Everyday Systems

Here is one week from one area of France in 2012, I think:

Monday, October 8th
Salad: Tomato mozzarella salad
Main: Roast veal with tarragon sauce, organic zucchini with sauce ‘Provençale’ (tomatoes, onions, olives and Herbes de Provence like thyme and oregano)
Cheese/Dairy: Fromage blanc (a light, creamy, soft cheese that is best described as being halfway between yogurt and cream cheese in consistency), with sugar
Dessert: none

Tuesday, October 9th
Salad: Vegetable-Lemon Terrine (a baked vegetable paté with carrots, broccoli, celery, spinach, eggs, shallots, nutmeg, and cream)
Main: Rice and red beans, with sautéed carrots, zucchini, and red peppers
Cheese/Dairy: none
Dessert: Chocolate Flan (somewhat like a light cheese cake) and an orange

Wednesday, October 10th
Salad: Wheat berry salad with olives, tuna, tomatoes
Main: Scalloped turkey with gravy, and buttered green beans
Cheese/Dairy:Bonbel cheese, a mild cheese rather like Gouda
Dessert: A pear

Thursday, October 11th
Salad: Salad greens
Main: Organic ground beef with roast potatoes
Cheese/Dairy:P’tit Louis
Dessert: Pear-Apple compote (fruit sauce)

Friday, October 12th
Salad: Organic beet salad (a French kids’ favorite)
Main: Fish (hake) filet with dill-shallot sauce, and steamed cauliflower
Cheese/Dairy:Cantafrais cheese (a light, spreadable cheese)
Dessert: Flan Patissier A fresh flan made by a ‘patissier’ (baker specializing in desserts). Nice way to end the week!

Picture. Note bread with cheese.

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Blog http://karenlebillon.com/2012/10/08/2273/

That's insane. Is that a private school menu?? I don't know what the French pay in taxes, but it looks like they're channeling it right into the school cafeterias!

My daughter's elementary school menu features weird things like "vegan nachos" and "fishwiches". (I still can't figure out why they're giving her nachos - but I guess a fish sandwich is ok.) They do however feature lots of fruits and vegetables now.

I find it very interesting that each French meal features a dessert. And the salads sound incredible! Definitely, the French are eating better than us if this is what their kids are getting on a daily basis.

No, that's public school. I believe I read that parents actually kick in for the food, but there are subsidies for lower wage earners, rather like our school lunch programs.

Did you see that one day there was no dessert and two days it was basically a pear? I'm betting the portion would be considered a smidgeon here. But the quality...

One of our teachers went on an exchange program to France with a group of students. She said the teachers' lunches include wine! Not fancy stuff, but still. It would be wasted on me either way.

The French definitely spend a larger portion of their income on quality food than we do, as Michael Pollan suggests we do.

I have to say that my high school's lunches have improved with more lighter options and some raw veggies in the form of crudites or salad every day. Plus whole fruit. I don't dread forgetting or not making my lunch anymore, though after 25 years of doing it, it's just a habit.

We noticed a difference in the public school lunches this year also - I'm assuming this was a national shift (some sort of legislation or Michelle Obama initiative? I'm not sure the details).

My 14 year old son (9th grade) complains about the portion sizes this year though. He's 6'1", growing like a weed and probably does need more to tuck into than some others. But I'm glad to see the extra fruits and veggies on the menu - although they sure aren't as fancy as the French sides.

Oolala, I'm assuming you're a teacher? Do you eat the school meals regularly, or usually pack your own? I always feel guilty for not packing for my kids, but we get free lunches and it's a huge help with the grocery bill to not have to pack for them.

I've been taking lunch to work (and two snacks, back in the day) for 25 years. I was too poor years ago and I'm too cheap now to buy out. Besides, I bring better quality, even if lunches have gotten better. And I prefer more Middle Eastern and Indian tastes.

That menu sounds incredibly good! In my area, the public schools are shifting towards offering some organic fruits and veggies each day, and even a salad bar!

JustForToday wrote:That's insane. Is that a private school menu?? I don't know what the French pay in taxes, but it looks like they're channeling it right into the school cafeterias!

Le Billon routinely features menus from public schools. While the French Ministry of Education sets the guidelines, each municipality funds their school lunches. Read more here.

Karen Le Billon wrote:there is no national school lunch program in France. These meals are organized and funded by the local community. Parents pay different rates per meal, more or less related to income (so wealthier families pay more, and poorer families pay less). These menus are an inspiring example of what local communities can do when they decide that good food–and teaching children to love healthy food–is really a top priority.

That menu looks awesome! I exchanged to several French schools in my younger years and eat similarly to those menus. Their culture is so different though, those kids talked about politics over lunch! Really! There was no sense of there being different tastes for children and adults.

A few years ago the school dinners in the UK were very bad, featuring Turkey Twizzlers (guess which part of the turkey!) and other non food concoctions, but things are slowly getting better thanks to Jamie Oliver's campaign for real food in schools.

I just ordered the "French Children Eat Everything" book. I am not a parent but I am hoping to learn more about where my own eating patterns got messed up along the line.

I also put it on hold at my library!

