Eating alone or together: Exploring university students’ eating patterns before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Commensality with close friends and acquaintances increases opportunities for social connectedness, creates a sense of belonging, and may reduce the risks of isolation among students. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown disrupted daily routines and relationships. This put an increased number of university students at risk of emotional and social loneliness. Little research has focused on commensal eating practices and loneliness among university students before or during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK or elsewhere. This study explored these themes using one-to-one interviews with 13 undergraduate and postgraduate students at a university in England. A hybrid approach to thematic analysis of deductive and inductive reasoning was adopted which is data-driven but informed a priori by the research questions. Emergent findings include (1) pre-COVID-19 eating practices: meal-skipping, varying lunch-time rituals, and dinner as the most important meal regarding content and commensality; (2) Eating practices during COVID-19 lockdown: healthier eating patterns, limited opportunities for commensality, increased feelings of loneliness, and increased reliance on digital media. The COVID-19 lockdown was an opportunity for students to transform erratic eating into more regular eating practices and patterns and to cook more homemade meals. Many students were alone during dinner time and expressed increased feelings of loneliness leading to increased reliance on digital media and virtual commensality to socially interact with close family and friends whilst enjoying the meal.

Keywords:

• Commensality
• eating alone
• university students
• COVID-19
• loneliness
• United Kingdom

Introduction

Commensality—the act of eating together or in groups—is one of the marked manifestations of human sociality (Kerner, Chou, and Warmind 2015). Translated literally, commensality means eating at the same table (mensa). Sobal and Nelson (2003, 181) propose a simpler but wider definition of commensality: ‘eating with other people’. Issues involved in commensality include whether everyone is eating the same food, the location (e.g. home, canteen, in front of TV), and who serves the food (Giacoman 2016, 461–462; Jönsson, Michaud, and Neuman 2021; Tuomainen 2014). Socio-cultural rules determine who may dine with whom; Douglas famously deduced that in England drinks are for strangers or acquaintances and hot meals are for close family and friends (Douglas 1972, 66). Thus, commensality is implicated in social stratification and defines cultural boundaries that distinguish the intimate from the distant (Douglas 1972, 66; Julier 2013, 13). Shared eating satisfies the need for human interaction, where conviviality creates and strengthens social cohesion and a sense of belonging (Jönsson, Michaud, and Neuman 2021), although it can also be an arena for conflict (Charles and Kerr 1988, 185–104).

Commensality is inevitably associated with authority, especially within families, in terms of who decides the menu, how food is shared and what table manners are observed (Counihan 2004, 119–123; Murcott 2019, 46–49). In many cultures ‘proper meals’ require company, whilst in others the lack of company does not make the meal less proper (Tuomainen 2014). Eating together serves to strengthen familial bonds and shared meals are the ideal in many families, yet eating alone in a serial fashion is the reality in many households, commensality being relegated to the weekends or special occasions (Sobal and Nelson 2003, 181). Commensality is normally bestowed with positive connotations, whereas eating alone has been largely associated with negative feelings (Counihan 2004, 125–127), especially if eating alone happens in shared spaces, such as restaurants or canteens (Danesi 2012, 81–86; 2018, 107–110). Solo dining has, nevertheless, become prevalent in recent decades due to increasingly busy lifestyles, time pressures, and a rise in single-person households (Spence 2017, 3–4). The rising trend of solo dining reduces the social significance of eating and has been linked with poor diets (Chae et al. 2018), unhappiness (Yiengprugsawan et al. 2015, 274), stress, and depression, especially when solo dining is involuntary (Jang, Lee, and Choi 2021, 1–12; Kim, Lee, and Lee 2020, 1606).

Life course transitions such as entering the university shape experiences associated with commensality, and eating alone has been researched in the context of students and other young adults (Danesi 2018, 101–115; Jang et al. 2021, 1–12; Sobal, Bove, and Rauschenbach 2002, 379; Takeda and Melby 2017, 149–160). Most university students are living away from home for the first time, especially undergraduates and international students. They move from the most basic ‘commensal unit’, the family, to live in residence halls or shared houses or flats with other students, where they establish independence, take responsibility for their meals, and develop new ‘commensal circles’, i.e. networks of people who eat together (Sobal et al. 2002, 379). The new setting and phase provide them the opportunity to experiment with and elaborate on different practices and forms of eating, with some practices potentially becoming the new norm and being transmitted to new generations (Danesi 2018, 117). However, longitudinal studies suggest that healthy eating practices decline when students transition from living with family to living alone (Hilger et al. 2017).

Being away from home may be challenging and a lonely experience for many young people, however, they are expected to make new friends and connections whilst at university. Shared meals among students or friends create a sense of belonging, a shared identity, a mechanism for facilitating social bonding (Danesi 2012, 88; Julier 2013, 192; Neely, Walton, and Stephens 2014, 56–58) and support in stressful situations (Deliens et al. 2014, 4–5). Social eating also encourages the more frequent preparation and consumption of homemade meals, compared to solo eating (Takeda and Melby 2017, 152–155).

