More Than Food

“Let’s go to dinner!”

“I’m not too hungry, I think I’m going to pass tonight.”

“What!? It’s a social thing, Tatiana! You have to go!”

Fairhaven Commons at Western Washington University has a reputation for being the “laid-back” dining hall on campus. Especially so in comparison to the Viking Commons, situated on the opposite side of campus. Viking Commons has much more traffic, much more food, and is conveniently in the middle of all the hustle-bustle of the main academic buildings. Getting food is often difficult as the set-up is in a corner and lines to find what you want can be intimidatingly long.

Fairhaven Commons is nestled up on a hill in the midst of a family of evergreens at the head of the Fairhaven community, a dorm complex composed of 12 residential buildings. Contrary to the Viking Commons, food is served in the center and while there’s certainly still lines it’s never as bad. At any given time, there’s guaranteed to be a quiet assortment of individuals eating, socializing, and studying in it’s interior.

Evenings interrupted by peers insisting on going to eat aren’t uncommon. Many of my own friends and a multitude of other students across campus don’t like going to dining halls on their own. Individuals rally up friend groups and go as a pack. No one necessarily looks down on people eating alone, but everyone I know is scared of being that individual themself. If someone does end up going alone, it’s pretty common to almost isolate themselves at a smaller table, facing a corner, or window, or wall.

But, why?

“Human behavior is largely constrained by the rules that govern particular situations and environments. We are constantly obliged to behave in a particular way, or to avoid certain behaviors,” says Cris Burgess in his report, “Breaking the rules: Why do people behave in the way they do?” The dining hall influences certain types of behavior among students. Its visitors are sitting and talking and studying the way they are because they’re in the Fairhaven Commons.

“But it’s just a dining hall! It doesn’t have an influence at all!”

Lynn A. Staeheli explores how a place can influence people in her piece, (rightly titled) “Place”. “…When geographers talk about context, they are talking about how those relations attach first to space and place, and only secondarily to people”, places like the dining hall gain meaning from their context. Living on a college campus means that the dining halls are our main source of nourishment. Being a residential student, you’re almost guaranteed to visit a dining hall every single day and when you live in Fairhaven, it’s probably going to be the Fairhaven Commons.

Hardly anyone has a problem eating alone in his or her dorm room. Most dorms are stocked with an assortment of snack foods but most students aren’t too keen on sharing their supply. The difference is, our dorm rooms have a very different context. Our dorms are a very personal space, a place for study, a place for sleep, a place for whatever privacy we can get. Although dorm rooms can be social spaces too, that’s not their primary purpose.

If students act the way they do in the dining hall because they’re in the dining hall, how does student behavior affect new dining hall visitors? It’s a two-way road; place and people interact in overlapping ways.

In retrospect, I wasn’t too sure of what to do when I stepped foot into the Fairhaven Commons. The layout was foreign, I didn’t really know which food was the best food, I had to learn all of that. Essentially, the people around me were role models to what I should do.

In “Can College Dining Halls Promote Student Success?” an article by Debbie Glasser Ph.D. for Psychology Today, Glasser reflects on her own experience in her college dining hall. “Sure, the food was fine. But it wasn’t the lasagna that made me come back meal after meal. It was the experience. Eating with other students offered welcomed opportunities to relax, connect with others, talk about classes, make plans, and meet new people. The truth is, it felt good.” People are drawn to groups in Fairhaven Commons because it’s comfortable, when peers are having fun together, it becomes something individuals want to mirror.

There isn’t one influence that trumps the other, guests at Fairhaven Commons will always learn from each other but the social implications of the place play a huge role as well.

“It’s a social thing! You have to go!”