Why do I keep going on about French food? There are two main reasons: firstly, a lot of people ask me questions about it when I'm in NY so I assume they're interested; secondly, it's a huge part of French culture, and is key to some of the differences between France and the USA.
Recently the lunches schools serve have been a big deal in the news in a few countries. Not only have there been some changes (and non-changes) made in the USA to school lunch mandates, but there are also Jamie Oliver's school lunch initiatives in both the UK and USA. It's an interesting topic because of course, both of those countries are going through a childhood obesity epidemic, and it only makes sense to consider the food children consume at school when looking for solutions.
In the USA 17% of kids 6-17 are obese (and 20% of 6-11 year olds), about triple the number in 1980, and in the UK 19% are obese (although I believe the ways of measuring this are different between countries). I can't find new statistics for France but in 2007 3% of children were obese and 17.8% were "overweight or obese" (compare to the USA where that rate is more than one third).
Most Western countries have steadily been growing fatter, but France is one of the least-overweight countries in that classification, and recently the numbers have shown signs of leveling off. It's not quite clear why this is, but one of the factors is definitely education and food culture - teaching kids how to choose foods and training them to eat healthily is a big deal here.
I came across a fantastic blog on this subject recently, and it's inspired me to do a post on it myself. The writer points out that French schools treat lunchtime as a continuation of education, teaching kids about foods, exposing them to a lot of different things, and providing very balanced and relatively healthy meals. She has a lot of really great information on there.
Anyway, I get questions about what I make for the kids I watch, so I thought I'd give an idea of what French kids get to eat at school, and what they are clearly willing to eat (as opposed to the "picky eaters" we all know who eat a very small variety of foods as children). Keep in mind here that France has outlawed vending machines, sugary drinks, flavored milk, and overuse of condiments in schools. Lunches are always served with water, and generally kids aren't given a choice in what they get for lunch; instead it's served to them like at a restaurant. There are usually four courses in their lunch (which is usually 1.5-2 hours long, including recess): first a vegetable dish; second the main course, which usually features protein and starch; thirdly a cheese with one piece of baguette; lastly a dessert.
This one week menu comes from the poorest town in France, a place in the north of the country, whose traditional foods are notoriously much heavier and fattier. They also are known for eating more sweets. So bear in mind, this is probably the worst quality lunch in France. Families pay between 60 cents and $3 for a meal, depending on income. Unusually, children are given two options for the first two courses most days.
Monday:
Green salad with croutons
Sauteed pork with sauce OR fish filet with Provencal sauce (usually a sauce with tomato, onion, herbs, and olives), with Brussels sprouts and cubed apple
Gouda cheese
apple compote (like a thick sauce)
Tuesday:
Tomato salad OR grated carrot salad
Beef tongue with ecarlate sauce (red wine, onions, herbs, butter) OR steak with unspecific cheese sauce, with pureed parsnips and butter beans with mushrooms
Tomme de Savoie cheese (a mild semi firm cow's cheese)
Far Breton (a flan-like cake from Brittany)
Wednesday: no school
Thursday:
Celery remoulade (raw celery salad, kind of like coleslaw) OR red cabbage with grapes
Turkey breast with a thick white stew sauce OR medallions of hake in sauce, with bulgar and vegetables
Thick fruit smoothie
Strawberry cookie
Friday:
Cheese pastry
Hake filet OR a plain omelette with sauteed vegetables and potato slices
Edam cheese (a semi-firm mild Dutch cheese)
Jonagold apples
Keep in mind this is the menu for all kids in school, ages 3-18. The French government doesn't give any subsidies for school lunches, so municipalities figure out the money side of things themselves. Many districts have set goals of 25% organic, local food for lunches as well, although it appears this one has not; as I mentioned, it's the poorest town in France so this isn't surprising.
If this was interesting to you, do check out the above linked blog - she translated a randomly picked school menu every week and they're often really interesting. I'm trying to imagine little American kids eating those things for lunch and utterly failing!
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3 comments:
That is fascinating to me, an area I'm always interested in. It does amaze me when I go to France when I see the difference in the way they eat versus the way Americans eat. As Angie has pointed out too, if you see people eating or drinking things while walking you know they're not French.
Angie, very interesting, i particulary like the idea of making lunch at school a continuation of the education process, thanks for all the sharing, looking forward to seeing you at Christmas, uncle, Bill
Interesting, Angie. I agree, I can't imagine many American kids eating some of those things. As far as that goes, I don't think many American adults would eat some of them.
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