In many university communities, norms around eating appear to favor shared meals, with some perceived stigma to eating alone, especially at public eating venues, as it represents being isolated from peers (Cho et al. 2015, 523; Danesi 2012, 108–109; Deliens et al. 2014, 6–7). While young adults value shared meals, making time for them can be difficult during term time (Larson et al. 2009, 72) due to ‘busyness’ resulting from academic demands on time and a mismatch of students’ spare time (Deliens et al. 2014, 8–10; Yiengprugsawan et al. 2015, 270). Solo dining among students appears to derive from living alone, even in shared accommodations, and may contribute to the subjective feeling of loneliness (Jang, Lee, and Choi 2021, 1–12). Loneliness stems from a social network that is too small and/or relationships of insufficient quality. According to Georg Simmel, the latter can occur when an individual knows “too few of the same people in too few different ways” (Donbavand 2021, 73; Simmel 1950), i.e. when individuals interact with each other in only limited contexts during the day.

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the winter/spring of 2020 and the subsequent closure of university campuses and buildings and the imposition of restrictions on social gatherings and outdoor activity, including the closure of pubs, bars, and restaurants, caused disruptions to the lives and everyday eating patterns of university students across the world, lasting approximately two years. With all lectures and teaching online, meetings and meals with peers were disrupted, increasing social isolation and risks of loneliness. In the UK, loneliness among students increased significantly during the pandemic (Office for National Statistics (ONS) 2021), and was associated with worsening mental health (Bonsaksen et al. 2022, 6). Despite commensality’s potential to reduce loneliness (Spence, Mancini, and Huisman 2019, 7–10), little research has focused on social eating practices among university students, whether before or during COVID-19 pandemic in the UK or elsewhere (Danesi 2012, 77–91; Takeda 2016, 1–189). Whilst our research was originally going to explore commensal practices on a university campus, the lockdown measures transformed our study into an exploration of university students’ eating patterns and practices before and during lockdown, with a special focus on commensality, or the lack of it. The social distancing rules affected everyone and thus the research provided an opportunity to explore how students of diverse backgrounds adjusted their eating patterns and practices in a situation where commensality was prohibited unless living with others in the same social ‘bubble’.

Methods

We pursued in-depth one-to-one interviews with students at a leading university in England. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants prior to interview sessions. The study was approved by the Biomedical and Scientific Research Ethics Committee of the University of Warwick (BSREC) (REF: BSREC 08/20-21).

Recruitment of participants

The study initially targeted undergraduate students but was later amended to include graduate students to boost recruitment, which suffered through the COVID-19 related lockdown and campus closure. University students at any level of their study were eligible to participate. Students were invited to participate in the study using an e-Newsletter circulated through departmental administrators between January and May 2021. Two students were recruited via subsequent snowballing. Whilst all departments were approached, only a few facilitated circulating the e-Newsletter, others not responding to repeated email requests. Individuals expressing interest were sent study information packs via email, including consent forms and a brief demographic questionnaire, completed and returned ahead of interview sessions.

Our aim had been to interview 18 students, but we had to be content with 13 participants. Virtual recruitment of students via email during the pandemic was not effective. Departmental administrators did not respond to telephone calls due to working from home, and we assume students were affected by an overload of emails from university departments and tutors.

Of the 13 participants, nine were female, two male and two non-binary. Eight students were between 18 and 26 years of age, three between 27–29 and one was under 18 and one over 30. Five students originated from the UK; others were from a range of countries: two from Cyprus and one each from Norway, Spain, Netherlands, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Syria. Regarding ethnicity, two students identified as English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British, two Asian British–Indian, two African British, one Arab, five any other White background, and one African. Seven identified as Christian, one as Sikh, and five had no religion or preferred not to say. Five participants lived with three to four other students, and three with non-student flat mates, in privately rented accommodation. Another two participants lived with their partners in private rented accommodation with student flatmates. Two students had returned to their family homes: one in the UK and another in Spain. Only one remained in an on-campus residence hall. Four were undergrads and nine were graduate students (i.e. Masters or PhD) (Table 1).

Table 1. Characteristics of respondents (R).

R	Gender	Ethnicity	Level of study	Living arrangement
R1	Non-binary	Asian British^a	2^nd year, UG^c	Living with partner in private accommodation.
R2	Female	African British^a	2^nd year, UG	Living with 3 other students/friends in private accommodation
R3	Female	Asian British	2^nd year, UG	Living at home with a parent
R4	Male	European^b	3^rd year, PhD	Living with other students in private accommodation
R5	Male	African British	Final year, Master’s	Living in private accommodation with 3 other students
R6	Female	British	Final year, PhD	Living with one non-student flat mate
R7	Female	Arab^b	3^rd year, PhD	Living with a flat mate
R8	Female	European	Final year, Master’s	Living alone with another flat mate in private accommodation
R9	Female	European	2^nd year, PhD	Living with working professionals in private accommodation
R10	Female	African^b	3^rd year, PhD	Living with one non-student flat mate
R11	Female	European	3^rd year, PhD	Lived alone in a studio, moved back to Spain
R12	Female	European	2^nd year, PhD	Living with other students in private accommodation
R13	Female	European	2^nd year, UG	Living with other students in private accommodation

The R numbers R1-R13 are used in the results to identify which respondent’s quote is being used.