Does anyone know how much time is allotted for students to eat lunch? I have a feeling it's longer than in the U.S.

In my region of SoCal, since the weather allows for students to be outside at lunchtime, almost no high school students eat inside a cafeteria and a minority of students sit down and eat. They juggle their food standing up. The more free time we allow students, the more trouble they get into. It's sad, but true. We could not allow for a leisurely, savored lunch because students can't be trusted to use the time well. Some students opt to wait until after school to eat anyway. Then they go buy fast food.

oolala53 wrote:Does anyone know how much time is allotted for students to eat lunch? I have a feeling it's longer than in the U.S.

In my region of SoCal, since the weather allows for students to be outside at lunchtime, almost no high school students eat inside a cafeteria and a minority of students sit down and eat. They juggle their food standing up. The more free time we allow students, the more trouble they get into. It's sad, but true. We could not allow for a leisurely, savored lunch because students can't be trusted to use the time well. Some students opt to wait until after school to eat anyway. Then they go buy fast food.

This is from French School Lunch Menus by Karen Le Billon. French children are required by law to spend a minimum of 30 minutes at the table. Most "lunch hours" are 1.5 - 2 hours long. I don't think students are allowed to leave their campus during the school day.

Part of the reason this is successful is that French children have been trained in this since infancy.

Karen Le Billon wrote:Eating, for the French, is not just about ingesting food. It’s about socializing, about sharing, and participating in a shared rite of citizenship. Learning to eat well is actually a form of citizenship training, as odd as that might sound. The French even have a word for this: commensality (la commensalité), which literally means ‘eating together in a group.’ This social aspect of eating is very important for the French, who never eat alone if they can help it. Eating, from the French perspective, is about sharing–conversation, ideas, and good company. Think about it like this: if the car is (arguably) the inanimate object that best represents American culture, the French equivalent would be the dining table.

This has never been as important here and it certainly appears to be not at all important now.

EDIT: In the comments to the article on French School Food, a pediatrician wrote "“If you only feed kids what they like then they will never learn to love what’s good for them.†She wrote that if other cultures manage to feed their kids healthy food, then so can we.

I was reading the reviews of The Fresh 20 Cookbook and one of the reviewers wrote that the food wasn't kid-friendly. I think we're one of the only cultures, if not THE only, that think kids need different foods from their parents or that food needs to be "kid-friendly". Apparently this 12-year-old agrees that kids can eat everything.

I'm repeating myself from other threads, but I used to live in Iran and the children there ate the same food as adults. PLAIN yogurt (NEVER sweetened) and plenty of green veggies, cooked and raw, for example.

wosnes wrote:I was reading the reviews of The Fresh 20 Cookbook and one of the reviewers wrote that the food wasn't kid-friendly. I think we're one of the only cultures, if not THE only, that think kids need different foods from their parents or that food needs to be "kid-friendly". Apparently this 12-year-old agrees that kids can eat everything.

Yeah, funny how the only things "kid friendly" are the most unhealthy things (like chicken nuggets.)

Just finished the "French Kids" book and it was great! When I read about the whiney-ness of the author's daughters while they were being trained how to eat, it was so humiliating because it reminded me of myself! I have the eating habits of a North American 2-4 year old. Such as, no self-control, the world is coming to an end if I don't eat, etc.

Does anyone know of any other similar books that discuss the French way of eating? Looking for a more adult perspective.

leafy_greens wrote: Does anyone know of any other similar books that discuss the French way of eating? Looking for a more adult perspective.

Probably the closest thing would be French Women Don't Get Fati by Mireille Guiliano or the Chic & Slim books by Anne Barone.

The web sites might help you see if one or the other would be helpful:
French Women Don't Get Fat

Anne Barone

Though I picked up useful information from both authors, I think I learned the most from Karen Le Billon's book.

I read from the reviews that the French Women book was condescending? I hope not because I appreciated the self-deprecation of the French Kids book.

leafy_greens wrote:I read from the reviews that the French Women book was condescending? I hope not because I appreciated the self-deprecation of the French Kids book.

It's been a long time since I read it, but I don't remember feeling it was condescending.

I reserved it at my library. I also reserved a book called The French Diet: Why French Women Don't Get Fat by Michel Montignac. Although this second one appears to focus around the "glycemic index" which sounds very diety so I don't have much hope for that one.

One of the reviewers of Chic & Slim recommended Entre Nous by Debra Ollivier. It doesn't look like it's specifically about eating habits, but it does look interesting.

I have three of Anne Barone's books, so I like her, but she can be very mean, calling overweight women "fatties" and such. Shaming techniques do not really work for most overeaters, or women overeaters, I don't think. They feel plenty of shame already. But I use many of her principles all the time. She said once that no self-respecting French woman has a stash of candy and junk food in her desk drawer at work and that stuck with me- at work! I don't keep it around at home anymore, either, but that wasn't because of pride. I don't eat it enough to keep it around. Thank you, Reinhard.

Wish my library had Entre Nous.

oolala53 wrote:
Wish my library had Entre Nous.

I sampled Entre Nous on my kindle after seeing it mentioned. In short order I bought it. There is a section on food and another on parties. Most of it deals with other parts of life, but I like it.