
but it's how people eat as well as what they eat that matters,” says
Vockins. “Fast food has denigrated our food culture. The catering review
could have been ground-breaking instead of creating a weak copy of the high
street on campus.”
Edinburgh
The healthy rivalry between the University of Edinburgh and its students'
association (aka union) stems from its efforts to feed students well.
The university won a healthy choices award from the Scottish Executive for its
contribution to tackling health problems in Scotland where obesity levels
are second only to those in the United States.
At least half the food in its cafés, refectories and halls of residence must
be healthy. At the students' association's Café Senses a third of the food
on the menu is organic and half of the meals contain locally sourced
ingredients. For under £4 students can fill up on spag bol made with
organic beef, or locally grown vegetables. The project was set up by the
students' association a couple of years ago with help from the Soil
Association.
“We have a welfare policy to provide healthy eating,” says the incoming
students' association president, Adam Ramsay. “The difference between a
17-year-old living with parents and being fed and an 18-year-old who has to
feed themselves is enormous.”
Every self-catering fresher is given a CD with recipes and nutritional advice,
but 2,000 students - more than a third of first years - choose catered halls
of residence.
Ex-boarder Ramsay had no complaints about the meals, and no wonder with
choices such as home-prepared muesli, orange chicken and Puy lentils,
wholemeal pasta and brown rice. Edinburgh was the first UK university to be
accredited by Food for the Brain, an educational charity promoting awareness
of the link between learning, mental health and nutrition.
