Utility

Horwitz’s article about ‘Eating on the Edge” illustrated how food, just as many items and utilities, have evolved to fit a specific purpose in today’s culture. This idea of eating food or having a meal becoming more of an individual experience has resonated with me much more ever since coming to college, due to how busy I am just on a day to day basis and how little time I have to eat in between classes and or places I have to go. Because of my specific meal plan, I am not allowed to enter the cafeteria before 11 o’clock in the morning, yet after 11 and until 7 o’clock at night I am allowed to get as much food as I want as many times as I want. This being said, my eating patterns and my appreciation for a specific meals such as breakfast, lunch, or dinner have diminished drastically due to my inability to fully experience or indulge in a specific meal. This idea is not shared only by me, "In the US, unstructured eating patterns have become more common, while taking time to share food with others is becoming less familiar"(Horwitz 4). Due to this change in my eating patterns, I have noticed that I tend to eat much more food on the go and my appreciation for the food that I eat has changed from something I used to completely and utterly love, into a utility, "an additive to a situation, such as a cigarette would be, rather than being definitive"(Horwitz 1). For me this change is something I have come to accept due to the situation that I have been placed in, and the priorities that I have established for myself have put my academics and or my personal success above my enjoyment of specific meals. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely sit down and enjoy my meals every once in a while, but food itself at this point in time has become a utility that is essential to my survival and nothing more.