Asimov was fond of the trope that the future was starved of protein, and even america had become a land where people had to eat communally, and eat significant amounts of manufactured "zymoveal" protein, because real meat was scarce under population/land pressure. It was clear that "people didn't like it"

Oddly, "cafeteria" cooking has sometimes been the best food I've eaten at the time. It very much depends on the circumstances and budget and your expectations. I've eaten like this in Leeds, London, Rome, France, Beijing. And not always in universities, the experience extends to factories, railways and even just the streetscape.

The FSU had a preference for ground meat and sausages at a state level because it was easier to ensure as much as possible of the meat inputs became food outputs. [This is wrong: they didn't] The Khrushchev flats had communal kitchens. They were universally hated I believe.

Ghost kitchens failed on lack of regulation and motivation to be the best they could be. There was never an intention to be "Jamie Oliver's ghost kitchen"

Re-intermediating consumers away from direct food carries on. Uber eats and Panda are delivering food from restaurants all around me, and one of them is a chinese take-away eponymously called "A Chinese Take Away" -I think it's a hack on the search engine carried forward. I've eaten their floating market soup in the shop, it's fine. Most of their trade is carry-out.

> The Khrushchev flats had communal kitchens

Khrushchyovkas did not have communal kitchens; I grew up in one [0]. Perhaps you are thinking about kommunalkas [1]?

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7935844

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communal_apartment

> Oddly, "cafeteria" cooking has sometimes been the best food I've eaten at the time.

Sometimes the lack of choice and lack of responsibility are relieving. It may not be the best meal, but you didn't really have much choice and you didn't have to get ingredients and make it yourself. That can go a long way.