The tendency to eat alone appears to be a common phenomenon for students living off-campus.
As students move out of the dorms, the rowdy, hour-long Dewick and Carmichael experiences that are central to life as an underclassman become rarer. Upperclassmen living off-campus often have a reduced meal plan or no plan at all.
For what is likely the first time in their lives, students are forced to be personally responsible for all of their own meals.
For many off-campus residents, this appears to mean cooking for themselves, as opposed to sharing meals with all of their housemates.
"My specialty is hot dogs and spaghetti," senior Brian Potskowski said. "I don't generally cook for anyone but myself."
Senior Mary Humphreys lives in a house with two apartments, one of four and one of seven, essentially forming a group of 11 housemates - all girls.
"We all for cook ourselves," Humphreys said. "We only have meals together on special occasions."
Most recently, the group ate together on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday that took place last semester.
Humphreys' housemate, senior Claire Freierman, agreed.
"We have had house meals a total of, like, three times," she said.
But there appears to be one incentive that is effective in bringing student households together for meals: television.
Senior Mark Sigal lives in a house off Curtis Street with seven other males, as well as one quasi-housemate who technically doesn't have a room in the house, but who, according to Sigal, spends the majority of his time there.
"On Monday nights, we all get together to eat and watch '24,'" Sigal said.
Senior Katie O'Keefe has a similar tradition with her roommates. "We usually eat alone," O'Keefe said. "The only times we have a meal together is usually when we're watching reruns of 'Sex and the City.'"
For others, having meals together is an incentive to work together.
Students share responsibilities, requiring that everyone participates.
"We have house dinner once a month," senior Elaine Chao said. "Each person makes one dish."
When one housemate is particularly fond of cooking, however, others sometimes take advantage of the provided meals.
Some households reported relying on one or two "house chefs" to cook for the rest of the crew.
Yet even the professed culinary lovers tend to keep it simple while managing classes and the rest of college.
"There's a lot of repetition," said senior Lionel Yarmon. "A lot of pasta and sandwiches."
