Greetings from Megève! P & I are away for the week for a very needed holiday for him. Since we arrived back from America on New Years Eve day, his work has been pretty much nonstop. We’ve hosted 25 colleagues and clients from his agency twice and most nights I’m working away in the kitchen until he gets home at 11pm. So needless to say, he was ready for some fresh air and to get away from Paris for the week.
Being away, I’ve lined up a few posts that focusing on an issue that I am extremely interested in and have become even more interested since moving to France and starting the Project. Through reading various books on life in France, moving to France, etc., the way the French eat and the way the French approach food is always a popular topic for these writers. And the more I read about French food culture the more intrigued I became.
I also think that being close to the time in my life when P & I will hopefully start a family, I even more aware of how French children eat. So when Karen Le Billon’s French Kids Eat Everything came out last year, I quickly bought and read through the entire thing. So much of her story makes complete sense to me. Of course kids need to try certain foods more than once and of course they don’t eat full, nutritious meals if they’re snacking all the time and of course the first course should be vegetable based and not bread or dairy.
Another interesting fact is how American kids grow up relating food to emotions. When a kid cries, it gets food. If a kid is tired, give it something to eat and so on. Now I’m not a mom so I can’t imagine how hard it must be to deal with a tired and whiny child – of course the juice box and gold fish are an easy option, but Le Billon’s point is that as the child gets older the habit of “I’m sad – I eat,” or “I’m tired – I eat,” just continues. If this is something you want to learn more about, I highly recommend her book.
While there is a multitude of things to discuss in relation to food and kids, I decided to focus on kids and school lunches. It’s an area that I think is in need of desperate change in America and something that I hope to be involved in somehow when we one day return to the states.
So this week is about food, kids and school lunches. Please tell me all your thoughts and experiences as well because if we read and are exposed to more, we can then make better decisions for our own lives. Enjoy!
Sarah says
Hi, you have to take that book with a huge pinch of salt. French kids are not all little marvels of food acceptance, many are just as picky as anywhere else and refuse to try new things. I’ve had several at my table, little sods. :) Given half a chance they will also snack like mad, especially on Nutella, crisps, soda, and sweets.
Obesity is on the rise in France which proves that staunch French food habits are being overtaken by western snacking habits. Also, the food in my boys’ school canteens is often inedible, according to them.
I’ve never seen kale down here in Montpellier. I don’t remember seeing it in the UK before I left to come to France either in 1989.
kristen says
Oh yes I see what you mean. I hope that the French can keep away the horrible American habits… It’s still interesting food for thought.
You will not have seen kale in Montpellier but there is a woman who I’m working with that is trying to find a farmer to grow it in that area! So hopefully soon. As for the UK, my husband grew up there and it existed but maybe was not as common in the grocery stores like now! Thanks for your comment.