^a The terms ‘Asian British’ and ‘African British’ denote a British citizen whose family originates from South Asia (i.e. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka) or an African country, respectively.

^b The terms ‘European’, ‘Arab’ and ‘African’, respectively, denote citizens of a European, Arab, or African country, i.e. international students.

^c UG = Undergraduate.

Data collection

A topic guide was developed iteratively based on prior literature and expertise and piloted with the first two interviews. No substantial changes were made to the original topic guide, hence, the first interviews were included in the final analysis. The topic guide served to moderate the course of the semi-structured interview sessions and focused on eating patterns, social aspects of eating, and the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on these (see Supplementary material 1). The guide incorporated follow-up questions and vignettes of various eating scenarios to probe and further explore the social aspects of students’ eating (see supplementary material 2). The case scenarios were to encourage and facilitate more detailed discussions.

All interviews were conducted virtually on Microsoft Teams and video recorded, lasting 30 to 55 min. This medium allowed the collection of participants’ views safely during restrictions on movement and social gatherings (Self 2021). All participants voluntarily chose to keep their camera on which supported the communication.

All interviews were conducted by the first author (DOM), who has previous experience and training in qualitative interviewing. Each participant was given a £10 multi-retailer gift voucher in compensation for their time.

Data analysis

A hybrid approach to thematic analysis of deductive and inductive reasoning, which is data-driven but informed a priori by the research questions, was adopted to analyze verbatim transcripts from interviews (Braun and Clarke 2006). This was completed by the interviewer after reading transcripts to familiarize with the data. Transcripts were initially coded line by line using NViVo version 12.3 (QSR International Pty Ltd 2018) in a pragmatic double coding process and later indexed into tables creating descriptive themes. Coding was completed by DOM, with HT coding a random selection of 15% of transcripts to help check and agree on categorization, adding a level of scrutiny to the coding process and producing a more thorough analysis. Descriptive themes were compared to identify patterns and then generate analytical themes, which were refined based on discussions at research meetings. The main emerging themes were grouped under the categories of ‘pre-COVID’ and ‘during COVID’, which facilitated the comparison of practices before and after social distancing measures were put in place.

Results

Pre-COVID-19 eating practices

Students reported very varied meal patterns during term before the introduction of COVID-19 related social distancing rules, reflecting varied ethnic/cultural backgrounds, student status (undergraduate, postgraduate), and living circumstances.

Meal skipping - “it was not very good”

Meal skipping during term emerged as one of the most recurring themes. Students often skipped meals mainly due to academic demands on time, especially breakfast. The few breakfast eating episodes occurred at home, with no participant recounting breakfast being a social occasion or a proper meal.

Meal skipping was constructed as a coping mechanism for time pressures from “quite hectic” university commitments which required students to be “out and about”. For other students, meal skipping appeared to be the outcome of an interplay between (foreign) students’ cultural backgrounds and the University food environment characteristics as regards cost of food, food options available, and food outlet operating hours.

“…I will say I do two main meals which is lunch and dinner. I never fully adapted to British timetables, so I normally had lunch around 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm, something like that…It is very rare that I eat breakfast.” (R11)

As a result of meal skipping, students reported ‘snack[ing] a lot’ during the day, especially sweet snacks and confectionery, except in an isolated case where one participant reported snacking mainly on vegetables and fruit. Meal skipping and snacking appeared more prominent among female participants.

“So my day majorly went around eating snacks and then having a proper meal at dinner time.” (R3)

Skipping previous meals resulted for some in ‘grazing’ or eating more food in a short interval than they would have otherwise, to counteract feelings of hunger.

“I would just go out like go to a lecture or something and then when I got back I would…Like I’ll just eat different things that just don’t make sense…I think because I didn’t use to eat breakfast by the time it was lunchtime I was so hungry so I was eating anything…” (R2)

Lunch time rituals—eating alone or together

Lunch was the most varied eating event. Students either had a hot meal in a canteen with or without friends/colleagues or brought a packed lunch from home to eat at a desk or at a break with friends/colleagues. Alternatively, they bought food from shops on or off campus to eat during work or at a lunchbreak, or went back home to have lunch, heating up leftovers from the previous night, and sitting with other flatmates who might be around. Noticeably, the location of lunch varied a lot: on campus at a desk, in the library, in a canteen or cafe, in a departmental kitchen, at student accommodation on campus or in the vicinity of the campus. However, some students had no defined lunch but snacked throughout the day.

