Everyday eating and drinking

Something that Sir Ken said in a video we watched in my positive psych class really stuck with me and applies to this: "challenging what you take for granted is very difficult because, well, you take it for granted". People take for granted how, where, when and why you eat your meals and the way you do it.

The Bisogni et al article really made me think of my own habits and comparing them to the situational eating concepts. I wasn't surprised that "morning coffee or tea" was a category I not only fit into but that it was the most common. I work at GFC and tons of people come in for their "morning fix" and we get many, many regulars that are in every day at the same time. It becomes ritual and I think people eat like this, more so in the morning than any other time because habit is so comfortable and involves no thinking - something you don't necessarily want to be doing early in the morning getting up for work, class or life in general.

Braving the day becomes less menacing when you wake up and remember that you're going to get a cup of coffee to get things going, you're going to eat your wheat bagel and you're going to get dressed and go to class. It makes your morning easy and step-by-step hopefully propelling you to a more engaging and thought provoking day! So why do we think that people plan and even do the same breakfasts (and other meals) day in and day out? Why is it comfortable and calming and why do we turn to food in these circumstances (i.e. morning)? Are we really worried about the day or are we getting ready in our "own way".

The Douglas article was more post-positivist and free flowing though directed at the culture around eating and meals. I particularly like how food is an analogy "to throw light on and suggest problems of categories of grammar by relating these to an activity" because it gives good connection to the food and the attitude towards it. The coding was a bit technical but made sense, bringing together similarly named eating/drinking times, "high" tea, "night-cap", etc.

We as students (as Prof. O points out) also modify the traditional for meals all the time. This morning I had left-over chicken and rice for breakfast and for dinner had oatmeal with nuts and raisins. Those two meals flipped would make much more sense but when feeding yourself it doesn't really matter when you eat certain things. In the morning I wasn't super hungry so I ate just some of the leftovers I had but tonight I was much more hungry and ate two big bowls of oatmeal. These two meals were very time sensitive and consumed rather quickly; so how important is timing in the average adult's meal vs the student and how does that change what we eat and as a result our nutrition? Do we eat better because we eat in the dining halls where someones sole job is to provide for 2000 kids (most students) or not because sometimes when you cook for yourself you put more energy, thought and care into your food?