- A social norm I have personally experienced in regards to food choice would be in my high school. As a Chinese, It is not exaggerated to say that I do not influenced by any social norm while choosing my food in China. However, when I came to U.S to study in a boarding high school, I have no choice of food. I needed to go to dinning hall to sign in my name, and I ate whatever they provide because we do not allowed cooking in dorm. Most of time they provide salad, chicken breast, and sandwiches with a lot of cheese. I felt ok at the beginning of one or two months, but after a half year I cannot tolerate them anymore. There is only one restaurant near my school that I can work there, and I only can go there during weekend. I like to eat rice, sushi, or noodles, but I have limited choice actually. However, if I do not eat, I will get hungry, and I will have no energy to support my daily work and excises.
- The societal issues that relating to my food choice at high school could be wasting food and lacking of essential nutrition elements. Not only me but also a lot of local students didn’t like the food in dining hall so that they throw away their food, which causing serious food wasting problem, and the kitchen also have food remained. It is hard to estimate how much food was wasted every day. For those students including me, who didn’t eat a lot in dinning hall, always get hungry during night or afternoon so we would like to eat snacks such as chips, and chocolates that contain high calories but low vitamins and minerals instead. The whole process will lead to obesity, losing hair, and some potential diseases. In order to improve these issues, I believe the dinning hall should develop food diversity, and improve the taste of the food they cooked.
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Hello, I’m Garrett and I’m a Junior here at Penn State University park. This really grabbed my attention when I read that you are an international student!! I can also completely agree with you that the United States has a very serious problem with wasting food, it probably has a huge fact that most of these students haven’t had to be hungry before in their life. Secondly I agree that a private boarding school needs to be a little more conscious about their students cultures and tastes and adding diversity in the lunch room is a great way to do just that! The only piece of advice I can give you is to ask the cafeteria staff to add some new dishes, try some new things and go from there, maybe you need to speak to the head of the nutritional department there and make some suggestions. Otherwise you need to ask for care packages from home to continue to get your noodles and snack items. And by care package I mean a box from home full of your favorite, non perishable food items. Great job and keep up the good work.
Hello! My names Lexie, you can check out my blog at: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/03/02/lexie-gersbacher-dunkin-donut-norm/
Your post caught my eye due to the fact that you aren’t from the U.S. I found it very interesting to read how your social norms differed when you first came here. I saw a big issue for you was not being able to find foods you like, therefore wasting a lot. One thing that bothers me is that you get so hungry to the point where you’re almost forced to eat unhealthy foods, such as chips, candy etc. I know it’s hard while being in school, especially if you’re living on campus but maybe you should consider growing your own vegetables and stuff on your own. You mentioned you really like rice, sushi and noodles, so hopefully soon, you’ll be able to harvest your own crops and make the meals you like so you can receive the proper nutrition!