Free Food Is Always Delicious

Lately I’ve been hearing that the best way to reach college students is through their stomachs -- i.e. give them free food -- and for some reason, it appears to be true. Our response to food could be some sort of natural survival skill, where we pack food into our cheeks like hamsters (metaphorically) and try to save some for later, but I seriously doubt it. Although Scientific American says it’s possible to survive 40 days without food, so long as we allow ourselves to drink water, I have a hard time believing that the long line of students at every free-food event have been waiting days for their next meal; granted, they may have been waiting all day for the event, but have probably eaten within the past 24 hours.

My guess is that we’ve been conditioned to some sort of Pavlovian response. Pavlov was the guy who would give his dog a treat every time his metronome sounded in an effort to "condition" the animal; if you don’t know what a metronome is, just pretend I said "every time he rang a bell in regular intervals," which isn’t correct but close enough for our purposes. Anyway, over time the dog would start to salivate -- or its mouth would water -- at the sound of a metronome. In our case, I think our mouths begin to water at the sight of free food. If there’s free food in the room with you, you know you’re going to check it out and possibly eat some of it, even if your stomach isn’t rumbling. And, of course, we cannot stop at just one free cookie or chicken wing.

Our friends over at Science Daily explain that we eat so much because we’re stressed and the food is tempting. I’ve noticed that even if the food isn’t tempting, like the ever-unappealing cooked vegetables or --worse yet-- the dreaded pepperoni pizza, there is still a somewhat-hungry person in line who will eat it. I will definitely won’t argue with the fact that we’re stressed, though, whether we consciously acknowledge it or not.

Stress eating is a common response to sudden danger, says Psychology Today. The danger could be anything from a near-accident on the highway to the possibility of failing a test. When we’re stressed, our bodies release cortisol, which is a hormone produced inside the adrenal gland, our hearts start to race and our metabolisms speed up. In turn, it may make us more prone to eat. Along with inactivity, stress eating is probably the main contributor to the sneaky condition known as the "Freshman 15", which affects many college students (myself included).

There is nothing wrong with stress eating if, like most things, it’s done in moderation. If you’re showing up to more than one free food event in a single day, it may be in your best interest to keep your friends (and yourself) from gorging, no matter how stressed you are or how tempting it may seem. Chances are I’ll be there, too, along with the rest of the University Press staff.