Welcome to college. The place with dining hall horror stories and mediocre food. I didn’t think it could get worse, but TikTok has proved me wrong.
One of the most recent viral trends that has been dominating the app AND the news is New York University’s quarantine meal situation. As college students are moving back in, universities have enforced guidelines to limit the spread of COVID-19. To keep up with New York’s mandatory quarantine order, NYU enabled a different arrival process. The move-in has been split into two shifts and all students will be tested for COVID-19 within their first 24 hours of arrival, and again after approximately a week.
With limited student travel allowed outside of the dorms for those that are quarantining, NYU has assured them free meals of “breakfast [served] between 8:00 am and 9:30 am and lunch [served] between 11:00am-12:30pm…, [as well as] a $30 GrubHub credit per day via email to order your own dinner.” The quarantine meals can also be catered to various diet restrictions including vegetarian/vegan, halal, kosher, gluten, nut, and dairy free options. As organized as their meal plan sounds, several students have gone to TikTok to show the reality of NYU’s failed attempt.
On TikTok, you can find several videos showcasing students with barely edible meals, food that doesn’t satisfy diet restrictions, or nothing at all. Hearing this from NYU is deeply disappointing and allows students to ask why certain people are disregarded when it comes to their meal plan.
One of the most popular dishes that has gotten everyone’s attention is the watermelon chicken salad. Although it may sound like a yummy dish, it hasn’t gone viral because of its deliciousness. In fact, it is quite unappetizing by only consisting of cubed watermelon and chicken.
As these TikToks continued to circulate on the app and news platforms, the videos reached older demographics who had some negative reactions. They received backlash as the students were called spoiled and ungrateful for paying a lot of money to attend the University, yet complaining about the food. To this, a student responded that they “expected more from from a multimillion dollar institution and should not be experiencing food insecurity in an already uncertain time.” This received more positive feedback, but this was not the only thing NYU students gained.
The TikToks have brought students facing similar meal problems together and even allowed some to come in contact with several news outlets for interviews. Some students who received late meals or none at all were also granted free food, discounts, and gift cards from brands and chain restaurants. In addition, with all of the #NYUquarantine tiktoks going viral, students were able to gain exposure and followers on their own account.
As for NYU, many became concerned about the alarming amount of students suffering from these bizarre quarantine meals. In response to the viral videos, NYU added a shift for early meal deliveries, dedicated more staff to student concerns, added another food service provider, and instilled food delivery through an app. That is progress for sure.
As quarantine is coming to an end for some students, they can definitely thank TikTok for their upgraded food service. Who knew that videos that began in a humorous way to cope in isolation could bring attention to a large body of students?
This is such an awful and unfortunate situation that I did not even know about! I already love this blog post because I probably would not know about this trend, seeing that 99% of the videos on my For You page appear to be either baking, Christmas, or dog TikToks. However, I am shocked at the quality of food NYU is giving out. Could it be that they do not have enough resources to provide such high quality food? Could there be that many people quarantined that it’s the best they could do? College food does not have to be equivalent to a five star restaurant’s quality, but it should be better than that. Thank you for writing about this trend!
This is a great post. I love how you provided an example of people using TikTok for serious reasons. It is interesting to see how something that was originally humor morphed into an important concern. I think forcing students to quarantine, telling them they will get good meals, and then delivering subpar food is terrible on the part of NYU.
Wow! I had no idea how bad the food was in quarantine at NYU. That $30 Grubhub credit does sound very nice, but that is only one meal a day. I am fed up with the food here at Penn State, let alone the quarantine food options. It is surprising how influential a platform like Tik Tok can be. A few people got the attention of the world through a simple less than a minute video.