Each student had created their own routines around lunchtime, and some were flexible, varying the pattern to meet the needs of the day. For some, meeting friends for lunch was an important part of the ritual. Other students presented eating alone in a canteen or departmental kitchen as an opportunity to catch-up with colleagues who happened to be around at the same time. For a graduate student, sitting alone in a canteen, hearing and seeing others enjoying a meal offered solace: “just being there in the canteen while all people are there… It just makes me feel fine.” (R10)

While some students enjoyed eating alone and described it as an opportunity to have some time to themselves away from the thick of the day’s work “to meditate…and relax”, eating alone at campus eating venues was generally constructed to connote negative feelings and perceptions. For many, when contemplating sitting alone versus in company in a canteen, the former was not an attractive option, to the extent of preferring to eat at their desk, rather than sitting alone amongst a crowd. Eating alone at public places at university or the sight of it triggered feelings of loneliness, sadness, boredom, or discomfort among students. In sharing her view on solo eating, R2, a second-year undergraduate said: “I feel sorry for those who eat alone.” Eating alone was also associated with rushing through the meal and a less enjoyable experience:

“When I eat alone…I do that as quickly as possible and just go get on with my life. So I do something that’s very unhealthy and I eat in three minutes if I’m alone which I understand is not good…” (R12)

“I don’t really enjoy it as much and…it kind of goes back to that thing where I would kind of rush through it and not really take…a full lunch break if there’s not really anyone there.” (R6)

Even for some participants who expressed liking solo dining, they yearned for company at other meals.

“I don’t mind it [eating alone]. I like it, but you know if I do it way too many times then I start getting bored of it and I really and I try to like seek company for like you know the next time I’m gonna eat.” (R4)

‘Dinner almost always does line up with a flatmate’s time’

Dinner or the evening meal emerged as an important event of the day, rarely skipped for time-related reasons. Many students made time to eat “a proper meal” (R3, R11, R2), even though one reported ‘9:00 pm as the earliest they had dinner.’ (R11)

Dinner took place most of the time at home with some students eating alone (R3, R6, R10, R13). For others, it offered the opportunity to meet and eat with friends, or with flatmates. Indeed, for some, dinner was the meal that “almost always does line up with a flatmate’s time.” This and the relative ‘absence’ of time pressure during evening meals allowed ‘more room’ for many students to create some rituals around dinner. These included commensal practices that sought to fill the void stemmed from missing out on family dinner rituals back home.

“… so sometimes I like having people over for dinner or yeah or going out for dinner.” (R4)

For some participants, this meant ordering takeaways to eat with friends or dining in or out with friends. Popular takeaways in the UK are Chinese and Indian food, fish and chips, and pizza.

“… quite commonly, we’d order Chinese like towards the end of the evening. (…) … We would all sit down and eat that.” (R5)

The perceived less academic time pressure around dinner also enabled occasionally cooking together or organizing other commensal events. Shared dinner provided opportunities to establish relationships and build rapport with flatmates who hitherto were strangers:

“…we didn’t know each other before. But as the year went on we would do like a lot of things to try and get together. So like we would have flat dinners like every term or like whenever someone’s birthday, so we would all cook and like try and eat together.” (R2)

Thus, students used ‘time and space’ offered by evening mealtimes not only to wind down from the day’s work but also to build social capital, by nurturing the positive connections made at university.

“…then in the evenings I usually go and hang out with friends, so I either eat with my house mates and sometimes we cook together, sometimes separately, or I’d go to a friend like together with him in like once a week we go out for dinner I think sometimes, not always…” (R9)

Eating practice during COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions

The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent introduction of lockdown and social distancing rules resulted in an unprecedented situation with everyone having to ‘live all life’ at home.

‘We started eating more healthfully, we also started eating more takeaways’-Covid’s mixed blessing

Compared to a ‘hectic life’ in the pre-COVID-19 era, students reported having more time for regular meals during the COVID-19 lockdown. Participants’ accounts suggested that having ‘life’ happen in ‘one place’ meant avoiding time pressures associated with roving from one class to another. This provided the opportunity to individually tailor suitable breaks between academic work or studies, pausing to have a meal being ‘an excuse to break away’ from watching their computer screen.

The ‘absence of pressure’ to leave home early to attend a lecture or get to work allowed time for regular breakfasts: “…I think I eat breakfast now.” (R2) They positioned lockdown as an opportune period for being good to oneself, whilst having to isolate.

“Because I’m inside I have time to work on myself and focus on myself, right? So, I tried to start things like exercising and I also started eating well as well. Eating very regularly.” (R5)

“…by healthy I mean I tried to have a routine in my eating pattern and work pattern as well, so we try to wake up and eat breakfast which is something that changed from before.” (R11)

Participants gave accounts of how being ‘locked down’ at home also encouraged them to eat more home-prepared meals ‘cooked from scratch’.

“…and in terms of healthy-unhealthy food, I’m usually eating more on the healthier side because I have the time to cook that food…” (R3)

For some students, however, although they cooked and ate more home-prepared meals, the desire to still save time made ‘quick-fix’ meals or heating up leftovers the preferred options. This appeared to be so for students of British background and particularly so for students at the busiest points of their studies.

