Food habits among college going youngsters

Food habits among college going youngsters

Infancio Pires

Introduction

We Lipton, Aegidius and me (Infancio) interviewed 30 college going youngsters to know about their food habits. We interviewed youngsters on and around college road. The method we used was primary data and the tool we used was a combination of questioner and interview schedule. We approximately got 2 hour. We began at around 2 pm and finished at 4 pm.

Objective: to inderstand the food habits of college going youngsters

Main content

A survey on the food habits of College going youngsters

City: Nashik

Age group: 17-22

Male	13
Female	17
Home food	13
Fast food	17
Influence of peers on food habits	Yes 21      No 9
Fixed pattern of eating	Yes 6        No 24
Tiffin to college	Yes 14      No 16

Money the youngsters spend on food on daily basis (in rupees)

10-30	30-60	60-90	Above 100	Above 500
19	3	1	6	1

We also asked 3 open ended questions

1.      What is your opinion about healthy food?

Most of the youngsters believe that home food is the best food for a healthy living. A considerable number said that veggies are the best and the healthiest food. Some added fruits to the least of healthy foods. When asked about non-vegetarian food they said it is important mostly when it comes to proteins. Some also said that we must not eat out of time. A youngster was of the view that we are mostly not aware of the raw materials use by food stalls to cook and also most of the outside food tends to be oily.

2.      what is your take on this statement: “do you eat to live or live to eat”

Most of the youngsters said that they eat to live. Some were of the opinion that the way we sometimes eat it looks like we live to eat. Some also shed light on the way food is wasted by many rich people while many go to bed hungry in our country.

3.      What do you feel about the way young people look at food?

Youngsters were of the opinion that nowadays food is used to show off status more that to fill our stomachs. Most prefer junk food because it tastes good (22 out of 30) while few felt there is variety when it comes to fast food(8 out of 30), therefore they prefer it.

Conclusion

The awareness level about healthy food among youngsters is very high, but as they themselves agreed that though they know yet they tend to do the opposite. They have junk food more often then home and healthy food.

Personal reflection

This was a overall enriching experience. It was fun interacting with the youngsters and knowing more about them and their food habits. The readiness to answer was really admirable. I was also impressed by a certain girl who let the bus go (and also her friends) so that she could complete the questions. Most were thrilled to answer our question while a few politely denied as they were not comfortable or shy or busy. I got a feeling that they also felt important as we interviewed them. Surprising thing for me was that there were quite a good number of youngsters who still carry tiffin to college (I myself during college days did not carry tiffin). Youngsters today according to me are very knowledgeable but do not act wisely.