With midterms rearing their ugly heads, it’s a good time to look at your major through a more lighthearted lens. Here’s a list of some food items I’ve decided represent some of the most popular majors:
Engineering: Hot Sauce
You get bragging rights, but it can be a struggle of an experience. Even with an almost incomparable variety of types and flavors, from Frank’s to Sriracha, everyone will fervently defend why theirs is the best . But sometimes it can be a little much, aka all those times you ask yourself, while studying into the wee hours of the morning,“Why did I think this was a good idea?”
Photo by Hayden Carder
English: Tea and Biscuits
Forgive us for playing into the Jane Austen stereotype, but the idea of sipping tea and nibbling on biscuits while reading a 200-year-old novel in a cozy armchair is too perfect to shake. Also, black teas will give you the natural caffeine boost you need to finish that 5,000 word paper by dawn.
History: Rice
Whether you find your niche among select dishes or have an appreciation for all things rice, you know it isn’t something to be dismissed as bland. There’s a reason it’s stuck around for centuries, integrated into the diets of cultures all over the world—it’s timeless and can be incorporated into almost any cuisine.
Photo by Hayden Carder
PoliSci: BBQ Ribs
This all-American dish has to be prepared with finesse to achieve just the right tenderness and sauce-to-meat balance, but there is also a delightful barbaric quality to it. Subtlety and ferocity—quite fitting for the political arena. Okay, Frank Underwood may or may not have had a hand in this pairing as well.
IR (International Relations): Curry
Although it is associated with India in the minds of most Americans, curry is a rather universal food staple. No two cultures have quite the same interpretation of it; just try comparing tandoori to Japan’s kari. Ever the diplomat, it serves as a link between different cultures without compromising their distinct identities.
Bio: Sushi
The surgeon-like precision needed to properly prepare sushi isn’t a far cry from what biology students have to do in a dissection lab. Fortunately, you won’t have to take an exam on the long list of hard-to-pronounce terms.
Photo by Hayden Carder
Chem: Transparent Ravioli
Wait, what? Yeah, molecular gastronomy is a thing, and it’s pretty awesome. Some people might be put off by the idea of creating food in a lab, but this is about real culinary experimentation, not stirring a bunch of chemicals together into artificial flavors. Go ahead, turn in a recipe for spherified cocktails as your next lab report.
CompSci: Coffee
Talk about being wired. When you’re up till 3AM coding, not only do you need caffeine to keep you going, but also something virtually hands-free so that you can keep typing away. Congratulations, programmers: you beat out all other majors for the ultimate college ‘food.’
Photo by Hayden Carder
Econ: Jolly Rancher
You probably expected chocolate coins, but any economist will rant at you about how economics is about exchange, not money. Since different people assign their own value to each flavor, Jolly Ranchers are the preeminent candies of trade.
Music: Chocolate
Naturally, two of the greatest things in the world belong in a pair. There is even scientific evidence of the pleasure your brain derives from music and chocolate. That’s why depending on your mood, you may lean towards something blissfully light and sweet or long for the intensity of darker, more bitter tones. You appreciate most varieties for their different qualities, but you can’t help picking some favorite ‘genres.’
Photo by Hayden Carder
Want to put off your studies a little longer?
If Majors Were Caffeinated Beverages