It’s no surprise how much students love food — but what cuisines are really getting their tastebuds tingling, and encouraging them to order in? And is there any difference between the way students order on a regular day of study compared to during the exam period?
We’ve analyzed student eating habits from all foodpanda markets, including 8 countries and 17 universities from around the globe.
One of our major findings is that there is a growing popularity among students to order more. Due to the rise of food delivery within the food sphere, it’s never been easier for students to order good food from their favourite restaurant and foodpanda makes this far more achievable than it perhaps once was.
So what foods are encouraging students to join our foodpanda platform and start dining in?
Foodpanda is a global company, so when we assessed data from every country, we didn’t know how varied the favourite cuisines would be. As it turned out, Chinese food is overwhelmingly the number one cuisine globally, with 24% of total orders. It’s even more appreciated in Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University, where every fourth order (25%) is Chinese food.
The second and third most ordered foods are Italian and Thai food, with 18% and 12% respectively. Taiwanese students at Shih Hsin University are all about Italian pastas and salads, which amount to 28% of total orders and students from Assumption University of Thailand love Thai food (20% of total orders).
But if students are either studying or partying, when are they actually eating? Hunger strikes strongest between 11am and 12pm and 6 and 8pm. Kuala Lumpur and Taipei on the other hand love a good lunch (12 -1pm) and students in Karachi actually have a preference for ordering late dinner between 8 and 10pm.
The days students are most and least likely to order differ around the world. Bangkok, Hong Kong, Karachi, Singapore and Taipei don’t tend to order on Mondays and Tuesdays, whilst Kuala Lumpur and Manila are least likely to order on Saturdays. It’s only the students of Dhaka who don’t fancy food delivery on Wednesdays.
Saturday and Sunday are unsurprisingly the day of the lazy order, since Bangkok, Hong Kong, Karachi, Singapore and Taipei all order big on weekends. Students from Manila don’t have time to cook on Mondays and Kuala Lumpur and Dhaka students love to spoil themselves the most on Thursdays and Fridays respectively.
And then we reach exam time. A time which is generally the most stressful period of the year, when students feel the need to relax with a good meal from their favourite restaurants. Seems like 25% of students globally are stress eating Asian/Chinese goodies, especially Singaporeans (23%), Hong Kongers (23%) and Malaysians (16%). Students from Karachi, Dhaka and Manila stay true to their fast food habits and order 56%, 55% and 43% of fast food respectively. Singaporeans and students of Hong Kong prefer Chinese food, with 23% and 20% of orders respectively and Thai students opt for their national thai food during this time, with 17% of total orders. Malaysians and Taiwanese prefer Indian and Italian cuisines with 20% and 18% respectively.
Different countries, different students and different majors, but one common factor — their strikingly similar eating habits! Nowadays, students live in such a fast-paced environment, where every minute matters, so when they can rely on foodpanda as their personal chef, it makes Uni life all the sweeter!