Rachel Cox
You’ve had a long day, packed with lectures. You arrive home and the last thing you want to do is cook, but your friends are in the kitchen awaiting your arrival. Tonight, you are making a rich, salty carbonara together – one of your favourite meals!
Although you lack motivation, the idea of cooking together is comforting and definitely less intimidating than making a whole meal for one. Once you enter the kitchen, your friends greet you with a warm smile, and you begin by boiling some starchy pasta. Then you add pancetta to a hot pan, taking it in turns to playfully dodge the zaps of fat spitting from the meat. The kitchen begins to fill with mouth-watering smells and the sound of laughter. The stressful day begins to fall away like water running off your back. Your friend haphazardly combines egg yolks, black pepper and pecorino romano, discreetly picking eggshells from the mixture. Finally, you pour the cooked pasta into the crispy meat while the others add the eggy mixture and frantically mix it together in a furious attempt to avoid scrambling it. Success! Now you’re left with a delicious meal, a messy kitchen, and a feeling of pure joy.
CONNECTING WITH FRIENDS TO COOK A SIMPLE MEAL OR BACK A CAKE CAN BE AN EASY STEP IN AVOIDING LONELINESS, ESPECIALLY IF THE ‘PARTY LIFESTYLE’ IS NOT FOR YOU
Sharing food goes way back
From the annual Christmas dinner to Iftar after a long day of fasting, cooking and eating with family and friends is a universal experience spanning cultures and cuisines. However, this is not unique to humans. Social eating dates far beyond our species, with biologists observing social eating and food sharing in chimpanzees and bonobos, two of our closest relatives. Our hunter-gatherer relatives would have also exhibited this behaviour. Evidence of fireplaces from as long ago as 800,000 years suggests that after a long and gruelling hunt, our ancestors would have brought food back, lit and maintained a fire pit, and cooked together. So, the question is why this behaviour is so rooted in human evolution and why we still do it today?
The benefits of sharing meals and recipes
Social eating, also known as communal eating, has many benefits. Perhaps the most important is social connection. A 2023 study in Japan explored the benefits of cooking skills and social relationships in older men and women. It found that women with higher-level cooking skills had more social relationships, stronger connections with their neighbours, and were more likely to eat with friends. These three factors help to build a stronger sense of community and connectivity, which is not only important for older residents but also for us uni students! We can often feel lonely being so far away from home, especially in your first year. We see our friends or course-mates on social media at their third social of the week, even though it’s only Wednesday, while you’re left in your room listening through the thin walls to the party you weren’t invited to. Connecting with friends to cook a simple meal or bake a cake can be an easy step in avoiding loneliness, especially if the ‘party lifestyle’ is not for you.
The benefits of social eating and cooking for uni students do not stop here! Sharing ingredients can be cheaper than buying them for yourself, and if you commit to following a recipe, you’ll often end up with a healthier and more balanced meal. Whether you can cook or not, you can learn new techniques and dishes from friends and explore vibrant new cultures without having to leave your house. Eating with others also has some unique health benefits. When you sit down for a meal, you often eat more slowly, chatting between bites and savouring the dish. A recent study explains that eating slowly and chewing well was associated with improved dental health, while another study suggested that those who ate quickly were less satisfied with their meal and ate more. Therefore, a slower eating pace (encouraged by social eating) can reduce overeating and improve satisfaction after a meal.
DE-STRESS FROM UNIVERSITY, MAKE MEMORIES, AND LIVE A LITTLE HEALTHIER
As simple as it seems, cooking with friends is a great way to de-stress from university, make memories, and live a little healthier – it’s literally ingrained in our evolution! So go and share your favourite meal with your friends, and if you can’t pick one, you should definitely give carbonara a try!
Rachel Cox
Feature image courtesy of Stefan Vladimirov via Unsplash . Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of Adil Elouardii via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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