“…but if I do find myself like in week 8–9 or 10 when it’s really hectic, I do find myself slipping back to some old habits like making instant noodles instead. Just because it saves time.” (R3)

These participants reported “having less variety” to their diets, with movement restricted and restaurants closed during the lockdown. However female participants reported more varied meals than males.

Being at home with more time at their disposal to prepare meals also resulted in increased food consumption for some.

“…I’ve started to cook way more. But I started to eat way more as well. So I don’t know whether that’s good or not…” (R8)

Whilst participants’ accounts suggested a widespread increase in the adoption of healthy eating patterns, ‘remnants’ of pre-COVID-19 eating behaviors appeared to have been carried into the lockdown, especially in the form of takeaways:

“I moved back to live with my mom during the first lockdown and she was working ‘cause she was a critical worker and then also I got tired of cooking. So, I would say that we would just be eating…a lot of [microwave] oven meals…I was eating a lot I think and then […] when the Eat Out to Help Out¹ thing happened that made it even worse. Everything was cheap. I was eating so much takeout food. And that is not very good food. But then I think now it’s a bit changed.” (R2)

For others, takeaways became a part of their lockdown eating routines either as ‘an occasional treat’ for oneself or a regular complement to homemade meals:

“…somewhat made from scratch and somewhat takeaway…Actually, even though I started eating more healthfully, we also started eating more takeaways. I know that sounds really like contradictory but uhm…Yeah, like there was a good amount of takeaway in there as well.” (R5)

“It is true though that during COVID-19 I used to do one day of delivering food home which I didn’t use to before but it was something I did for myself such as you worked very hard this week, so you deserve something different, like every week kind of thing, but not every day.” (R11)

Students eating takeaways reported mainly ordering Chinese food, pizza, ‘big American burgers’, and desserts, mainly on Deliveroo and Uber eats, which gave students access to a wide range of fast-food outlets, mostly outside their university campus.

“I started having more takeaways as well on my own…So that changed quite a bit, so I think my diet just got a bit unhealthy uh, just because I can’t go out with people.” (R8)

Social aspects of eating—eating alone or together

During COVID-19 lockdown, students ate most meals on their own at home, as prescribed by lockdown rules, with many lacking direct company during eating. As the rules restricted movement and social gatherings, students’ living circumstances at the time played a role in shaping the social aspects of their eating. The few students who had physical/direct eating company were either living with their partner or were ‘fortunate’ to have their “close friends” as their flatmates. For such students, being locked down together at home, with less time pressure, coupled with ‘already existing relationship bonds’, offered opportunities that made their eating episodes ‘more lively’. Describing the social aspects of her eating, an undergraduate student recounted that:

"…it’s definitely more social…you just eat like together or you happen to be in the kitchen at the same time and we’re talking about something… “oh did you see what happened yesterday?”…It’s more social this time, but…I don’t really think that’s because of Covid. I think that’s just ‘cause I ended up living with like my close friends, but yeah I would say it’s more social than last year." (R2)

For students living with partners, mealtimes were mostly shared and in the physical company of their partners.

"…throughout lockdown I was with my girlfriend at the time and…so we were always like eating together so I was never like isolated, I was never alone when I was eating throughout lockdown. So yeah I had like companionship…" (R5)

However, even for some students living with their partners, mealtimes were solitary events as partners usually had different work schedules, making it difficult to share mealtimes in the same ‘physical space’. Participant narratives suggested a similar situation for many respondents living with others in shared accommodation during the pandemic.

"So yeah, I’m more eating at home now, and that’s on my own rather than with my friends at work…I don’t sit with anyone at all. If my housemate is around then we don’t…we don’t normally have kind of the same, I guess lunch breaks necessarily like we work…we have different meetings at different times and things like that, so it’s kind of harder to coordinate…So it’s kind of sort of 10–15 minutes of preparing food, eating food and then kind of I go back to my desk kind of thing. Uhm and yeah, I don’t really speak to anyone in the process." (R6)

Increased feelings of loneliness

Students consistently reported increased feelings of loneliness due to limited opportunities for social connectedness during the COVID-19 lockdown. For many students, life being restricted to the ‘four walls of a flat or room’, ‘just focusing on your laptop’ all day and not talking to many people made life feel lonelier. Living in shared accommodation with other students did not automatically translate into friendship and close connections.

"I do feel lonely because it’s not the same that you don’t have your friends to communicate with, so definitely there is a difference and a lot of individuals don’t talk to one another during the pandemic…" (R3)

For many students, having less opportunities to talk to people and feel socially connected did not only lead to increased feelings loneliness and social isolation; some expressed concerns about their mental health being adversely affected.

