{"id":43202,"date":"2025-07-17T21:47:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T21:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/students-eating-habits-at-south-african-university-cafes"},"modified":"2025-07-17T21:48:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T21:48:03","slug":"students-eating-habits-at-south-african-university-cafes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/seychelles\/all-news\/students-eating-habits-at-south-african-university-cafes","title":{"rendered":"Students’ Eating Habits at South African University Cafes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Seychelles. <\/strong><\/span>University students have limited spending money and their schedules are packed. Many are adapting to new lifestyles on campus. Eating a healthy diet is crucial: a poor diet leads to reduced concentration, lower grades and increased stress.<\/p>\n

Campus cafe\u0301s, especially at universities that are some distance from supermarkets, often sell mainly fast food such as white bread sandwiches, hot chips and doughnuts. It\u2019s easy to eat on the go, but places nutritious choices out of reach.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m an urban geographer who researches the relationship between food, health and place. My work examines how urban agriculture, informal food systems and everyday urban infrastructures shape well-being, sustainability and spatial justice in African cities.<\/p>\n

Research has already found that through pricing, menu design and information provision, campus cafe\u0301s play a decisive role in shaping dietary behaviours among young adults. I wanted to find out how students at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa choose what to eat when they\u2019re on campus, what they see as healthy food and what stands in the way of them buying nutritious meals.<\/p>\n

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The university is one that was underfunded during apartheid. Until 1994 it primarily taught students who were Black and people of Colour. Today, it serves about 23 000 students, many of whom are drawn from low-income backgrounds, and has few supermarkets within walking distance. The campus cafe\u0301s are a key food supply area for students.<\/p>\n

My research found that at the University of the Western Cape, only 32% of the food offered at the student cafe\u0301 was healthy. It also cost more than the fast food. The students I surveyed knew healthy food was important. But only a small minority consistently chose nutritious meals. Nearly 40% of the group reported that the healthy options were too expensive.<\/p>\n

When students face the twin challenges of financial hardship and inadequate access to affordable, nutritious food, this deepens inequality. It also undermines their efforts to succeed. Even worse, it can cause students to develop long term, unhealthy eating habits that damage their health.<\/p>\n

Unless affordability, availability and awareness of healthy food choices are addressed together, students will struggle to eat well and to perform at their best.<\/p>\n

Universities must implement targeted food subsidies, introduce clearer nutritional labelling, and expand healthy menu options to make nutritious eating more accessible and appealing to students.<\/p>\n

I conducted a survey that sampled 112 students in five campus cafe\u0301s at the university. These cafe\u0301s are mainly used by students in the 18-24 age group.<\/p>\n

My survey revealed that 75.9% of students considered healthy offerings at least \u201csomewhat important\u201d when choosing where to eat. Yet only 6.3% always selected nutritious options; 28.6% rarely or never did so.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 38.4% of students described nutritious meals as \u201cexpensive\u201d and another 8% found the healthy options \u201cvery expensive\u201d.<\/p>\n

My research also found that University of the Western Cape students ate very little fruit and vegetables. Just 41% of the students I surveyed ate two or more servings a day and 9.8% admitted they ate none.<\/p>\n

I also did a detailed menu audit at one cafe\u0301 to see what was on the menu. I found that only 32.6% of 46 distinct items met basic \u201chealthy\u201d criteria (they were low in saturated fats and made up of whole-grains or vegetables).<\/p>\n

The majority of students (55.4%) had not noticed any campus healthy-eating campaigns, but agreed (57.1%) that balanced meals boosted academic performance and overall well-being:<\/p>\n

Only a small handful of the students said they could afford healthy campus cafe\u0301 meals:<\/p>\n

High prices for nutritious items, narrow menu selections and barely visible information about nutrition are preventing students from eating healthy foods on campus.<\/p>\n

Campus cafe\u0301 offerings tend to mirror the broader inequities of national and global food systems. Food environments of big institutions like universities can prop up food inequality, even if these universities are committed to social justice.<\/p>\n

Universities should adopt these steps to make healthy food available to students:<\/p>\n

My research suggests that by tackling cost, choice and communication together, universities can transform their cafe\u0301s from sites of compromise into engines of student well-being. Such interventions would unlock academic potential and set young people on healthier life paths. This is an outcome as enriching as any degree.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Seychelles<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Seychelles. University students have limited spending money and their schedules are packed. Many are adapting to new lifestyles on campus. Eating a healthy diet is crucial: a poor diet leads to reduced concentration, lower grades and increased stress. Campus cafe\u0301s, especially at universities that are some distance from supermarkets, often sell mainly fast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":43201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[2600,233,844,2962,2419],"class_list":["post-43202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-diet","tag-seychelles","tag-students","tag-university","tag-wellness"],"yoast_head":"\nStudents' Eating Habits at South African University Cafes - Seychelles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"University students have limited spending money and their schedules are packed. 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