Food Talk

By: Toni Ann T. Santamaria

Planning to grab a burger for lunch today? We all love convenience food because it is not only a heavenly match to our hectic schedules, but it also tastes incredibly delicious. However, you might want to consider supplementing that diet of yours with some nutritious yet delectable food to keep your mind and body in good shape.

Convenience Food. This is a blanket term that encompasses all commercially prepared food designed for easier consumption. It is often portion-controlled, ready to eat, and specially packed for portability. Examples are soft drinks, processed meat, canned goods, and fast food.

Some of the most popular convenience foods in the campus include street foods, pancit canton from the UP Coop food stalls, instant noodles from the Shopping Center, and hotdogs from CASAA. They are either processed or frozen and are quickly heated for students’ consumption.

The best thing about convenience food is that they are time and budget friendly. Have you ever asked yourself why you enjoy kikiam and kwek-kwek so much? It’s not only the taste that draws you to these frozen and fried delicacies, but also their cost. It doesn’t hurt to lose 10-20 pesos for a yummy stick of fish balls. The same goes with a 15-peso pancit canton for merienda and a 50-peso CASAA sausage with rice for lunch. So why settle for an expensive carbonara or other specialties, when there are cheap alternatives and both could fill you up the same way? Moreover, convenience food also saves up time. When you need to study for a test or rush an essay due tomorrow, grabbing a Philly’s Steak challenger on the way home is always an option. Not only can it successfully satisfy your hunger, it allots you more time to do school work.

The issue with convenience foods though, is that majority of them contain little to no nutritional value because of its nutrients’ low bioavailability. Bioavailability is a measure of how readily is a nutrient absorbed by the body. In addition, these foods have undergone many processes which cause their nutrients to subside. Take a veggie burger for instance, it may consist of vegetables for vitamins and meat for protein, but once taken in, the nutrients it might have contained had already died out due to various processing, freezing, or reheating. The good news is that not all convenience food is considered unhealthy. One classic example is the taho which is a Filipino snack made of fresh tofu and pearl tapioca. It is a rich source of protein and carbohydrates and contains only 54 calories. There is also corned tuna available at the SC, which is a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids that boost brain health.

Nutrition Food. On the other hand we have nutrition food which generally refers to all food comprising of higher nutritional values, less preservatives, and more complex methods of preparation. Unlike convenience food that is commercially prepared, foods considered nutritious are those that are usually freshly bought from the market to be cooked at home. They are by all means homemade; baked, grilled, and not just fried.

Nutrition foods accessible in the campus include grilled beef or chicken, sinigang, humba, adobo, and baked ziti. They are all cooked in the kitchen and sold at CASAA. Rodic’s in the SC also offer savory choices such as the tapsilog and pork barbecue. They take longer preparation time than convenience food, but don’t they taste as equally good? They are also served in generous amounts and are definitely filling.

Furthermore, nutrition food are obviously healthier. Instead of frozen or processed ones, they are made of fresh ingredients, and also have remarkably fewer doses of unnecessary fat and sodium. Eating slow-cooked meals with friends will also help you with stress and provide a better diet.

The challenge with nutrition foods though, is that they generally cost more time and money. Sinigang and grilled meat from Chinatown and Sizzler’s at CASAA cost around 50-56 pesos. The same goes with the toothsome Rodic’s tapsilog and pork barbecue which cost 70 pesos. Moreover, they surely aren’t “grab-and-go” foods; you would have to sit down over grilled chicken and baked ziti. It’s hard to keep up with this diet when you know you can avail cheaper food that take up less consumption time. But think about it, lack of nutritious food can cost you your physical health in the future.

           With all our demanding academics and schedules, we tend to eat just anything that could fill up our stomach as long as it’s affordable and accessible. It still pays to watch what we eat. Having a healthy diet is important; a diet balanced between nutrition and convenience. So why not try some of the nutritious food around the campus? I’m sure there would be something that would be truly worth your time.