"I’m not able to see my friends who live somewhere, you know, around or so. In a sense, I would say that I do feel somewhat lonely because there are these restrictions where I cannot meet with people and it’s affecting, you know, my mental health and not just necessarily mine but you know, I think a lot of people’s who are affected by this." (R8)

‘I Skype more to socialize a bit more’-increased use of digital media

To fill the void caused by eating alone and feeling lonely, students resorted to using digital media during mealtime. They reported increased use of their mobile phones, of TV, and of online video and subscription streaming services whilst eating, with Netflix and Youtube being consistently mentioned. Most students expressed preference for watching TV or online videos during mealtime. They positioned their choice in the desire for relaxation and not wanting something that involved ‘too much thinking’.

The mealtime was not only viewed as a break from work or studies but was time to connect with people, real or fictional, while following official health advice to stay at home. Using digital solutions, students managed to share meals in an online virtual space. Many participants were connecting with others via social media while eating, apart from phone calls for some. As well as WhatsApp text chats, many students used Skype, FaceTime or other social media (like Zoom and Facebook) for video calls to connect with family and close friends who were also eating at the same time, to catch up on ‘rituals’ around mealtimes with friends or family at home. However, other students (mostly male participants) were connecting spontaneously with family or friends, who may not have been eating at the time they were eating.

"…since we found out about COVID-19 really, I haven’t met any of my friends in person. (…) when it comes to eating meals, of course, I don’t do it in person, but… I would give them [friends] a call and they would be eating their lunch. I’ll be eating my lunch. And we’ve just been talking side-by-side to each other while eating lunch." (R3)

"…sometimes I will FaceTime my family like while I’m eating but like it’s not necessarily because I’m eating…I’m face timing them and I just happen to be eating as well and usually because we kind of like a running joke inside of family. So, whenever my family make food at home, they always send me pictures of it and kind of make me like annoyed and jealous that I wish I was there eating too. So then in return when I make something, I’ll send them a picture of, you know, yeah, look at what I’m eating. It is for me you’re not allowed any of this. This is like an inside joke." (R5)

Despite feeling ‘more lonely’ while eating alone during lockdown, participants viewed solo dining as ‘a new normal’, no longer associated with ‘awkwardness’ except when doing so in ‘a crowd of strangers’. Students who mostly ate in the company of others pre-COVID-19 appeared to struggle to cope in the lockdown. Such students consistently reported being ‘more lonely’ at meals or reported a lower life satisfaction at the time of the study, which they largely attributed to lockdown measures. Participant R6 for example, who had a ‘daily ritual’ of meeting and eating together with friends at different eating venues reported ‘more boredom’ scrolling through her phone and ‘less varied’ meals due to limited opportunities to meet friends at eating venues.

Along with virtual companionship of real people, students sought entertainment and the company of fictional characters ‘to deal with boredom’ resulting from ‘being locked’ at home.

"Yeah, absolutely. I started using TV, but I use PlayStation console to access YouTube or Amazon Prime or Netflix and sort of watch things from there…" (R8)

Discussion

The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown enabled us to explore the impact of the social distancing measures on the eating practices and patterns of university students, with a special focus on commensality. The study found that instead of a kaleidoscope of pre-pandemic eating patterns, the COVID-19 lockdown streamlined eating patterns for all, transforming erratic eating into more regular mealtimes. Having to stay at home for several months was an opportunity to adjust to a more regular meal pattern, and for cooking more homemade meals, with takeaways featuring as a respite from cooking. However, commensality suffered in the unprecedented situation where everyone had to eat every meal of the day at home. Whilst other research has shown that the lockdown enabled families to eat together (Filimonau et al. 2022, 7), many students were not living with families and expressed increased feelings of loneliness during lockdown. Students therefore highlighted increased reliance on digital media and virtual commensality to connect with close family and friends.

Kaleidoscope of (social) eating patterns among university students

The pre-COVID-19 eating practices and patterns, including the spatio-temporality of students’ eating identified in this study, highlight the variety of options at students’ disposal before the lockdowns, in terms of the contents of meals, and the timing and location of eating (Tuomainen 2014). With many nationalities and cultures represented, the university under inspection hosted a kaleidoscope of rhythms of different societal meal patterns and long-established but evolving personal practices. However, among our sample, breakfast was never a commensal event, and the evening was the main time for sharing a meal. For others, lunchtime was the prime time for commensality, the university campus offering diverse settings to enjoy this practice. Indeed, the diversity of cultures at universities is mirrored in venues catering for ‘multiple eating practices’ (Li et al. 2022, 7–8). However, university communities have norms and ‘campus cultures’ that govern food choice and consumption practices as regards what, how, and where food is procured, prepared and consumed (Deliens et al. 2014, 6–8; Kabir, Miah, and Islam 2018, 10–13).

In the campus under inspection, some students did not mind eating alone surrounded by others, suggesting that a broader commensality in the context of a university canteen can nurture a sense of belonging which can bring a sense of satisfaction for some, mostly likely linked to a sense of shared identity (Haslam et al. 2022, 162).

However, solo dining in public spaces in pre-COVID-19 era was generally associated with negativity, and this notion was not limited to undergraduate students but shared by postgraduate students. This may be shaped by the dominant culture in the host community (England) and some of the cultures represented in the sample. It may also reflect the nature of some university courses where shared mealtimes offer respite from a sometimes lonely endeavor. However, longstanding negative perceptions and attitudes toward solo dining in the general UK population and elsewhere is believed to be changing based on evidence before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Jang et al. 2021, 5–8; Takeda 2016, vii; Yates and Warde 2017, 97).

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on meal pattern and content

The introduction of lockdown meant that most of daily life, apart from short outings, took place within the confines of the home in a similar fashion to life in total institutions (Davies 1989, 77–78). However, while this reduced the choice of where or with whom to eat, students still had the choice regarding when and what to eat. Irrespective of background, this translated for most into more regular eating patterns, many reverting to likely childhood routines or embracing healthier patterns (Deliens et al. 2014, 6). Students’ knowledge about the importance of regular meals for health was apparent, also identified in other research (Hilger, Loerbroks, and Diehl 2017, 102). The fact that students of all backgrounds invested ‘saved time’ during lockdown into eating more regular meals, albeit alone, highlights a shared understanding of the importance of and preference for regular meals. It also confirms Alan Warde’s notion that eating practices are “founded on shared understandings, familiar procedures and commitment to collective norms and standards” (Warde 2016, 151).

Being at home also translated into more home-made meals from scratch, and subsequently improved culinary skills. This is congruent with survey results involving German students (Palmer, Bschaden, and Stroebele-Benschop 2021, 3), English households (Filimonau et al. 2022, 7), and Russian adults (Hassen et al. 2021, 4), indicating increased frequency and variety of cooking during the pandemic. For students living and/or eating alone, this is a significant feat as the expectation would be for less fancy cooking to take place when there is no one to cook for or to eat with (Andersen 2015, 47; Deliens et al. 2014, 5), observed also in other social/cultural contexts (e.g. Counihan 2004, 125). Research has shown that a strong factor for motivating young people to cook is the prospect of sharing the meal with others (Andersen 2015, 47).

Whilst living and studying in one location may have afforded this student sample the time to have regular meals, they may also have been pursuing healthier habits to boost their wellbeing as a coping strategy during the pandemic. The shared experience of lockdown, the knowledge that many people were investing in cooking, and the sharing of images of meals on social media may have also contributed to the enthusiasm to cook from scratch. In some instances, healthier habits were intercepted by takeaways - as a respite from cooking, or as a reward for working hard - becoming a regular feature for some, most likely facilitated by the relatively low cost of fast food (The Food Foundation 2020). Cross-sectional studies have found an increase in the consumption of takeaways during the COVID-19 lockdown among adults in the U.K (Robinson et al. 2021, 3–5) and in at-home (with family) university students in USA (Powell et al. 2021, 5).

Impact of COVID-19 on commensality and loneliness

During COVID-19 lockdowns, other research shows that commensality at the family/household level increased due to stay-at-home rules (Filimonau et al. 2022, 7). However, the social aspects of students’ eating were greatly affected with many participants lacking direct company at mealtimes. Accommodation and living arrangements determined whether students had commensal company or not. Apart from a few participants who lived or moved in with their partners or family during the lockdown, most students were alone at mealtimes. Some participants reported overeating because they were alone during lockdown, and many students expressed an increased sense of loneliness. The inability to nurture the relationships established at university over a shared meal, i.e. in a different context to that of study, which still continued online, clearly enhanced the sensation of loneliness among many of our students, supporting Simmel’s theory on structural causes of loneliness (Donbavand 2021, 78).

Frequently eating alone has been associated with unhealthy dietary behaviors and increased risk of overweight/obesity as well as depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among UK (Herle et al. 2021, 158), Korean and Japanese adults (Kim, Lee, and Lee 2020, 1603). Takeaways may have been a means of bringing in variety in meals or respite to cooking, but they may have also brought solace via eating food cooked by others and shared by countless customers in a similar situation. Takeaway outlets and restaurants serving food for delivery were in this fashion supporting a sentiment of communal commensality, even if eating did not occur in the same location, but it would have done little to alleviate feelings of loneliness.

Our study also highlights that living with others in the same space during the pandemic did not necessarily equate to sharing meals or mealtimes. Whilst students in house/flat shares normally use the same kitchen and dining table this does not imply that flat mates are automatically incorporated as participants in one’s commensal circles whilst at university. Among the students, meal consumption became increasingly individualized and more ‘functional’, an opportunity to break up the monotony of studying online, the social significance of meals thus being lost. Given the significant role of social eating in building social capital (Dunbar 2017; Sobal, Bove, and Rauschenbach 2002, 382–386), many students, particularly those commencing studies during the pandemic, may have missed opportunities to make connections and lifelong friends (Martin 2009, 200).

Digital and virtual company

Our results reveal that seeking company in ‘lockdown loneliness’ occurred especially when eating, highlighting the significance of mealtimes for cultivating social relations (Chee-Beng 2015, 14). Many participants sought the company of fictional characters in films or TV series during mealtimes and/or cloud-based commensality with family or friends to alleviate feelings of loneliness. The latter finding suggests that real physical presence may not be needed to share a meal, digital solutions allowing online presence in a virtual space. Indeed, previous quantitative evidence suggest that virtual commensality may elicit feelings of shared mealtime in Chinese students (Wang et al. 2021, 6) and perceptions of social presence in non-student American adults (Lowden and Hostetter 2012, 380–382). However, there may be differences in the outcome effects of virtual commensality between freely choosing to eat alone and being ‘forced’ to eat alone, as was the case during COVID-19 lockdown. Involving fictional characters suggests having ‘artificial social relations’ to relate to at mealtimes is better than none (Caughey 1978, 70–89).

Virtual commensality did not exactly replace physical commensal interactions for participants in this study in terms of its consequences on feelings of connectedness, food choice and food consumption experiences. But used as a coping strategy, it enhanced the hedonic impressions of their mealtimes while having to isolate, by allowing them to connect with others outside the four walls of their abode. Many participants still craved the in-person commensal experiences they had with individuals within their commensal circle at university in the pre-COVID-19 era. However, virtual commensality appeared to only happen during dinner or another substantial meal, and then with family and close friends. This reflects Douglas’s theory that dinner at home is for intimate contacts, not mere acquaintances or fellow students (Douglas 1972, 66). In spontaneous virtual shared mealtimes, the food itself and table are inevitably not shared, underlining the importance of social interaction and connection in commensality, which enable the nurturing of existing relationships.

Strengths and limitations

This is one of few qualitative studies to explore the social aspects of eating among students during COVID-19 lockdown. The study is based on data from just one university and from volunteers, however, with well over 100 countries implementing nationwide lockdown policies (International Monetary Fund 2020), the study participants’ circumstances and experiences at the time of the interviews may have been similar to that of students in other countries. Whilst the study involved students from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, we were unable to capture experiences of some large groups of international students in the UK, e.g. the Chinese.

Only two of the participants were male. Research shows that women and men view eating alone differently, with women more likely associating it with loneliness and being less motivated to prepare a proper meal (Takeda 2016, 662), which may help explain the increase in takeaways in our sample. The combination of undergraduate and postgraduate students in our sample may also be a limitation since PhD students may be at a different life stage. However, sharing accommodation is common for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in the UK, especially international students and those living away from home, and COVID-19 lockdowns confined everyone to their accommodation and disrupted any existing patterns.

Using videoconferencing facilities for interviews limited small talk and pre-interview rapport building (Self 2021). Whilst our topic guide was comprehensive, our data collection relied on students’ recollection of eating prior to lockdown, and we used no other means (e.g. diaries) for capturing current practices. Thus, our findings may be affected by recall bias. We did not return to respondents to check whether participants’ meanings and perspectives have been captured appropriately in what is popularly known as ‘participant validation’ (Birt et al. 2016). Researcher bias may therefore have not been adequately considered. However, participants’ quotations reported in this paper help reduce this.

Conclusion

This study sheds light on the eating practices and patterns, commensality, and loneliness among a group of university students of diverse backgrounds while they were observing social distancing during COVID-19 lockdown. It contributes to the body of research describing how people adjusted their eating practices and patterns during an unprecedented time. The findings suggest that unlike pre-COVID-19 era, the pandemic allowed students time for more regular eating patterns. Confinement at home resulted in cooking more from scratch even when eating alone, which was unexpected because in normal times having no eating companions usually translates to cooking fewer elaborate and healthy meals among students. For some students, confinement increased the amount of takeaway meals.

The pandemic made students feel lonelier; limited opportunities for meeting up and sharing a meal with fellow students contributed to this feeling. Whilst living arrangements played a key role in whether participants had eating companions in lockdown, living with a flatmate did not necessarily translate into sharing mealtimes. Video calling enabled commensality in a virtual shared space, enabling social interaction during the main meal of the day, but it was limited to close friends and relatives, and thus it was an insufficient alternative. However, virtual commensality appeared to enhance students’ hedonic experiences of their ‘proper meals’ amid restrictions on social gatherings.

Further research is warranted among a larger sample of students, including a greater number of males, post-pandemic, to explore whether lockdown experiences have translated into changes in attitudes and practices regarding social aspects of eating while at university, e.g. whether virtual commensality has become a regular occurrence at mealtimes. Future research should also focus on exploring the role of commensality in lessening feelings of loneliness among students (Ellard, Dennison, and Tuomainen 2023, 1–12).

Consent for publication

Permission to use participant data for research-related activities, including journal publications was granted as part of informed consent obtained from each participant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used in this study, except identifiable personal information, are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) West Midlands. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Notes

1 The Eat Out to Help Out Scheme was a UK government intervention rolled out during the COVID-19 pandemic to offer the public a 50% discount on food or non-alcoholic beverages (up to a maximum of £10 discount per diner) to eat or drink in participating food establishments every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 3 and 31 August as many times as they liked.